Bill Gates

Today in Apple history: Microsoft gets sued for ripping off Mac OS

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Windows used a number of elements of the Mac UI
Windows 2.0 borrowed several elements from the Mac user interface.
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

March 17: Today in Apple history: Apple sues Microsoft for ripping off Mac OS March 17, 1988: Apple sues Microsoft for allegedly stealing 189 different elements of its Macintosh operating system to create Windows 2.0.

The incident, which causes a deep rift between Apple and one of its top developers, paves the way for an epic battle between the two companies that will rage for years.

Today in Apple history: iPad fails to impress Bill Gates

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Bill Gates Fox News
Bill Gates definitely doesn't wish Microsoft invented the iPad.
Photo: Fox News

February 11: Today in Apple history: iPad fails to impress Bill Gates February 11, 2010: With iPad excitement reaching a fever pitch, Steve Jobs’ old frenemy Bill Gates wades in with his own opinion of Apple’s tablet.

The Microsoft co-founder’s view? The upcoming device is kinda meh.

“There’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it,'” Gates tells one interviewer.

Today in Apple history: Bill Gates quits as Microsoft CEO

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Bill Gates
Bill Gates' rivalry with Steve Jobs was legendary.
Photo: Fulvio Obregon

January 13: Today in Apple history: Bill Gates quits as Microsoft CEO January 13, 2000: Steve Jobs’ longtime frenemy Bill Gates steps down from his role as Microsoft CEO, a month after his company’s stock hits its all-time high.

The news coincides with a turning point in the long-running battle between the two tech powerhouses. Microsoft begins a long decline from its previous dominance, while Apple continues its rise to the top.

Today in Apple history: Microsoft hits the height of its power

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December 1999 was a turning point for Microsoft.
December 1999 proved to be a turning point for Microsoft.
Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

December 30: Today in Apple history: Microsoft hits the height of its power December 30, 1999: Microsoft hits the height of its 1990s dominance and begins its early-2000s decline, clearing a gap at the top for Apple.

After hitting an all-time high of $53.60, Microsoft stock starts to fall. Less than a year later, MSFT shares will fall more than 60% in value to $20.

Today in Apple History: Bill Gates hails Mac as the future of computing

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Bill Gates
Bill Gates offered high praise for the Mac in 1984.
Image: Fulvio Obregon

November 26: Today in Apple history: Bill Gates praises Macintosh November 26, 1984: “The next generation of interesting software will be done on the Macintosh, not the IBM PC,” claims Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in a BusinessWeek cover story.

The claim would seem almost unthinkable coming out of Gates’ mouth just a few years later. But it lands at a time when Microsoft is best known as one of the biggest Mac developers.

Today in Apple history: Apple signs damaging deal with Microsoft

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Windows used a number of elements of the Mac UI
This 1985 pact with Microsoft was one of the most damaging deals in Apple history.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

November 21: Today in Apple history: Apple signs Microsoft deal licensing Mac look and feel November 21, 1985: Following Steve Jobs’ departure, Apple comes close to signing its own death warrant by licensing the Macintosh’s look and feel to Microsoft.

The deal, between Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple CEO John Sculley, comes hot on the heels of the Windows operating system’s release. The pact gives Microsoft a “non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nontransferable license to use [parts of the Mac technology] in present and future software programs, and to license them to and through third parties for use in their software programs.”

Oh, boy!

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates talk ‘future of the PC’

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In a rare joint interview, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates trade barbs and debate the
In a rare joint interview from 1991, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discuss the "future of the PC" in Forbes magazine.
Photo: Cult of Mac (stock image from Reviewsapex)

August 26: Today in Apple historyAugust 26, 1991: In their first joint interview, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates trade barbs and debate “the future of the PC” in Fortune magazine.

The spirited discussion marks 10 years since the first IBM PC shipped. The piece also looks at what the future holds for both men — described as the former “boy wonders of computing, now thirtysomething.”

Today in Apple history: Apple fan Jerry Seinfeld joins the dark side

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Microsoft ad
"What's the deal with bad advertising?"
Photo: Microsoft

August 21: Today in Apple history: Jerry Seinfeld appears in failed Microsoft ads August 21, 2008: Microsoft recruits comedian Jerry Seinfeld for a series of ads. It’s a naked attempt to shake the company’s reputation as a stodgy oldster (as opposed to Apple’s trendsetting hipster image).

