If you have a spare hour and a bit, and you're in any way interested, I recommend checking out the D5 Gates and Jobs interview.
Obviously these are two high-profile and influential people, not just in the geek world, but also in the world at large, and it's quite intriguing to hear them talk at length and in detail regarding the past, present and future of personal computing, consumer electronics, internet strategy, and a lot more.
A lot of end users, mac and pc, tend to pit themselves and their chosen product against the other. We've all seen it or heard people talking about why one is better than the other, and sure Apple seem to leverage that through their recent Mac adverts. However this interview certainly demonstrates that whilst Microsoft and Apple are in competition with each other, they also work together in a lot of spheres.
The other thing the interview shows to me is:
- Both Gates and Jobs are extremely intelligent men and speak well and at length on a large variety of topics.
- Both men are in a position to be relaxed, chatty and jokey. Why? Well we have to remember, regardless of stock fluctuations and seeming encroaching competition, these are two extremely wealthy men.
- It strikes me that, contrary to some opinion on the web, Microsoft is far from a dead and ageing giant, and will continue to exert massive influence in a wide range of industries. In addition, Microsoft have the funding available to become a player in many areas in which they are not currently active. While they are struggling to become anything but a minor player in search, they are still extremely well placed to gain market share through set defaults that exist on the large variety of platforms on which their software is the driving force.
- Looking round the crowd and the interviewees, it certainly seems that the world really is increasingly being run and influenced by geeks!
Part 1 of the Interview
Video Links – The rest of the Interview
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