Steve Jobs On Bill Gates: What The Apple CEO REALLY Thinks Of Microsoft's Founder

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, two titans of tech, have been friends, competitors, and colleagues. They've even gone on double-dates.

So what does Steve Jobs have to say about Microsoft's founder? We went looking, and have compiled a list of Steve Jobs' best quotes about Bill Gates.

The claws come out as Jobs challenges Gates's creativity and criticizes aspects of Microsoft's business. But the Apple CEO also softens up, likens their relationship to matrimony, and speaks fondly of the legacy Gates will leave. There's even a cute video from a 1983 Apple event when Gates "woos" Jobs during a company-sponsored dating game.

See Steve Jobs' sayings below, then check out what Bill Gates has to say about Steve Jobs.

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In a 1994 interview, Jobs was asked how he felt about Gates's success. "[H]ow do [I] feel about Bill Gates getting rich off some of the ideas that we had ..." Jobs wondered. "Well, you know, the goal is not to be the richest man in the cemetery. It's not my goal anyway."

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In a 1994 interview, Jobs was asked how he felt about Gates's success. "[H]ow do [I] feel about Bill Gates getting rich off some of the ideas that we had ..." Jobs wondered. "Well, you know, the goal is not to be the richest man in the cemetery. It's not my goal anyway."

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Comments

[NONENTITY]

01:22 PM on 07/17/2010

When Steve Jobs took over Apple for the second time, he said the company was living month
to month. He also said that Bill Gates gave Apple $150 million dollars to keep them afloat.

[joseph blow]

12:46 AM on 07/14/2010

Greatest is the one who serves the most. So in that regard Bill Gates wins hands down with his philanthropic work and trying to find cures to malaria and educate poor children while Job's is focused on building gadgets that do very little to change the world in a positive way.
Steve, why don't you use your genius and charisma to get Israel and its neighbors to make permanent peace. Now that would change the world.

[whatsthatsound]

06:23 PM on 07/12/2010

He's so vain, he probably thinks this song is about him.

[HansCastorp1]

03:19 PM on 07/12/2010

Ah, HuffPost! Your editors have scored yet another tabloidesque coup, fabricating an "article" that millions will read from...nothing.

[WasteNJ]

08:36 AM on 07/12/2010

What's with this puff piece for the Apple cultists?

[lonnymac]

06:42 AM on 07/12/2010

Jabberwolf = MS Schill

[jabberwolf]

02:36 AM on 07/12/2010

Steve Jobs trying to rewrite history yet AGAIN!
JOBS stole from Xerox.. and basicically hired away programmer then asked Xerox to sponsor himself with their own work!!!
Gates like the gui idea and MADE IT HIMSELF !!

Jobs is a failed 1st year art and literature major from an obscure university. Gates is a 3rd year succeeding student at Harvard in computer science that dropped out by his own choice.

Of course Steve jobs wants to whine and complain, hes never done anything himself anyway. He even stood on top of Woz's shoulders on all the work Woz did, and pretended like he was an equal creator.

JOBS = FRAUD and complainer!!

[Hura]

06:54 PM on 07/12/2010

jabberwolf, Steve Jobs is one of the most successful entrepreneurs and inventors in American business history. While you may not like it for some reason (Microsoft shill? Fandroid?), the facts speak for themselves. Do a little research while trying to remain objective. At the moment, it is YOU who appears to be the fraud and complainer.

[awerg sfgn]

06:53 AM on 07/13/2010

LOL...Steve Jobs is not one of the most successful entreprenures or inventors in american history. The majority of his companies have failed. When faced with competition he crumbles. Just watch and see what happens the next few years. He'll be whining as loud as he ever has, its already starting.

[zapperz]

12:33 PM on 07/11/2010

Bill gates is like joe kennedy. they both were crooks and got away with it. when i worked for a major hardware mfg. microsoft stole code from us and when caught, they settled out of court! that is their MO.

[wavelydavely]

01:49 AM on 07/11/2010

Does Mr. Gates look a little like Stephen Hawking in the photo above? And what's with the American Apparel ads? I'm feeling very uncomfortable right now.

[Terry Casey]

05:04 PM on 07/09/2010

Ok Why don't Bill Gates and Steve Jobs run the country together ...Bill Can run the finance and Steve jobs can make jobs for everyone that are cool .

[Hura]

08:44 PM on 07/12/2010

Apple is now worth more than Microsoft, so I suggest we let Steve run the finances as well..... using Numbers and not that stupid Excel thing for the number crunching.... not that I want to be accused of being an Apple "fan boy"...... it might hurt my feelings!

