[Andrew Stephens]

... I'm halfway through it. It's pretty fascinating and I have to say the Jobsmeister isn't coming over too well at the moment. I can see why he tried to smother it.

I always figured that gates had a bum wrap. OK so his company was a tough business but he's gone over the extra mile with the Gates foundation, while I'm struggling to work out what "walk on water" Jobs has got behind in the charity arena.

I like Gate's "my kids get zip" attitude too.

Anyway back OT...

[imitchellg5]

I have read it. Pretty insightful book. I would have hated to work for Apple during the early years. It certainly puts a bit of a question mark on Jobs too.

[Paco500]

I don't think Apple could put out the products is does wihthout a maniac at the helm. I did a breif sting working for Apple- it was a dream come true in many ways. Turned out I liked being an Apple customer much more than an Apple employee. I'm glad there are poeple working for S.J. turning out the wonderful stuff they do- I'm even more glad I'm not one of them.

[Chuckit]

How many charities have you started?

[Andrew Stephens]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

How many charities have you started?

with my billions of dollars

[mdc]

I read it and found it very interesting to see how Apple and Steve Jobs worked back then. It was also interesting to read about Steve Jobs himself.

[::maroma::]

As far as the comparing Gates to Jobs in the charity arena, I'd say wait until Jobs retires (or semi-retires) to make that comparison. Its not as easy as just saying "hey, lets start a charity organization today" and it happens. But I do highly admire Gates for doing so. I think Jobs will do something similar after he steps down from running Apple.

Also, people like to talk smack about how Jobs runs his company, but people sure do enjoy the end result (ie products). I say, as long as Jobs isn't harming anyone, let him run Apple like he wants to. If he wants to be a tyrant, so be it. No one has to work for him. They choose to. And as far as I can tell, many or most of the people who work for Apple are generally happy.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Andrew Stephens 

OK so his company was a tough business but he's gone over the extra mile with the Gates foundation...

Gates Foundation donates only as much money as he pays taxes. I mean, it's nice that money is going someplace, but it's not because he's a nice guy. It's all about reducing tax burden so he can make just that much more money.

On one end of the spectrum it's really cool that this guy is really rich beyond any reason, you can't ask for much more out of America. On the other end of the spectrum, he's just hoarding money. He's a real-life Scrooge McDuck. He even said it himself, after you own the best of everything, tried the best of everything, money doesn't mean anything anymore. It just comes down to being a rich man's game of how much more you can get.

If you wanna admire rich people, admire Woz. He does TONS of stuff and isn't afraid of being critical of his peers for their lack of trying.

[Randman]

This book is still in print??

[subego]

Previous to the book or the foundation, I had always heard that Gates, while ruthless as a businessman, is genuinely nice and personable. I had also always heard that Jobs, while brilliant as technological visionary, is a huge jag.