Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs

[emindead]

I was thinking about how Thomas Alva Edison was a great inventor. Then I remembered that Nikola Tesla is making a huge comeback thanks to his popularity on the Internet. It got me thinking.

I got the September 5th issue of Newsweek Magazine that said the following about Jobs:

Jobs didn't just create products that instilled lust in consumers and enriched his company. He upended entire industries. Personal computing. The music business. Publishing. Hollywood. All have been radically transformed because of Steve Jobs.

I think Bill Gates also had his share on this, but anyway, what do you guys think?

I wonder, which of these two geniuses of our time will be most remembered (most acknowledged) by civilization by the next 50 years, Gates or Jobs?

[XJDenton]

Probably about equal to be honest.

[jsem]

[BlobVanDam]

Bill Gates.

[antigoon]

Gates, I think. It might depend on what happens with his foundation.

[Dublagent66]

Jobs started it all.  There wouldn't be a Microsoft without Apple first.

[GuineaPig]

inb4tjaunarausorhoweverthefuckyouspellhisusername

[emindead]

Hey, Dubla. I've got to correct your sig as it is getting me all itchy! It's ¡Hasta La Vista, Baby! With an H before the a. That is all.

[MetalManiac666]

Probably Gates.

[Nekov]

Gates. He fed my family for around 10 years.

[reneranucci]

If I'm not mistaken, Bill Gates has been a bigger name in the industry longer than Steve Jobs. Jobs had some kind of resurrection in the 2000s when he returned to Apple, while Gates was No. 1 in the 1990s and he's still relevant now (although probably overshadowed by Jobs). That could give the nod to Bill Gates, but it's difficult to say.

[Dimitrius]

If 50 years from now, Windows is still the "standard" OS on computers, shouldn't it be Gates?

[Nekov]

https://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/

I kind of hate him for having so much money, but still, go Bill!

[AcidLameLTE]

I love these.

[Dublagent66]

Hey, Dubla. I've got to correct your sig as it is getting me all itchy! It's ¡Hasta La Vista, Baby! With an H before the a. That is all.

Thanks Emin.  I'm not well versed in Spanish.   

[Metal]

[Chino]

I voted Gates, simply for the fact that grew the most successful tech company of all time from the ground up. Not only did windows set the standard, but it remained the standard. It had hardware companies cater to it, and not the other way around. His work is really what is responsible for what computers are today. Now Steve Jobs on the other had, I think will also be remembered. His company managed to rival the biggest in the world while at the same time setting a new precedent fornwhat a hand held device was expected to do. He'll, my parents always say " I could never had imagined having something like this when I was a kid.". When I was 14 and had a razor (the shit at the time), I still couldn't fathom something like the iPhone. It's really coin toss. I think both have already earned eir spots at the top of tech history.

[obscure]

You know Edison. You know his name. He is the inventor of one of the most important bits in your life. Isn't it so?

Sorry, no.

Now, Davy would object to that claim since his arc was the first to do it. It did not look like a modern bulb but it was a start. As for DeMoleyns, Starr and Swan who actually invented (and some of them patented) different bits of the modern bulb such as using vacuum so as not to set the filament on fire or using different materials as filament.

Now, there are true geniuses in the computing world and true pioneers. Some stuff, they came up with. But the thing is, Davy is to Edison as Gates is to Jobs. Loads of people had already came up with the bits and pieces of iPhone/i[insert different marketing shenanigans here] but you will not remember their names.

This is the touch of a marketing genius. Cannibalized existing tech and made something larger than the sum of its parts both in hype and in price.

Two generations from now, people will certainly think that the genius of this century was da jobs. Ask Edison, he's well happy

[Cable]

I am absolutely shocked that Gates is winning this by basically a landslide.

As a preface, no, I am not an Apple fanboi. Macs are overpriced, I do not own an iPhone, and think iPods are pieces of rubbish that are stale in innovation.  I also see no need for an iPad anytime within the next 5 years at least. That said, my current computer is a Mac.

While Gates arguably built the bigger company in its prime, where is it now? MSoft is still trying to play catch up to Apple, and is losing market share in PCs every day (both to mobile devices, and traditional computers).

