Tag: BILL GATES

We can't deny some of us here at Download Squad love open source software. But there's not a damn fool here that will disagree with the statement: "Bill Gates is an extremely intelligent man." We won't disagree that he's done amazing things for technology as a whole. And yes, we even wish heartily we had the faith in ourselves to say if we had that much moolah, we'd be even half as charitable with ...

Say whatever you want about Microsoft and/or Bill Gates, it cannot be argued that the company and its co-founder have had a truly monumental impact on the world as we know it. Bill Gates is retiring from his full-time position from Microsoft (he will remain Chairman) on July 1, 2008 to focus on philanthropy. On Sunday, he gave his twelfth, and final, CES keynote address. Over at our sister site, ...

Think Google has a shot at creating popular software for mobile phones? Bill Gates doesn't. Gates does his best to politely trash Google's business prowess in this Reuters article. Gates is quotes as saying, "They've introduced about 30 different products; they have one profit-making product. So you're now making a prediction without ever seeing the software that they're going to have the world's ...

Love him or hate him, you know he's worked hard to be where he's at. Bill Gates is getting close to making his big exit into retirement, and The New York Times is taking a close look at his plans, or lack thereof. For what it's worth, Gates has one year left in his planned two year transition into unemployment. He's stated in the past that he will go on to work with the $33 Billion dollar ...

Once upon a time, many a geek would fantasize about a knock-down drag 'em out deathmatch between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Well, it looks like chances of that are pretty slim. While it's well documented that these two industry icons haven't always had been particularly chummy, it appears that they are over whatever disagreements previously plagued their relationship. Gates and Jobs appeared ...

It's never too late to go back to school, and the same goes for billionaire's like Bill Gates. Bill Gates might not have to go back to take classes, but he will finally receive his degree. As many know, Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1973 during his junior year to run with a dream and create Microsoft with his pals Paul Allen and Steve Ballmer. Bill Gates will be speaking at a Harvard ...

Bill Gates made a surprise announcement Tuesday during his keynote at the RSA security conference: Microsoft will support OpenID 2.0. Great, but what's OpenID? You know how every time you sign up for a new web service, you have to create a username and password? And you know how you're always worried that you'll forget your login information, so you wind up using pretty much the same password for ...

Bill Gates has been asked by former Soviet Premiere Gorbachev to show "mercy" in the case of a Russian teacher accused of software piracy. Gorbachev's open letter to Gates is available on the website of the former Premiere's charitable foundation. According to CNN, in the letter Gorbachev calls accused pirate Alexander Ponosov, "A teacher, who has dedicated his life to the education of children ...

Vista's wheel spinning launch is fairly disappointing so far, and when compared with Apple's ever more popular OS X the battle looks like Goliath vs. David. (well, maybe not David but, a much smaller Goliath) Information Arbitrage manages to make a pretty good case for comparison between the clunking sound Vista's launch made when held up to the light of OS X and the fizzle noise the ...

Whether you love or hate Microsoft you must admit, the release of Windows Vista has warmed up the operating system cold war, making the days more entertaining for each and every geek no matter which OS badge you wear. It's hard to argue the entertainment value of a week in which we watched Bill Gates bolt from The Daily Show, saw unremarkable turn-out for many midnight madness sale Vista retail ...

As promised, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night, pimping his little heart out for Windows Vista. I didn't get to watch it then, but thankfully Comedy Central has put the whole interview online. It's not a laugh riot, and I'm sad to report that John Hodgman (the PC from Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads and a regular Daily Show contributor) didn't make an ...

BusinessWeek is running a great interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. The interview covers a ton of ground, beginning with Google's YouTube acquisition and ending with Vista. In between, Ballmer talks about the Web 2.0 valuations and "Bubble 2.0," the business transition from Xbox to Xbox 360, Microsoft's recent high-profile hires, Bill Gates' impending departure, Microsoft's competition, ...

Microsoft is planning on buying back 8% of its total stock due to a falling net income in the fourth quarter. This stock buyback will add to the already $30 billion it has already bought back in the past year alone. Microsofts income has reported to have dropped from $3.70 billion to $2.83 billion, mostly die to the growing number of legal expenses incurred over the past while. Microsoft's expects ...

Earlier this week Bill Gates said there was an 80 percent chance Windows Vista would ship in January 2007 as scheduled. At the time I said "I wouldn't make any bets with odds like that," and neither would Mac developer Wil Shipley--he wants to bet Bill $10,000 that Vista won't ship by next January, and he's giving the Microsoft chairman 3 to 1 odds (which, for the math-challenged, is better than ...

Certainty, it seems, isn't Microsoft's strong suit these days. Last we heard about Windows Vista's release date, Jim Allchin was saying it was right on track, but Steve Ballmer wasn't so sure. Now according to Bill Gates there's an "80 percent chance" that Vista will meet its targeted January launch date. That's what he said at a recent technology conference in Cape Town. Eighty percent isn't ...