All You Need Is Love, $50 Billion, and Killer Software

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&amp;doc_id=208505">http://www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&amp;doc_id=208505</a><br /><br />Love him or hate him, Bill Gates is a man who has accomplished a great many things in his life. This article paints the picture of the post-CEO Bill Gates, and he seems to have found the groove he was looking for. Despite some of the questionable things Microsoft has done under Bill's leadership, I really admire the man. And I truly hope they make Longhorn a "breakaway" product that radically changes the way our computers operate. But back to Bill...<br /><br />"The old Bill, the one we all know, thought he could do it all--and pretty much did. He built the most profitable tech company in history, almost single-handedly transforming the rarefied, clubby computer industry into a mass-market enterprise. He plotted what may prove a successful legal strategy to thwart federal trust-busters. Along the way, he wrote two bestselling books, developed into a mean bridge player and passable golfer, got married and fathered two children (with a third in the offing), took singing lessons, and after an intensive and exhaustive study of global health issues, founded and funded the world's richest charitable foundation. Let's see--are we forgetting anything? Oh, right. In 27 years he claims he has never called in sick or missed work. Not even once. <br /><br />The new Bill, the one we met when we spent a dozen hours tagging along at meetings and speeches and hanging around his office, is a man who is noticeably older, weirdly wiser, and maybe even a little humble. This new Bill is ... well, let him speak for himself, as he did in his office one day in June: "I've always liked multitasking. But there are incredible limits to what I can do--like how much time there is in a day, and how much I like going home at night and having a lot of things to cogitate on." He stands and begins to pace around his chair, just like the old Bill. "You know, the notion that a kid who thought software was cool can end up creating a company with all these smart people whose software gets out to hundreds of millions of people, well, that's an amazing thing. I've had one of the luckiest situations ever. But I've also learned that only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are." Source: <a href="http://www.flashenabled.com/mobile">pt</a><br /><br /><i>Psst - in a brazen display of copyright violation, I've <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/files/fortune-billgates.lit">created an ebook of this article</a>. I think it makes for great reading, and it's long enough to make a decent eBook. Even if you download this eBook, go to the Fortune site at least once to register the fact that you're viewing the article. I wish all new sites would allow the download of their articles in eBook format!</i>

[/dev/niall]

Help me understand something; whenever someone rips off your content, they're a jerk (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1796&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=19), but it's okay for you to do it?

[Kre]

I read this article a couple days ago. I thought it was good. But sometimes I wonder if his life was glossed over a bit. Maybe not. Entertaining, though.

[lawnman]

I don't see anywhere Jason claiming credit for the article. He simply put it in ebook format. What is YOUR problem dev/ ? And it is supposed to be /dev/null rookie.

[JonnoB]

Help me understand something; whenever someone rips off your content, they're a jerk, but it's okay for you to do it?

He references the article and gives full credit. I think Jason did us a service so that we can re-read the article on our PocketPCs later. Thanks Jason.

[Jason Dunn]

Help me understand something; whenever someone rips off your content, they're a jerk (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1796&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=19), but it's okay for you to do it?

Yes. If someone was taking my content and putting it into another format, and keeping my name and giving me credit on it, I wouldn't care. The guy at Slashdot did neither - my name wasn't even on the content, nor was there a valid reason for him doing it other than "just in case his server crashes". Call me a hypocrite, but I see a difference here.

[heov]

Help me understand something; whenever someone rips off your content, they're a jerk, but it's okay for you to do it?

He references the article and gives full credit. I think Jason did us a service so that we can re-read the article on our PocketPCs later. Thanks Jason.

deleted...

never mind, didn't have the info on the /. case... my apologies

[pt]

if someone posted just parts of something, and did not post where he / she got it, made changes to it OR made it appear like it was an interview, that would make most / all people upset. this is nothing like that.

and here's the really cool thing, because of this, i just renewed my sub, i was about to let it go, but this article made me rethink that:
https://secure.customersvc.com/servlet/Show?WESPAGE=fo/Transactions/Renewal/lookup.html&MSRSMAG=FO&TRANSTYPE=renew

and there we go, jason's site once again is a great way to market any product or service you have, provided it doesn't suck.

[jdhill]

pt,

you wouldn't be talking about that recent article on palmhand, er brighthand about the x-scale performance problems would you ??? :?:

(my shift key is broken too, just like pt's !!! :wink: )

[Jonathan1]

8O I'm still amazed on a daily basis that some Sys Admin doesn't snap, get his hands on a sniper rifle and take out Gates. An attempt is bound to happen at some point. *shrugs* I Know I wouldn't shed a tear for the guy. Sort of like Mr. Burns in that Simpson episode where everyone has a motive to kill the guy.

[pt]

pt,
you wouldn't be talking about that recent article on palmhand, er brighthand about the x-scale performance problems would you ??? :?:
(my shift key is broken too, just like pt's !!! :wink: )

not really, those are just general comments but they apply here too. i can see the analogy though with this that you pointed out.

overall and in general, as long as it's clear what's going on to the average reader to what and where something came from everything is cool. also, since this is the web, it's easy to update stuff, so it's never set "in stone".

in this case-everything is win win, so much so, i renewed my sub to a magazine. congrat fortune for low cost (free marketing) from ppc thoughts. maybe they'll consider spending $ on ebooks instead of banner ads for peeps like us.

cheers,
pt

[/dev/niall]

Yes. If someone was taking my content and putting it into another format, and keeping my name and giving me credit on it, I wouldn't care. The guy at Slashdot did neither - my name wasn't even on the content, nor was there a valid reason for him doing it other than "just in case his server crashes". Call me a hypocrite, but I see a difference here.

I think it was pretty obvious that the content came from your site, since the slashdot poster did it "in case your server crashes", but whatever. Yes, I do think you're being hypocritical.

[/dev/niall]

I don't see anywhere Jason claiming credit for the article. He simply put it in ebook format. What is YOUR problem dev/ ? And it is supposed to be /dev/null rookie.

... and I don't see where I claimed he did. Read my post again, read the comment I linked to, and read the slashdot story in question.

I have no problem, just pointing out a perceived disparity between what folks say and what folks do. I don't think I was pissy about it, and I don't really appreciate your snide comments. I invite you to login to any unix box and get a directory listing of "/dev". There's a lot more in there besides the null device, which is where I will be piping your posts from now on.