Random Details of Steve Jobs And Bill Gates Went From Friends To Bitter Enemies (13 items)

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  (#12) Gates And Jobs Still Remained Critical Of Each Other's Work

  Even after Gates stepped down from Microsoft in 2000, Jobs was critical of Microsoft. In 2001, he called the company "almost irrelevant." Granted, by that time Apple had flooded the market with iTunes, iPods, iPhones, and other products that had taken the world by storm. Gates was actually pretty complimentary of Jobs and his innovations at Apple, however.
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  (#13) The Two Made Amends In The End

  In 2007, Jobs and Gates appeared on stage together at the All Things Digital conference and appeared quite jovial with one another.

  Steve Jobs had numerous bouts with cancer during the 2000s and too his third and final absence from Apple in 2011. In the last months of his life, Jobs spent time with Gates. According to Gates, "There was no peace to make. We were not at war. We made great products, and competition was always a positive thing. There was no [cause for] forgiveness.” Gates recalled his time with Jobs fondly, recalling that they had grown up together but always respected each other. 
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  (#11) Gates Stepped In To Save Apple In 1996

  Apple was in financial trouble by the mid-1990s. The company asked Jobs to return to try to help the company and, after some inner strife, he went back in 1996. Jobs's return, however, was not enough. The following year, Jobs announced a new partnership with Gates and Microsoft, one that include a $150 million dollar investment by the latter. Jobs openly thanked Gates for saving Apple in 1997, saying that Gates "made the world a better place."

  When Gates made an appearance at the MacWorld event in 1997, however, the audience booed. 
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  (#7) After The Release Of Windows, The Jobs-Gates Relationship Fell Apart

  Once Windows was released in 1985, Jobs and Gates turned on each other. Jobs said "They just ripped us off completely, because Gates has no shame" and, in response, Gates claimed "If he believes that, he really has entered into one of his own reality distortion fields."
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  (#10) Jobs Was Highly Critical Of Microsoft Products

  Although not at Apple anymore, Jobs didn't  hold back in commenting upon Microsoft and their products. He accused Microsoft of producing "third-rate products," but went even further claiming that, "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products."

  Whether or not this was a criticism or a compliment isn't entirely clear, but Gates said Jobs "really never knew much about technology, but he had an amazing instinct for what works."
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  (#1) Jobs And Gates Founded Their Companies One Year Apart

  Steve Jobs, raised by his adoptive parents (Paul and Clara) in California, showed an interest in electronics from a young age, tinkering with machines in the family's garage. He met Steve Wozniak while attending Homestead High School and the two became fast friends. Jobs attended Reed College in Oregon in 1972 but didn't stay long, moving to San Francisco after only six months at school. He took a job with Atari in 1974 and founded Apple with Wozniak in April 1976.

  Bill Gates was born in Seattle in 1955 and developed his interest in technology at Lakeside School. He enrolled at Harvard in 1973 but only studied there for two years. Gates was much more interested in coding and starting his own company than in academics. He developed a computer operating system and founded Microsoft in April 1975 with Paul Allen, a fellow Lakeside School alum.

   

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