Bill Gates Blogs For Gizmodo

Tech blog Gizmodo's recent "Gizmodo '79" series of posts, which took a look at the state of the computer industry thirty years ago, seems to have put Bill Gates in a nostalgic mood.

The series inspired the Microsoft founder and head of the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to give blogging a try himself. He submitted his own brief post, looking back on Microsoft's days as a fledgling startup, reportedly without prompting from Gizmodo's staff.

Gates notes that 1979 was in fact an important year for Microsoft, one in which the company moved its headquarters from New Mexico to outside of Seattle, doubled its employees, and won what was at the time a prestigious award given to the handful of computer applications that had grossed more than $1 million.

"Today, I would be surprised if the number of million-dollar applications isn't in the millions itself," Gates wrote.

He continued:

More important, of course, is the fact that more than a billion people around the world use computers and digital technology as an integral part of their day-to-day lives. That's something that really started to take shape in 1979.

Read his full post here.

Comments

[Uosdwis]

That would make a great entry at awkwardfamilyphotos.com!

[getoffthecross]

Equating financial success to overall success as a human being is precisely why America is in the shape it's in now.

Bill Maher will never see a fraction of Bill Gates money, but his New Rules last week regarding how SOME of our society (health and infrastructure) shouldn't be profit based is more common sense than people want to acknowledge. I just hope to be as rich as *that* Bill.

[toocoldout]

But everything you could possibly want (vacations, mansions, servants, free time, health, good looks, love, political power, scientific advancement) is for sale if you know where to shop, so yes, financial success *is* overall success and only people who are jealous of the rich dispute this.

[getoffthecross]

That's reaching, and you *have* to know it.

If someone doesn't want mansions or servants or political power, and if they understand that true love has nothing to do with finance, they are far more likely to live an "enviable" life. Seems to me the real jealousy comes from those always striving and conniving for the comforts of wealth seeing someone living happily enough with far simpler desires. I hear you scoffing, but that's simply a matter of a lack of maturity.

[fusionfan]

Here's another fascinating video account about Kildall vs. Gates and IBM. It takes awhile to get going.

http://www.podtech.net/home/3801/the-rest-of-the-story-how-bill-gates-beat-gary-kildall-in-os-war-part-1

[fusionfan]

Well, I always disliked most Microsoft programs, finding them very user unfriendly. Somehow, over 8 iterations, they would become useable. Finally, on reading this story, I understand why. It's about Gary Kildall, who really was responsible for the CP/M, the program that DOS essentially copied. Business savy, yes. Programming ability - dismal.

http://www.freeenterpriseland.com/BOOK/KILDALL.html

[EngineerBill]

If you read his full post. Gates talks about this game called "adventure". He said it didn't have all the bells and whistles of say, HALO. That is a colossal understatement.
You see "Adventure" was a treasure hunt type game and your inputs and feedback was nothing but text. That's it. I'm surprised that nobody has ported it to cell phones.

[tomasedison]

Stop importing Indians to fill programming jobs. Try employing Americans for a change.

[JorjeFellatino]

they cost too much, don't work hard enuf. whaddya have against redblooded Indians from the subcontinent?

[Dbos]

Party animals on social probation. Not

[greenwren]

Ummm.

But which one is Gates in that picture? I honestly can't tell. Maybe it's all the hair....

[lonroyd]

lower left hand corner

[PhilipTaylor]

At least a Million Millionaires have been Hatched by the Technology Revolution!

We are only getting started:

1. Automate Nearly ALL of BANKING the easiest industry to automate as it is formula driven and Americans can do all their Banking using Credit/Debit Cards, the Internet, and ATMs. Waiting in Line will be a thing of the Past.

2. Robotics and Automation is already making progress and if America uses its massive Genius we can compete with any country on COST and QUALITY! Currently America has a hard time competing with cheap labor in other countries and this is a way of leveraging our higher labor costs to gain a competitive edge. This is in its INFANCY!

3. Automatic Auditing of Wall Street Activity by Computing to stop CR1MES. Right NOW Technology is used by Big Banks and their HEDGE FUNDS as a tool of theft!. Technology can be a TOOL OF CR1ME CONTROL and Capture.

4. Technology and Automation in Solar, Water, and Wind Energy to Maximize Energy Capture and Transmission is in its INFANCY!

America can let As!a including J@P@N lead in these efforts of OBAMA could invest $TRILLIONS in Building this FUTURE!

[PhilipTaylor]

******** or OBAMA could invest ******

[karela]

Bill looks about 12 years old in that picture, but he was actually 24 in 1979. He had a vision and he manifested it and it changed the world.

[MarcusT]

A vision? See: Gary Kildall. Gates is the son of a very wealthy litigation attorney. Imagine the road you can carve out of a bunch of counter culture people (the early Micro people) with that perspective. He took some very unexpected luck and leveraged it into a Sherman act violation. Once windows dominated the desktop every application vendor had to send their ideas and code to MS. And guess what happened?

[tnlcallen]

The numbers don't lie. He built Microsoft. Call it luck, call it privelege, call it what you will, but no one in the world has done something like what he did. He is definitely a unique individual.

[Okieborn]

No Nerd !!
An American Hero !!!

[AbrakadaBarak]

Bill Gates deserves a Nobel Price for Technology. If there is none, create it. He also deserves a Nobel Peace Prize because of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation!

[MarcusT]

You might want to actually do some basic research on how MS got to where it is and who got screwed along the way. Technology had nothing to do with it.

[AbrakadaBarak]

Thank you Bill Gates!

[JorjeFellatino]

oh, just bend over. enjoy it. he is Amurican hero.

[erincnyc]

Microsoft improved my life in ways that I could not have thought to wish for. Sorry ha.ters.

[PorkyPig]

I was in Albuquerque last month and stopped by the old Microsoft location. It is fascinating to see their humble beginnings when realizing what a big deal they are today.

Did Bill mention getting arrested in Albuquerque?

[tkondaks]

Read the blog yourself.

[Margi Lane]

This picture belongs on the blog "sexy people"!! Its great!

[ccpostman]

This picture belongs on the blog "Nerdy people"