During his time as head of Microsoft, Bill Gates was famously anti-Apple, going so far as to issue an emphatic decree banning all Apple gadgets on the software giant’s mega-campus. Since then, however, Gates has been replaced by Steve Ballmer and the prohibition against iPods and iPhones has gradually loosened up… but there’s one place where Gates’ fierce rivalry with the House that Jobs built continues unabated: the palatial mansion of Bill and Melinda Gates.
According to a recent interview with Melinda Gates, the wife of the ex-Microsoft chief and billionaire humanitarian does everything but smash iPhones with a baseball bat when a visitor walks in with one through their front door.
Here’s the relevant interview questions. Note that even through your computer screen, Melinda’s contempt for Apple is so pungent that it’s enough to curdle the milk in your coffee.
Do you own an iPod, which is made by Apple?
No, I have a Zune.What if one of your children says, “Mom, I have to have an iPod?”
I have gotten that argument – “You may have a Zune.”Do you have an iPad?
Of course not.Is it true that Bill works on an Apple laptop?
False. Nothing crosses the threshold of our doorstep.Isn’t there room in this world for both Apple and Microsoft?
Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh. Go talk to Bill.
What a sunny woman! Of course, you can’t say much ill of Melinda: she’s one of the most charitable and forward-thinking humanitarians in the whole freaking world, and it’s hard to fault her for the same sort of rigidly-bound platform fanaticism that we Apple fans revel in each and every day. Except, you know, the fact that we’re totally right and the Zune sucks.
