Bill Gates Reflects On The Passing Of Steve Jobs In 'Nightline' Interview (VIDEO)

In a Nightline interview, which aired Tuesday night, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates spoke about his relationship with Steve Jobs, particularly how he was affected by the Apple co-founder's death in October 2011.

In a clip from the interview, which was posted on Yahoo, Gates appears to play down the much discussed rivalry between Jobs and himself, shrugging off interviewer Bill Weir's intimation that it wasn't until Gates' last meeting with Jobs, shortly before Jobs died, that the tech titans reconciled.

Instead, Gates paints a picture of a more affable relationship. Although, he says, both he and Jobs bet their early careers on the success (or in Gates' case, the failure) of Apple's Macintosh, the pair nevertheless enjoyed each others' company.

"Steve had a very different set of skills than I did," Gates says. "He was every bit as intense, [he] believed in revolutionary ways of using computers, but not [in] an engineer approach, more of a design approach. And that had huge strengths."

"He and I always enjoyed talking," Gates went on. Laughing slightly as he described Jobs' notoriously intense and sometimes confrontational style, Gates recalled, "He would throw some things out, you know, some stimulating things."

But Gates also told of a more laid-back and approachable Jobs. "We'd talk about the other companies that have come along. We talked about our families and how lucky we'd both been in terms of the women we married," he said. "It was great relaxed conversation."

Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs colors their relationship a different way. Isaacson quotes Jobs as calling Gates "fundamentally odd" and "weirdly flawed as a human being." Jobs also said, per Isaacson, "Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

In October, Gates sat down for an interview with ABC's This Week, during which he dismissed those quotes from the biography and said "none of that bothers me at all."

The tech entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist explained to Nightline the impact he felt from Jobs' death:

It makes you feel like, "Wow, we're getting old." You look back and think about the great opportunities we had to have a great impact. [...] I hope I still have quite a bit of time for the focus I have now, which is the philanthropic work. And there's drugs we're investing in now that won't be out for 15 years. [...] Malaria eradication, I need a couple decades here to fulfill that opportunity. I don't think of myself as fading away, but it reminds you that you gotta pick important stuff, because you only have a limited time.

Jobs' widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, was one of 21 guests invited to sit in First Lady Michelle Obama's box at Tuesday's State of the Union address, reports The Washington Post. According to TechCrunch, during the address, President Obama emphasized the importance of entrepreneurs and innovation saying, "[W]e should support everyone who's willing to work; and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs."

Check out a clip from the interview (below), and visit Yahoo to read more from the full Nightline interview.

Related on HuffPost:

Check out 9 facts about Steve Jobs, as revealed in Walter Isaacson's biography of the Apple co-founder.

Comments

[stratego]

04:31 AM on 01/28/2012

Meh... Gates doesnt make one "charitable" move unless it makes money for his corporate friends, allows him to have control over others and their lives, or shapes the future of our country or others' in the way HE wants it.

[stratego]

03:57 AM on 01/28/2012

The core issue here is that Bill Gates has many half baked corporate subsidizing ideas that he can effect due to his vast wealth. He manages Walton's charitable wealth in ways that MANY have objections to, but hey, try to fight Bill Gates if you are the people of a poor African village. They want him OUT in many areas and his money always comes with a price and loss of autonomy. He needs to keep his hands out of how people run their lives. He believes his wealth makes him the master of all and an expert on how individuals should live. The true winner here? Bill's Monsanto corporate CEO buddies.

[EldestBrother]

01:35 AM on 01/28/2012

Bill Gates is certainly trying to paint himself as a saint, even to the PR photo of him in this article. However, if you look at his eyes, you will see there is a self serving demon inside his body. Like Steve Jobs, I also find Bill Gates “flawed as a human being”. Interestingly enough, we could have saved Steve Jobs from dying of cancer, and you could say it was Gates who prevented it.

After 12 years in seclusion, in 2009, with our 1,981 year long Vow of Silence almost over, I chose to meet in Seattle with the most senior Elder Brothers and Sisters of the Desposyni’s 10,000 year long lineage (www.DesposyniChurch.org). As trained healers, they had “sung broken bones” back into place and healed a boy blind from birth, as well as healing people of cancer and AIDS just by using Rapture Love Energies.