Microsoft pays Seinfeld a reported $10 million for the ads. However, thanks to the Mac’s appearance in virtually every episode of Seinfeld over the years, the comedian remains the world’s most famous Apple fanboy.

Today in Apple history: Tide turns against Apple in war with Microsoft

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Mac vs. PC
A judge's decision proves very damaging to Apple.
Image: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

August 14: Today in Apple history: Tide turns against Apple in war with Microsoft August 14, 1991: As Apple and Microsoft head to court to battle each other, the tide begins to turn against Cupertino and its claims that Windows unlawfully copies the look and feel of Mac OS.

The case concerns whether key elements of Apple’s operating system are original enough for copyright protection. The decision turns out to be a major blow against Apple — and the start of the company’s 1990s decline.

Today in Apple history: Microsoft throws Apple a $150 million lifeline

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Bill Gates
Bill Gates looking like the cat that got the cream.
Photo: Apple

August 6: Today in Apple history: Microsoft investment helps save Apple from doom August 6, 1997: In one of the most famous moments in Apple history, Steve Jobs reveals that Microsoft invested $150 million in its rival.

Although often presented as an inexplicable gesture of good faith on the part of Microsoft boss Bill Gates, the cash infusion into Apple actually benefits both companies.

Today in Apple history: Windows scores big victory over Mac

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Windows used a number of elements of the Mac UI
Windows used a number of elements of the Mac UI.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

July 25: Today in Apple history: Windows scores big legal victory over Mac when judge throws out Apple's copyright infringement claims July 25, 1989: Apple suffers a major setback in its copyright-infringement lawsuit against Microsoft for allegedly stealing the Mac’s “look and feel” to create Windows.

Apple sued Microsoft on 189 counts of copyright infringement relating to Windows 2.0.3. The judge overseeing the case throws out 179 of them. This paves the way for Microsoft’s dominance over Apple in the coming decade.

Today in Apple history: Bill Gates urges Apple to license Mac OS

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Bill Gates
Bill Gates took this strategy and made himself a multibillionaire.
Photo: Fulvio Obregon

June 25: Today in Apple history: Bill Gates urges Apple to license Mac OS June 25, 1985: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sends a memo to Apple execs suggesting that Cupertino should license its Mac operating system and additional technology to other companies.

Apple CEO John Sculley and Macintosh boss Jean Louis Gassée ignore the advice of the 30-year-old Gates, who at the time is best known as a Mac developer. Five months later, Microsoft releases Windows 1.0.

Today in Apple history: Apple becomes world’s most valuable tech company

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
It was a big day for Apple!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac/401Calculator

May 26: Today in Apple history: Apple worth more than Microsoft for first time May 26, 2010: In a massive milestone, Apple passes Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

The changing of the guard proves particularly amazing given that, just 15 years earlier, Apple looked close to dead, while Microsoft dominated the tech world thanks to Windows.

Today in Apple history: Bill Gates predicts doom for Apple’s biggest product

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Bill-Gates-60-Minutes
Unfortunately for Gates, Steve Jobs was one step ahead.
Photo: 60 Minutes

May 12: Today in Apple history: Bill Gates predicts doom for iPod, Apple's biggest product May 12, 2005: Longtime Apple frenemy Bill Gates tells a German newspaper that Apple may have hit it big with the iPod, but that its success isn’t going to last forever.

The reason? Mobile phones are going to steal the iPod’s market share. The good news for Gates is that he was right on the money. The bad news for Microsoft is that Apple cannibalized itself by making the iPhone. And Apple’s smartphone became even more successful than the iPod.

Today in Apple history: Apple frenemy Microsoft is born

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Bill Gates
Apple and Microsoft had a long and storied history together.
Photo: Fulvio Obregon

April 4: Today in Apple history: Microsoft founded April 4, 1975: Childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft Corporation, a software company destined to become a tech behemoth — and a major Apple frenemy.

A few years later, Microsoft will break through to the mainstream with Excel and Word, becoming a key developer of Macintosh software. Then comes the Windows operating system, looking suspiciously Apple-like. After Windows arrives, Microsoft and Apple will embark upon a long-running feud.

Why Bill Gates says he was ‘so jealous’ of Steve Jobs

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Microsoft should have been Apple's biggest mobile challenger, Bill Gates says.
Gates says that, unlike Jobs, he wouldn't have been able to turn Apple around in the late 90s.
Photo: Statsministerens kontor/Flickr CC

The companies they helped found might have been sworn enemies at times, but Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn’t hate one another. In fact, as the former Microsoft boss admitted on a recent podcast, he was actually jealous of Steve Jobs.

