How did Bill Gates get popular? It started with Xbox Options

[Xbox-Scene]

How did Bill Gates get popular? It started with Xbox Posted by XanTium | June 28 23:09 EST | News Category: Xbox_Xbox360

From venturebeat.com: [QUOTE] Everybody has an opinion about whether Gates is a good guy or a bad guy. But there is no doubting that his image is a lot different than in 2000, when Ken Auletta painted an unflattering portrait of Gates in his book, "World War 3.0," about the Microsoft antitrust trial. With Xbox, Gates had a chance to play the white knight. When Sony started dropping hints about the PlayStation 2 in 1998, Microsoft went into a panic. Sony's executives were boastful. Soon, they were saying it was going to be the comet to wipe out the dinosaurs and was "more than a PC." Microsoft had to defend the living room, and Gates' attempts to partner with Sony fell flat. The more they toured the industry, the more they found that game developers felt oppressed by the dominant companies, Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft had a crack in the door. It asked developers what they wanted in a game console and tried to give them everything they wanted. The Microsoft team greenlit a lot of games in the hopes of unleashing creativity. And they could build a platform where everyone (except Microsoft itself) could make more money, create the game they wanted to create, and force the Japanese rivals to be more competitive. That's the sanitized version of history, for sure. But it could be called a turning point for Gates' image. It was probably the first time anybody waited in line to buy one of his products at midnight (at least with good reason). And the first time that he could be identified with something that was cooler than anything Apple's Steve Jobs was doing. [/QUOTE] Full Story: venturebeat.com

[StrictPuppet]

This article sounds kind of like Bill Gates' eulogy.
I do find it to be an accurate assessment. Enjoy your retirement B.G.

[Elemino]

Come to think of it... why haven't we seen the iGame? lol

I don't see Gates in a panic of Sony's PS2, but ok. But I was thinking before MS announced the original Xbox it only made sense for them to release a game console. They were already partners with all the companies that made hardware in the original console. They were also, and still are, coproducing products with Sony. Which is crazy, because they are competitors at the same time.

[tristanx]

retirement is nice... to bad most of us will never get to.


i miss my old xbox...

[chorizo1]

who's bill gates?

[ILLusions0fGrander]

in case anyone missed it:

Bill Gates Last Day at Microsoft

that's the first time I thought he was cool.

[trentdadi]

I am pretty jealous myself. He's got enough money he can probably do whatever he wants for the remainder of his life without a worry in the world. I don't really like or dislike the guy but I do respect him immensely. The world of computers would not be where it is today without him. He does seem to be the most down to Earth CEO of a rich corporation in my opinion though so that's a deffinate plus.

[ShAdYnYc]

I am pretty jealous myself. He's got enough money he can probably do whatever he wants for the remainder of his life without a worry in the world. I don't really like or dislike the guy but I do respect him immensely. The world of computers would not be where it is today without him. He does seem to be the most down to Earth CEO of a rich corporation in my opinion though so that's a deffinate plus.

I agree ..

[Adam19]

I am pretty jealous myself. He's got enough money he can probably do whatever he wants for the remainder of his life without a worry in the world. I don't really like or dislike the guy but I do respect him immensely. The world of computers would not be where it is today without him. He does seem to be the most down to Earth CEO of a rich corporation in my opinion though so that's a deffinate plus.

Some of us probably wouldnt even have our jobs

[Verity]

It was probably the first time anybody waited in line to buy one of his products at midnight (at least with good reason).

Jeebus, how young are the writers of these kind of articles?

I remember at least 6 YEARS PRIOR that the original Windows-95 launch had people lining up for midnight release sales. And then again in 1998 for the Win-98 release (which really was just a giant bugfix for a bunch of Win95 problems).

[ZX3Junglist]

I can't believe anyone would question his human worth! Have any of you heard of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which is the largest transparent charity in the world? He, along with Warren Buffet, has put up HUGE amounts of money to help with global health and development. I can't say that he's Andrew Carnegie reborn, but compared to Wal-Mart's Waltons he's a saint. Keep in mind Gates did win Time magazine's person of the year for his philanthropy.

Just imagine if you could use billions to help the world, would you have done what he did earlier in life in order to do it? I think the answer is yes.

If you're interested, wikipedia has a great page on his charity here.

[Smiling Cat]

It also ended with Vista and the 360 RROD syndrome.

He's not really retiring though seeing as he is still going to I guess in a way pay himself for running his charity organization.

Overall for being an incredibly rich man I think he is on a pedestal over the other super rich in America. He's a shining example while the others are greedy and completely obsessed with their own egos.

This post has been edited by Smiling Cat: Jul 1 2008, 11:45 PM