We located a newspaper article about a place called “Harmony Hill”. The article said they used meditation to help people recover from chemotherapy. However, when we contacted them to offer their patients free Love Energized Healing Treatments so they could self heal themselves, the spokesperson screamed, “Yes, we believe in spiritual healings, but they won’t happen here at Harmony Hill because we have a $500,000 grant from the Bill Gates Foundation that specifically forbids spiritual healing and requires us to only work with medical doctors”.

[Lucille]

07:30 PM on 01/29/2012

That's very interesting indeed. I wonder if Steve Jobs knew of your order? Or of that man Brother John (I believe that's his name) in Brazil. Oprah sent her producers to the place where Brother John practices in Brazil and where people from all over the world come to get healed both physically and mentally.

[EldestBrother]

10:42 PM on 01/29/2012

"Lucille" said in a reply to my earlier post on this article, - “That's very interestin­g indeed. I wonder if Steve Jobs knew of your order? Or of that man Brother John (I believe that's his name) in Brazil. Oprah sent her producers to the place where Brother John practices in Brazil and where people from all over the world come to get healed both physically and mentally.”

We were under a 1,981 year long Vow of Silence that ended November 2011. Thus, while we could offer free Miracle Healing Treatments in Seattle during 2009, we could not publicly announce our presence or contact Steve until it was too late, or even offer him the cure for all diseases which we will be offering to all people next week.

As general manager of a satellite TV channel on self healing and spirituality, I was sent footage of Brother John, but with one viewing, I could see what was happening and left it alone. I saw Brother John taking Love Energy from his followers in the room and sending a portion to heal others, but keeping a large portion for himself.

All Desposyni (www.DesposyniChurch.org), are taught to have a flow of Unconditional Love Energy from God through them directly and how to focus these heightened Love Energies to heal people. We have been successful in healings of cancer and AIDS, as you can read in the bios on the website.

[crayola 08b]

06:01 PM on 01/27/2012

for decades these two men have been both colleagues and adversaries, usually both at the same time. and they both were so polar opposites of each other yet they made history together and apart due to their differing views. i'm an apple fanboy but i'm in awe at how they were both able to change the world with their diametrically opposing views. i'm sure steve's passing was difficult for bill.

[stratego]

03:59 AM on 01/28/2012

Nothing is difficult for "Bill."

[UNFaithful Servant]

01:42 PM on 01/27/2012

I'm not sure why people concern themselves with intimate details about these people. Everyone is flawed, and last I checked, some of the greatest minds belonged to some very flawed individuals. Society needs to transcend past the interest in celebrity gossip already.

[Michaela19801]

07:52 PM on 01/26/2012

I think Gate's philanthropic work makes him the better person in the end. Not necessarily the better tech but the better person. His foundation helps so many people and will go on long after he is gone.

[Michael Briggs]

10:47 AM on 01/27/2012

I agree.

[stratego]

04:06 AM on 01/28/2012

I do not agree. If one looks at Bill Gates and his philanthropic endeavors, many are questionable and every one is about power and how he can wield it. He is a puppeteer. Charitable? Sort of, if you are an African village, you had better do everything his way. Many Africans are not allowed in the decision processes of their own village once he comes in. He is a corporate CEO who likes to be a puppetmaster in important areas in which he has no expertise, but claims his money makes him so. He is a meddler and all his money comes with his strings on how we should change the world and all well influenced by his corporate buddies. His current project Selling how we can feed the world with genetically engineered crops, a line straight from his corporate CEO friends at Monsanto who stand to make BIG bucks with their new genetically engineered corn. If you look behind his attack on education it is becasue his ALEC friends and Murdoch decided to get intp the education business through purchasing charter schools. Now that many corporate charter schools are failing, he has to dabble in somehting else.

[sve]

06:38 PM on 01/26/2012

Although they have had more recognition I think their greatest accomplishment is that of a life well-lived. They spent their lives well growing themselves and also benefitting others. Other people have achievd the same. And many more of us can aspire to do the same: grow ourselves and benefit others. That is all.

[stratego]

04:09 AM on 01/28/2012

These men are not someone to aspire to. Their wealth does not make them better people, and Bill Gates does not do ANYTHING to benefit others unless it brings a profit for his or his friends' corporations. I wish people would stop fawning. There are a lot of Africans upset with Bill bringing money with one hand and strict control over their life decisions with another.

