the porous city

Charlie Rose interviews Bill Gates
You feel sorry for Rose, first of all, because not only is Gates smarter, but Rose is in over his head on the technical stuff. He has one good probing question in each area, and then he's done. He has no chance to pin Gates on anything.

(Example: Rose is asking Gates about web-based applications. Gates defines the perfect "web-based app" as basically a desktop app that downloads updates. That's it. And Rose lets that fly. You have to feel sorry for Ray Ozzie, if this is how well Gates understands what he's trying to do.)

But the bigger reason this is a crappy interview is because Gates has no interest in it apart from as a PR exercise. He has no concept of it as a conversation, something that might teach him something or help him reflect. To him it's entirely a one-way exercise, and he's going to use it as a channel to push his goals. His goals are mostly noble, you can't accuse him of being a sociopath, but if you want to see Microsoft's culture problems in miniature, look no further.


last modified: 03:04:30 23-Dec-2008
in categories:Tech/Business

Comment

name*

email

homepage

No html.

what's the second letter of your name?

This is Lukas Bergstrom's weblog. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Tech
Javascript, Medical, WRX, Wearables, Social, RSS, Collaboration, Crowdsourcing, Audio, Product Management, Web analytics, Business, Mobile, Data, Shopping, Automobile, PIM, Web, s60, Energy, Security, MacOS, Android, a11y, barcamp, AI, Visual, Storage, OS, Open, Net, Hardware, Development

Other
Housing, Bicycling, Politik, Surfing, Boston, History, Podcasts, Agriculture, Feminism, Travel, Games, Geography, Transportation, Life hacks, Toys, Activism, Berlin, Law, NYC, Food & Drink, Sports, Statistics, Clothes, L.A., Minnesota, Quizzes, CrowdFlower, Personal care, Friday, California, Video, San Francisco

Music
Musicians, Business, Events, Making, Mp3s, L.A., Lyrics, Videos, Streams, Shopping, House, History, Hip-hop, Mixes, Booking, Boston, Good tracks, Reviews, Mailing lists, Labels

People
ADD, Working with, Exercise, Vocations, Heroes, MOTAS, Me, Buddhism, Languages, Family, Life hacks, Weblogs, Meditation, Subcultures, Stories, Enemies, Gossip, Health, Friends

Arts
Desktop wallpaper bait, Movies, Sculpture, Comix, Outlets, Events, Humor, Literature, Rhetoric, Animation, Visual, Burning Man, iPad bait, Poetry, Spoken Word

Commerce
Shopping, Real Estate, IP Law, International Development, Marketing and CRM, Personal services, Management consulting, Macroeconomics, Taxes, Non-profit, Investing, Web, Insurance, Personal finance, Microfinance

Design
Process, Web, IA, Type, Algorithmic, Tools, Architecture, User experience, Furniture, Cool, Data visualization, Presentations

Science
Cognition, Networks, Environment, Zoology, Physics, Statistics and Data, Psychology

Travel
Vagabond '08, Kingdom of Siam, Kenya, Uganda

Photos
Moblog, Photos I Wish I'd Taken, Friends

Philosophy
Mind

Mathematics

Internet classic

One Acre Fund

Subscribe to this site's rss feed