[HeadRusch]

While its always fun to bash on Microsoft, I have to give thanks for Bill effectively launching my career and getting me into computers....no not on some crappy IBM PC or PC jr (my first was an Apple II+ that I still own, beautiful greenscreen monitor..and an awesome 48k upgrade!), but it was seeing a "kid" like him launching what was growing into a bigger and bigger company that made me realize in my early teens that computers were the wave of the future. My first Microsoft product was Flight Simulator.


Most adults at the time looked at Personal computers and went "I have a typewriter for that"...they didn't get it

Today is Bill's last day as a full time MSoft employee.....and Microsoft brought us Xbox.


While the computer-pundits and pony-tail wearing basement coders out there bemoan Microsoft and their stranglehold on computing (not my view, mind you, just a popular one), I can say I lived through multiple vendors and multiple OS's and the endless..yes ENDLESS incompatibilities between all the hardware and software, and I largely don't share their view. As an end user, I'm happier today than in the wild west days of the 80's or 90's.


I really don't want a return to the wild west...so I kinda dig the Windows platform.


I dealt with the cryptic command structures and every piece of software behaving differently....the insanity of WordPerfect users who just couldn't understand that CTRL-B meant "bold", not CTRL-ALT-F2...etc, etc.....so in this case I cast my net with the Evil Empire. I love what Windows, and eventually DirectX and Direct3D did for gaming in particular. I remember installing Windows 3.0...just for word processing mind you, most of the time I was in DOS back then. Then the inevitable move to Windows 95....which I did sometime late in 96, after a few games came out that required me to upgrade. Terminal Velocity? Some Monster Truck 3D game? I can't recall now....it was probably one of those two.


So think what you will about Gates and his Empire.....it ain't perfect, but its better than the Wild West we came from...and frankly, if Apple had clawed its way to the top first, we'd all be hating on them right now instead.


But mostly I thank them for the Xbox...the first of ALL My consoles I've ever owned since my 2600 and Intellivision that really has truly impressed me and pulled me away from the PC as a gaming platform.


Thanks Bill, you stupid-rich SOB! Enjoy your retirement.


Now watch the guy drop dead in 2 years.

 

[logicalnoise]

MS gets a lot of crap but they are still the top OS and tech company for a reason. Windows XP is just about teh best OS out there. Vista is going to get better with time it's few main flaws have more to do with the lumbering mobility of the tech industry rather than MS's failings. Without MS jumping into the console war Nintendo would have been left to compete with SOny all alone and teh Wii may never have been(nintendo would have likely poored more money into higher end components than R&D on a new control system). And then at teh center of MS was Bill. For instance a year before 360 launched Bill gates had a meeting with the original xbox hacker Bunny lee. Lee had literally written the book on hacking your xbox and Bill was smart enough to have a meeting with him aned discuss the things he discopvered. Bunny brought along his xbox which was of course hacked had a whole shell replacement with SBMC installed. Bill was blown away and immediatlya sked "why isn't this stuff in our version of XBOX?" The guy knew good tech and had a good visuion for how computers should work. He'll be missed in the tech field.

 

[rdank]



Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadRusch /forum/post/14172695


My first Microsoft product was Flight Simulator.

What OS were you running FS on?

 

[HeadRusch]

Whoops,it was Flight Simulator II and it was still a SubLogic release at that time, for the Apple II.

 

[number1laing]



Quote:
Originally Posted by logicalnoise /forum/post/0


The guy knew good tech and had a good visuion for how computers should work.

He did, and this was Microsoft's greatest strength - they were able to sort of detect where the computer world was going, and get ready for it better than anyone (sort of like how McDonalds analyzes how towns/cities are growing, and buy up prime spots at low rates before the town gets there). With the one notable exception of course the internet. Microsoft's slowness to embrace it hamstrings them to this day, and left an opening for Google, Yahoo!, eBay, Flooz, Pets.com... okay maybe not the last two.

 

[Degenerazn]

Don't forget about Bill's Philanthrophy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest if not the largest charitable foundations in the world. Enhancing health care and reducing poverty around the world endowing nearly 39 billion dollars. To me, this is his most notable accomplishments.

 

[Davio]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Degenerazn /forum/post/14173374


Don't forget about Bill's Philanthrophy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest if not the largest charitable foundations in the world. Enhancing health care and reducing poverty around the world endowing nearly 39 billion dollars. To me, this is his most notable accomplishments.

I always liked Bill and never got the whole MS bashing stuff, because Bill gives back more to the world than almost all other rich SOB's. You can't say the same about some of these oil executives raking in the fattest profits ever seen while the average person struggles with out of control fuel costs and speculation.


Heres to a great retirement Billy........

 

[wzpgsr]



Quote:
Originally Posted by logicalnoise /forum/post/14173052


Windows XP is just about teh best OS out there.

Either my sarcasm detector is running Windows XP, or you're being completely serious.

 

[logicalnoise]



Quote:
Originally Posted by wzpgsr /forum/post/14173935


Either my sarcasm detector is running Windows XP, or you're being completely serious.

Completely serious. OSX is nearly it's equal but it's hamstrung by Apple's stubborness and attitude towards it's users. I mean seriously look at latest version of windows XP. It's reliable, well laid out. A universe of applications to run and still the OS of chocie if you want to do EVERYTHING in the PC world. Linux works but it's has too many things that keep casual users away.