[David Olend]

07:21 PM on 02/24/2012

What makes people like you tick? I have read so many of your posts here, and all you can do is hate and criticize a man who has done quite a bid of good. Maybe alot of the politics and bureaucracy involved in such a massive undertaking strikes a wrong cord among the very ones that he is trying to help, this my negative friend can and must be expected when discussing such a massive endeavor. What exactly have you done so noble in your life that gives you the expertise and the right to make the sort of accusations that you repeat about Bill Gates? Should we all aspire to be.....you? No thank you, the world is full of arm chair quarter backs who do nothing but sit and criticize others who are attempting to make things better.

[KarateKid]

06:22 PM on 01/26/2012

I never bought any Apple product because of Steve _Jobs. I bought it because of Jonathan Ive.

[Onutz]

11:01 AM on 01/27/2012

((I never bought any Apple product because of Steve _Jobs. I bought it because of Jonathan Ive.))

THANK YOU!!

[Freddy Nightliker]

07:34 PM on 01/27/2012

kind of a silly thing to say really. Although I agree that Ives is an asset... and even better, one that survives.

[Michael Doane]

05:39 PM on 01/26/2012

I have been in IT for nearly forty years and consider these two among the most over-rated individuals around. Watching cable news the week of Jobs' death was horrifying as talking head after talking head sanctified him as "our era's Thomas Edison" and the like. I know, it's all that money they made.

One of my heros is Dan Bricklin who invented the spreadsheet. He made exactly zero dollars on that and had no regrets.

[arthur99]

06:51 PM on 01/26/2012

Macintosh
PIXAR
iPOD
ITunes
Ipad
IPhone
Apple stores

all his vission and driven by him...he holds 250 patents
he even picked the color of the restroom signs in the stores

he never considered himself an engineer or programmer

[numbers wonk]

09:06 PM on 01/26/2012

He "shares" 250 patents. There was a large team of people in Bandley 2, quite a few of whom also died of pancreatic cancer, whose names might be on a few of those.

He was a brilliant marketing visionary who could see a technology and comprehend how it could be adapted to consumer use, and then how to refine it to enable it to be easy to use by consumers. Quite a skill and one I try to emulate. Few technologists could do that consistently and as you correctly point out he had superb vision and the obsessive ability to persuade - his 'reality distortion field.'

His obsession with control of every detail often - not always - made him overbearing - the color of restroom signs is a perfect example. There are thousands of similar factual anecdotes floating around Silicon Valley.

[arthur99]

06:54 PM on 01/26/2012

jobs took $1 as pay for a few years in the late 90's and took no stock
after he took it, the bottom dropped out so it was worthless

after reading his bio, I'm convinced money was not his motivation, he liked the deal, the success of the product, the 'hunt', he sounds like he was a pr ick at times, but $$$ was not his purpose

he lived in a small house, no security...gates upon visiting asked him if whole familiy lived there...

[Yank in France]

03:42 AM on 01/31/2012

I agree with you, but the stock option was a very greedy move by Jobs. It just so happened that the market fell out just after the Apple board (reluctantly) gave him the unprecedented option package. 

Jobs also was very unfair to some of his earliest colleagues. They deserved better.

That said, I admire him for his courage and willingness to take his ideas to their logical conclusion, regardless of what others thought. He took on the Empire (IBM, then Microsoft) and seemed on the verge of collapse just 15 or 16 short years ago, but then produced one of their greatest comeback stories of all time!

[arthur99]

05:32 PM on 01/26/2012

lot of judgement on these 2 men, human, with frailties, like ALL of us
they got rich by taking a chance, being innovative, and hardworking...not by being able to toss a ball or having a pretty face...their work brings us entertainment and make work more efficient, in many way revolutionizing work and play...

and they both made 100's of millions when 25 or younger...so money was never really a concern

[demofem]

03:51 PM on 01/26/2012

Human beings are complicated. No one is perfect, so instead of finding fault with these two, let's commend them for their incredible innovation, and particularly appreciate Gates' work now, which will benefit humankind long after all of us are gone.

[Onutz]

11:03 AM on 01/27/2012

((let's commend them for their incredible innovation, and particularly appreciate Gates' work now, which will benefit humankind long after all of us are gone.))

Exactly

[jbabVt]

03:28 PM on 01/26/2012

Two great tech-giants, and that is all.