Jobs and Gates started around the same time, but with vastly different approaches. Apple, with Jobs at the helm, released the first massively available GUI OS if I recall correctly, later to which MSoft was inspired to create Windows. DOS used to be MSoft's focus. MS's approach worked at the time, kind of like how Android is working now in the mobile space, although Android has been late to Apple's party.

Apple then tanked, due to the explosion in the PC market fed by MSoft. But then if we look at the return of Jobs, it puts him and Gates even at the least. If Jobs never returned, this would not be a debate.
But when Jobs did return, he started with mass marketing mp3 players. MSoft under Gates? I think the Zune came later? The iPhone? That ignited PDA's, and got Google into the game who was a search engine company for crying out loud. How was Windows Mobile under Gates? Not any where near the appeal of iOS. iOS is basically destroying RIM, and already destroyed Palm. Windows changed the entire name and feel for Windows Mobile, creating Windows Phone.

Then the iPad, which I do not get. But it created a whole new category basically, and people are eating it up.

Products introduced under Jobs reign have changed everything in their category, and in some set the standard year after year (iPhone & iPad). Where as MSoft is still basically a software maker that is widely adopted, Apple diversified and controlled their product markets outside of PCs.

[Liberation]

May be a biased opinion, but well, I've been using something Bill Gates created (or had a hand in creating, you know what I mean) nearly every day for something like 10 years now, while I have literally nothing Apple and don't feel I need any of their creations.

For me it seems like Microsoft created an OS which can run everything that's needed, Apple created some interesting stuff but it's far more in the "optional" area imo. But then, I'm a weird person.

[senecadawg2]

Jobs started it all.  There wouldn't be a Microsoft without Apple first.

Steve Jobs. No question about it.

[Xanthul]

For what it's worth (probably nothing), "Steve Jobs" more than doubles "Bill Gates" in google hits and has noticeably bigger Wikipedia entry. If information continues to be stored and retrieved mostly from the internet, Jobs has the edge here.

Also, what obscure said.

[Sigz]

Why are people acting as if this is an either/or thing? Their respective companies are leaders in clearly separate markets. Yeah, MS tries to do phones and MP3 players, and Apple tries to do PCs, but neither one can really touch the other on their in those. Gates hasn't even really been a player in the portable tech battle, and had already established his legacy in the PC world when he left - Jobs appears to have done the same.

[Kosmo]

Bill Gates.

[rumborak]

Gates of course. He's had so much success that he grew tired of it and went into philanthropy. Apple has had a good run, but let's see how long that will continue. Android is squeezing iOS big time.

rumborak

[kirksnosehair]

I believe both men are great innovators who have contributed a great deal society with their products.

However, I have to vote for Bill Gates for a couple of reasons.  First, if it were not for Microsoft I would not have the job I have today (running an I.T. Department)  Secondly, I don't know anything about Jobs philanthropic endeavors, but I DO know that Bill Gates has done a massive amount for charity.

Again, both are great men, but I have more respect for Gates

[blackngold29]

Gates, but not for computers. If he kills Malaria and gets the nuclear power industry humming, that's huge. Not to mention what he'll do after that.

[emindead]

A friendly bump just to wonder what will the results be after what happened last week.

[snapple]

A friendly bump just to wonder what will the results be after what happened last week.

Gates 11/10 times.

[tjanuranus]

Well the Bias on this board isn't obvious at all.

[emindead]

It could be bias, sure or... people really believing that Bill Gates legacy will be much more prominent than Jobs.

[AcidLameLTE]

It could be bias, sure or... people really believing that Bill Gates legacy will be much more prominent than Jobs.

blackngold29 usually is all over Apple products (in a good way) and he said Bill Gates so meh

Edit: I know Joe/antigoon uses a lot of Apple products as well so...yeah

[ariich]

I believe both men are great innovators who have contributed a great deal society with their products.

Again, both are great men, but I have more respect for Gates

This.

But I have to say, it's always these two that are considered such great and important men, but some of the more fundamentally important men always get overlooked. In particular I'm thinking of Charles Babbage and Tim Berners-Lee. Those two did more for the world when it comes to computers than Jobs or Gates could ever have dreamed of.

[AcidLameLTE]

British bias.

[emindead]

The good thing for Steve (if one can say that) is that he died in his peak. That will make his reputation stand for a long, long time.