Melinda Gates, the wife of Microsoft chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, was interviewed by Deborah Solomon in the New York Times' magazine this past Sunday.
Asked whether she owns an iPad, allows her children to use iPods, and if her husband uses an Apple computer, Gates answered no to all of the above and also revealed a ban on Apple products in her household.
The exchange, via the New York Times, was as follows:
Do you own an iPod, which is made by Apple? No, I have a Zune.
What if one of your children says, "Mom, I have to have an iPod?" I have gotten that argument -- "You may have a Zune."
Do you have an iPad? Of course not.
Is it true that Bill works on an Apple laptop? False. Nothing crosses the threshold of our doorstep.
Isn't there room in this world for both Apple and Microsoft? Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh. Go talk to Bill.
In 2008, Tom Brokaw asked Bill Gates whether he owned an iPod. Gates' response was similar to his wife's: "No, I don't. I happen to have what's called a Zune. It's an even better way of carrying your music around," he explained.
Are you surprised to learn of the Apple ban? Do you think it's justified or silly? Weigh in below.