[alumcreek]

03:23 PM on 01/26/2012

So far as I can recall, Bill's sole innovation was to get small time geeks to pay for programs which they had never done before.

[RedDog79]

04:59 PM on 01/26/2012

sole motivation? wow that's a blanket statement about someone you don't even know. interesting.

[alumcreek]

05:12 PM on 01/26/2012

So you know me and Bill well enough to jump to that conclusion? How did I miss your presence in my orbit? I beg your pardon for ignoring you so long. How about you buy me lunch and I will apologize in person.

[numbers wonk]

08:58 PM on 01/26/2012

Was that you skulking around the back of the MITS Mobile liberating the infamous paper tape Steven Levy wrote about?

Every time I read that story and compare it with today's internet hackers I have to laugh at how far we've come.

[alumcreek]

06:07 AM on 01/27/2012

The joy of getting new software from friends and acquaintances was great. Buying klugy software that works poorly and makes one miserable is heartrending. I waste too much of my life cursing software that keeps freezing up.

[Craig Koebelin]

03:06 PM on 01/26/2012

Bill Gates was the biggest money-grubber of them all until he had so much that he realized he didn't have to do it anymore, he was the richest man in the world. Then the philanthropy began.

Maybe if Jobs had lived he would have come around to this way of thinking. Apple is now the richest company in the world. Where do you go from there?

As Robber Barons get older, they start worrying about their legacy, and maybe the hereafter. So they endow a foundation. It's the least they can do.

Jobs had an axe to grind after being pushed out of Apple before. so that's what drove him, but after there are no more mountains to summit, one would have expected him to become more thoughtful, but maybe not.

[stratego]

04:23 AM on 01/28/2012

This is exactly what Gates is about, his legacy. He is now pushing "green" creating of engineered food on Africans and others in nations with starvation. GREEN in his terms, always translates to the dollar signs kind. His corporate CEO friends at Monsanto are declaring a premature victory while Gates peddles their new engineered corn money making scheme for them.
People need to get off their knees, open thier eyes, and stop idolizing these corporate puppetmasters just becaue they have more money than God.

[Craig Koebelin]

04:53 PM on 01/28/2012

King Geek is pushing Corn++?

[Lucille]

07:46 PM on 01/29/2012

I disagree about Steve Jobs, I think he loved what he was doing and was a true geek at heart, and Apple came to learn (when they almost went bankrupt, without Steve), that as abrasive as he could be, Steve knew want people needed from their technology, and without him (at that time) the company could not succeed.

As for Bill Gates, I don't know what to make of him, I really don't know if he's doing any long term good with his philanthropy, and as a person...well at least he appears to be a good husband and father and so reportedly was Steve Jobs (excluding finally recognizing his illegitimate daughter – I cut him some slack as he eventually came around).

[MAH999]

02:58 PM on 01/26/2012

It's so good to hear these positive comments about Bill Gates. I had the pleasure of working at Microsoft when he was still at the helm. I even had the opportunity to meet him and have him comment on my work. He created a very interesting work environment where you can stretch your wings, take responsibility for your work, get the support you need to do your job well. I got to work with very bright people on very interesting projects. It's pretty intense there, and I sure earned my keep, but I'm very grateful to Gates for the company he created, the opportuntiies it gave me, and for the charitable work he's doing.

[stratego]

04:28 AM on 01/28/2012

Good. He should stick to what he knows and stop trying to puppeteer every decisions on how to create the futures of needy countries He is all about giving with one hand and controlling our lives and the lives of everyone with the other. I have no respect for him outside of him building his own empire. He should keep his hands out of many areas he knows little about, but peddles for his corporate friends' profits just because of his enourmous wealth.

[MAH999]

06:53 PM on 01/28/2012

meow

[David Olend]

07:45 PM on 02/24/2012

Who exactly in your expert opinion would be better qualified to undertake to take on such massive endeavors over in Africa? You? Could you do it better? Who could please 100% of the people over there. Who has accomplished more in Africa to help? Why are areas of Africa in such distress when as you hint there are so many people better qualified to improve the situation? Where are all these people? What have YOU done to help change the course of human suffering in Africa? Who are you? 100 years after he is gone Bill Gates will still be spoken of, and very often for the good he has done for mankind.......do you think YOUR name will come up? I think not.