Appearing on the Armchair Expert podcast, Gates told actor and podcast host Dax Shepard that Jobs was a “wizard” when it came to motivating people. “I was a minor wizard so I couldn’t fall under his spells,” Gates said. “But I could see him casting the spells, and then I would look at people and see them mesmerized … I was so jealous.”

Gates Foundation buys more than half a million Apple shares

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Bill Gates
Picture this guy investing in Apple. Stranger things have happened!
Photo: Fulvio Obregon

The Gates Foundation, the charitable organization belonging to Bill and Melinda Gates, snapped up more than half a million Apple shares during the first three months of 2020, a new report claims.

According to an SEC filing, reported by Smarter Analyst, the largest private foundation in the world purchased some 501,044 Apple shares in the first quarter of 2020. At present, AAPL is trading at $320.40, having made back the value it lost during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bill Gates reveals what he envied most about Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, rivals and friends.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, rivals and friends.
Photo: AllThingsD

Tim Cook isn’t the only tech icon with something big coming out on September 20.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is the subject of a new Netflix documentary series that premieres on iPhone 11 launch day. Inside Bill’s Brain connects chapters of Gates’ personal life with his philanthropic work. Gates does more than other tech luminaries to make the world a better place. Still, he says there’s one skill Steve Jobs possessed that would prove immensely helpful for his current work.

Bill Gates: Steve Jobs was a wizard, but I was immune to his spells

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Steve Jobs Macworld autograph
Steve Jobs (possibly) writing an incantation.
Photo: RR Auction

There are plenty of words used to describe Steve Jobs, but “wizard” isn’t one of the ones we hear too often.

That’s exactly what Jobs was, however, according to Microsoft co-founder and long-time Jobs frenemy Bill Gates. Speaking on CNN, Gates said that Jobs accomplished his Apple-correcting wizardry by “casting spells.” But Gates, as a “minor wizard,” was immune to Jobs’ hocus pocus.

Bill Gates calls failure to challenge iOS his ‘greatest mistake’

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Microsoft should have been Apple's biggest mobile challenger, Bill Gates says.
Microsoft should have been Apple's biggest mobile challenger, Bill Gates says.
Photo: Statsministerens kontor/Flickr CC

Former Microsoft CEO and Steve Jobs frenemy Bill Gates says his company massively missed out by failing to challenge Apple on smartphones.

Describing his “greatest mistake ever,” Gates said the failure to become Apple’s main competitor in the mobile space cost Microsoft $400 billion.

Producer of canceled Steve Jobs musical faces $6 million lawsuit

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walt-mossberg-steve-jobs
Musical would have told the story of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates' rivalry.
Photo: Joi Ito/Flickr CC

An abandoned 2016 musical about the rivalry between Steve Jobs and frenemy Bill Gates has resulted in the producer being sued for $6 million.

The musical’s producer allegedly told investors he had funding from Microsoft for the project. In fact, the musical was $1 million in debt at the time. It was ultimately canceled just two weeks before it was due to open.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen dies at 65

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918388A7-B41E-4841-BD44-4A940D084258
Paul Allen (left) and Bill Gates in the early days of Microsoft.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died today after a battle fighting non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Allen was 65 years old and was also the owners of the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trailblazers.

Bill Gates admits ‘Apple’s an amazing company’

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Bill Gates praises Apple
Bill Gates, who once headed Apple's arch rival, now has nothing but positive things to say about the company.
Screencap: CNBC

The co-founder of Microsoft joined the chorus of voices speaking positively about Apple today. Bill Gates’ relationship with Apple goes back to the very dawn of the company, and he and Steve Jobs were the best of frenemies.

Now that he’s a philanthropist rather the CEO of Microsoft he can speak openly about a former rival.

The one thing Steve Jobs and Bill Gates agreed on

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Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, rivals and friends.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates shared same view on kids and technology
Photo: AllThingsD

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn’t always see eye to eye. When it came to their kids’ relationships to technology, however, it seems they agreed on more than they disagreed on.

That’s based on a new interview with Microsoft co-founder Gates, in which he says he and his wife didn’t allow their children to have cellphones until they were 14 — and limited other screen time as well. Jobs did much the same.