 

[WilliamR]



Quote:
Originally Posted by logicalnoise /forum/post/14174168


Completely serious. OSX is nearly it's equal but it's hamstrung by Apple's stubborness and attitude towards it's users. I mean seriously look at latest version of windows XP. It's reliable, well laid out. A universe of applications to run and still the OS of chocie if you want to do EVERYTHING in the PC world. Linux works but it's has too many things that keep casual users away.

True, that is why so many companies install Windows XP and skip all other operating systems. It is so stable and runs like a champ. Heck when Gm was trying to standardize 10's of thousands of computers they had a meeting with Balmer and Balmer even recommended they install Windows XP, and that is what GM did, and it has helped turn its IT around.

 

[SCWells72]

Agreed on Gates being very deserving of respect. I certainly went through my MS hate phase back in the mid-'90s, but eventually I realized that he's an unbelievably savvy businessman who seems to have a pretty solid vision for technology. He's obviously very free with his fortunes and helps charities worldwide as others have already mentioned.


His company's execution has not had the best track record, but once their products reach a certain point of maturity (the old "the 3.0 of a MS product is really the 1.0" adage), they are very solid, usable, and often even cutting edge. Just consider Office and Exchange Server as de facto standards in the corporate enterprise. Also, Sony and Nintendo have a LONG way to go to catch up to the X360's Dashboard and Live!


As for XP's quality as an OS, I personally think that there are more technically solid OSes out there, especially from a CS fundamentals perspective, but when the time came recently for me to buy a new personal laptop, I passed on a Mac and picked up a Windows laptop. I knew it'd run all the software I wanted to run and I could get a pretty high end machine for half the price of a lesser equipped Mac. The geek in me kind of regretted passing on the drool-worthy combination of a UNIX-derived OS and Apple's UI/usability wizardry, but the practical side of me prevailed. I'm also a big fan of Linux which would run very well on my current hardware, but I'm just so tired of maintaining multiple OS installs after years of dual-booting, keeping VM images around, etc. That was fun in the early-to-mid '90s, then it became tedious over time, and now it's just not interesting to me at all anymore...


I've wondered for years why Gates continued to work. I'm glad to see that he's actually going to retire and enjoy life. Good for him...

 

[HeadRusch]

Well I don't think so much that he's retiring, as he is "Shifting Jobs"....he's going to be spending as much, if not more time, with his Philanthropy.


In a way, his stepping down from Microsoft is probably a good thing in the long term...he's been a great visionary for desktop PC usage, because he helped create the entire market. I've read a few of the biographies about him (and Jobs, and Steve Wozniak) and they are all fascinating people, all hitting at that perfect time in history to capitalize on a market that they helped define.


But its clear he's reactionary to the smaller devices.....to him, a cell phone or a smart PDA is a PC enhancement. To alot of the world, its a PC replacement. Thats the part he has trouble seeing...or perhaps doesn't want to see, because thats his companies bread and butter..the PC. Anyhow, it'll be interesting to see where life takes him now. Seeing Steve Ballimer step out of a tardis to do a TechEd speech just wont be the same

 

[Quidam67]

Nice Post HeadRusch


Personally, I don't think it is a good idea to villify or pedastal any organisation/company/figurehead. MS is what it is not just because of Bill, he is simply the public persona we associate with the company.


In my view, Bill won a very important battle while the industry was still very young (with Apple and IBM) due to his superior business-sense and his willingness to copy other peoples ideas and dress them up in a way that appealed to the mass market.


It was a unique period in history, and I don't think we will ever see something like this repeat itself in the future.


I'll never forget seeing a photo of Microsoft Employees bunched together while the company was still young. They looked like a bunch of mutants and truly defined geek-culture.


Here ya go!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/142636

 

[Degenerazn]

Tribute to Bill

 

[HeadRusch]

Thats what I love about Bill....he makes a going-away video that proves.....you can buy anyone and get them to say and do anything....if you're a multi-billionaire

This thread makes me want to go over to the PS3 forum and post how I hate some PS3-exclusive game.....

(whoops..too late).












I KID, I KID....leave me alone.

 

[Spektricide]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Davio /forum/post/14173697


I always liked Bill and never got the whole MS bashing stuff, because Bill gives back more to the world than almost all other rich SOB's. You can't say the same about some of these oil executives raking in the fattest profits ever seen while the average person struggles with out of control fuel costs and speculation.


Heres to a great retirement Billy........

Not to spiral this thread in an unintended direction but I had to take note of the above sentiment.


The "Big Oil" companies profit margins average around 8% each year.


Microsoft and Google average 25-30%. Don't let the media brow beat you into believing the "Big oil" hype.


Sure, Exxon made 9.92 billion in 3 months. But that was only around 7-10% profit margin. That means that spent a HECK of a lot more money in equipment, wages, transportation, etc. to make their billions.


Sure, they've had record profits. But they still aren't getting anywhere near the margins of some of our most beloved companies.


Don't belive me? Follow the link to the blog. Then follow his links. This guy does his homework.

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/bl...ll-profit.html

 

[Spektricide]

BACK TO REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING:::


Kudos to Bill for his genius and foresight to see where Personal Computing would go in the future. Good luck to him in the future.

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks to Bill I have a good career. His visions will surely be missed and his CES Keytone was always a pleasure to watch. While his day to day will shift amongst the org, I'm sure he'll still be around to provide in input at the top level and continue to be a vissionary for MS.

 

[Zzz..oltan!]

Dear Bill,


As a USER, thanks for the XP Media Center Edition. And for HALO. Aaand for the EXbox and the PRESENTbox.


That Master Chief costume is hideous tough.


Sincerely;


Z

 

[flood222]

Microsoft has done a lot of things right but they've also screwed over a lot of people.