[maxtalks]

06:37 AM on 07/13/2010

hura...well, obviously you seem enchanted by Jobs for some reason - maybe you need to know that it took apple more than 3 decades to reach where it is - and not through intelligence either. apple products are skin deep with little substance. grow up man!

[awerg sfgn]

07:02 AM on 07/13/2010

lol...numbers is a toy compared to excel !! OMG that’s rich!! lolololol

..and we'll see how long crApple's Market Cap is larger than M$....guaranteed it won’t last long. If you knew anything about tech and business, you would see that M$ is positioning themselves years into the future with technologies that crApple doesn’t even understand. crApple on the other hand, has to keep hoping they can pull the wool over consumer’s eyes for just alittle longer. Trouble is, people are getting keen to the propaganda.

[2minutetalk]

04:02 AM on 07/09/2010

I always thought Apple and Jobs were more innovative than Microsoft and Gates.

[ZeraLee]

08:43 PM on 07/11/2010

They were. But Gates and Microsoft were the bigger predators. It is much easier to find something MS bought, copied, or stole, than something they originated themselves. Only the gaming industry was big enough to stand up to "Wintel".

[jabberwolf]

02:39 AM on 07/12/2010

Jobs couldnt create a line of code that would function at all.
He is a salesperson/marketing person that is all he has ever been.
There is not an innovative, intelligent or creative bone in his body!

[thebeerdoctor]

01:44 AM on 07/08/2010

Only one word is needed for all this silly information technology onanism: UBUNTU.

[phantasticorps]

05:25 PM on 07/09/2010

Agreed. The tale of two operating systems is gradually coming to a welcome end. I run dual-boot with Ubuntu, although I drop into XP for some media stuff that the open source folks haven't ironed out yet (they will soon have it resolved, no doubt) and games. For all my office/email/school stuff, it's strictly Ubuntu because it runs much faster and boots in 1/100th the time XP does. I'd like to think that the general public is much more savvy than previous decades, but I'll reserve judgment until the Palin issue reaches conclusion.

[webandgraphics]

02:21 PM on 07/07/2010

The average computer user these days is significantly less tech savy than the average computer user 10 years ago. These days, PCs are for more advanced users/gamers, the types that really want to make their machine "personal" IMO. And Macs are for the media junkies and most designers that could care less about really "getting into" their machines.

[akleos]

02:40 PM on 07/12/2010

You forgot to mention that Macs are not upgradeable and they cost 4 times as much.

[maxtalks]

06:40 AM on 07/13/2010

better yet - try making a phone call from the iphone...uh oh..oops, were we supposed to do that even?

[maxtalks]

06:40 AM on 07/13/2010

i agree! try hooking up the ipod to a friend's laptop to download some songs that you like. isnt it supposed to be that simple? duh-of course not ipod! you need to download my application first!

[goatface]

11:52 AM on 07/07/2010

This is kinda funny because I don't even really view Microsoft and Apple as competitors anymore. They don't really compete in the same space. I know they have an overlap of products but I'm talking about actually competing. To me it seems that Apple's main competition is Google it portable space. On the home desktop you really have two different markets with Apple dominating in the creative artsy space and PC dominating the number cruncher types and the i just want email and internet people; so I wouldn't really call that a competition especially when you factor price. would you say that the FORD focus competes directly with a Mercedes AMG? In the Enterprise space Apple doesn't even exist and Microsofts real rival is the combination of Linux and Oracle.

Both companies have their places and based on the numbers I would say that Microsoft did a better job of picking the profitable markets to service.

[webandgraphics]

02:22 PM on 07/07/2010

Good points, well put.

[Hura]

09:00 PM on 07/12/2010

I strongly agree with much of what you say except for the last paragraph. As of May 2010, Apple's market capitalization now exceeds that of Microsoft, showing that it is Apple that has, at present, done a better job of picking the profitable markets.

No doubt this is due in large part to the success of the iPod and the iPhone, with a subsequent flow-on effect to the computer market, but business is business.

[maxtalks]

06:41 AM on 07/13/2010

hura...congrats for making all the dollars on the market cap....i guess i am gonna see you say this as i read on more...

[awerg sfgn]

07:07 AM on 07/13/2010

You really have no clue how business works do you? You should just quit talking because you're just showing your complete ignorance over and over and over and over.

[xoben]

10:02 AM on 07/07/2010

personally i would like to see a celebrity deathmatch with those 2