What Steve Jobs And Bill Gates Really Thought About Each Other

Earlier this month, Bill Gates got emotional talking about Steve Jobs.

Advertisement

"He and I, in a sense, grew up together," Gates said. "We were within a year of the same age, and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies. And every fantasy we had about creating products and learning new things — we achieved all of it. And most of it as rivals. But we always retained a certain respect and communication, including even when he was sick."

steve jobs and bill gates ribalry pbs documentary
PBS

There's no relationship in history like that of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

As partners and rivals, they built the personal computing industry with two totally different styles.

Jobs was a working-class kid from California who believed in tight control over all products, and put a premium on design.

Advertisement

Bill Gates was an upper class kid from Washington who believed in open products, and didn't worry too much about great design.

"Each one thought he was smarter than the other one, but Steve generally treated Bill as someone who was slightly inferior, especially in matters of taste and style," said early Macintosh employee Andy Hertzfield in Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs bio. He added, "Bill looked down on Steve because he couldn’t actually program."

Gates quote inspired us to take a look back at some of the best quotes from Gates and Jobs about each other in Isaacson's book to get a deeper sense of what the men really thought of each other.

Advertisement

Gates: Steve Jobs was "fundamentally odd," and "weirdly flawed as a human being"

steve jobs ipod touch

Jobs on Gates: “He’d be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger"

bill gates
AP
Advertisement

Gates on Jobs: "He really never knew much about technology, but he had an amazing instinct for what works"

Steve Jobs with iPad
Wikimedia Commons

Jobs: "Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he’s more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology"

Bill Gates
Advertisement

"He just shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas," said Jobs of Gates

bill gates sitting in front of a start menu
Pop History Dig

This was a theme for Jobs. He also said, "They just ripped us off completely, because Gates has no shame."

To which Gates replied: "If he believes that, he really has entered into one of his own reality distortion fields."

When Apple was thinking about buying NeXT, Gates shredded the company and Jobs

gil amelio steve jobs
AP

Gates said this to Amelio: "You really think Steve Jobs has anything there? I know his technology, it’s nothing but a warmed-over UNIX, and you’ll never be able to make it work on your machines. Don’t you understand that Steve doesn’t know anything about technology? He’s just a super salesman. I can’t believe you’re making such a stupid decision ... He doesn’t know anything about engineering, and 99% of what he says and thinks is wrong. What the hell are you buying that garbage for?"

Advertisement

Gates in an internal email: "Steve Jobs’ ability to focus in on a few things that count, get people who get user interface right, and market things as revolutionary are amazing things"

steve jobs ipad

Gates again internally on iPod: "I think we need some plan to prove that, even though Jobs has us a bit flat footed again, we can move quick and both match and do stuff better."

j allard bill gates zune
J Allard and Bill Gates Associated Press
Advertisement

At the D5 conference, Gates said: "I’d give a lot to have Steve’s taste"

steve jobs bill gates
Asa Mathat | All Things D

Gates on the iPad: "It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’"

Apple Store kid iPad
Matt Rosoff Business Insider
Advertisement

Jobs' ultimate take on Microsoft: It has no taste

steve jobs
AP

"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste. I don’t mean that in a small way. I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their product."

Gates on closed models like Apple: "The integrated approach works well when Steve is at the helm. But it doesn’t mean it will win many rounds in the future."

steve jobs
Apple
Advertisement

Jobs on the open model: "Of course, his fragmented model worked, but it didn't make really great products. It produced crappy products."

microsoft tablet bill gates

Jobs on Microsoft today: "They've clearly fallen from their dominance. They’ve become mostly irrelevant ... I don’t think anything will change at Microsoft as long as Ballmer is running it."

Steve Ballmer Microsoft CEO
Dan Frommer, Business Insider
Advertisement

Jobs' closing take on Bill Gates: He's a businessman, not a product guy

Bill Gates Novell lawsuit.
Bill Gates showed up in court to talk about events that took place more than 15 years ago. AP

"Bill likes to portray himself as a man of the product, but he’s really not. He’s a businessperson. Winning business was more important than making great products. He ended up the wealthiest guy around, and if that was his goal, then he achieved it. But it’s never been my goal, and I wonder, in the end, if it was his goal. I admire him for the company he built—it’s impressive—and I enjoyed working with him. He’s bright and actually has a good sense of humor."

Gates: "The way he does things is just different and I think it’s magical."

steve jobs apple home page
Apple
Advertisement

After the book came out Gates responded to Jobs ...

bill gates
ABC

"I respect Steve, we got to work together. We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of [what he said] bothers me at all."

He also said Jobs felt "beleaguered" because Microsoft succeeded selling cheaper products than Apple and, "he felt like he was the good guy and we were the bad guys," but Gates said, it was "very understandable." 

(See the clip of Gates speaking here)

What's next for Apple?

iphone unbox
Business Insider

Everything You Need To Know About The iPhone 5S →

Bill Gates Apple Microsoft
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.