Expected more from an eulogy from Bill, but that was not to be. Co-founding is obviously hard. Successful business or not.
What I loved about Paul Allen
41–50 of 122 posts
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#42The only thing I ever think of when Gates speaks about Allen is how they tried to reduce his equity when he got sick. It's something that has stuck with me for 20+ years.
That's why it's a mistake to oversimplify public figures into "hero" or "demon" or whatever. They are always just people. If Bill Gates is just a person and not a hero, you don't have to explain away any of his mistakes. You don't have to elevate him for his philanthropy. You don't have to make any judgments about him, unless it has any bearing on any decision or action you have to take.
Fanboyism is like a cognitive disease.
Gates has himself admitted that he was a bully, yet people feel the need to defend him.
Rockefeller ruthlessly destroyed lifes but he was also committed philanthropist that started to give six percent of his earnings to charity at age 16. As he grew richer he gave more.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Had they gone through with it, it certainly would have been despicable. As it was, it was nothing more than a conversation that was hurtful to Allen. You can't indict someone for an action they didn't take, as though they did take it. It's entirely impossible to know if Gates would have gone through with that action. Allen retained his full Microsoft stake and yielded tens of billions of dollars from the Microsoft th…
> As it was, it was nothing more than a conversation that was hurtful to Allen. Or maybe they didn't do it because got caught?
Does it matter? The point is that they didn't do it. Yes, it could've happened, nobody is disputing that, and nobody is disputing that it would've been a shitty thing to do. But at the end of the day, it didn't happen. You're arguing a hypothetical and adding even more hypotheticals on top. Nobody will know why it didn't happen, what the motivating factors might have been, but we all know that the conversation took place and then it was dropped. That's what's important.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#44I have perhaps one friend that I've known more than 15 years. Part of it is that I seem to be bad at keeping friends, and also because I spent a decade moving around a lot and just lost touch with people. Paul Allen and Bill Gates were friends from early teenage years until the 60s, until death. Through so much change in the world, much of it instigated by them. Through becoming some of the richest, most powerful peo…
Add to the fact that Paul Allen was probably the only person who saw the meteoric rise to billionaire-dom at the same time as Gates and in the same way.
I am sure there were things between them, that no one else could empathize with.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#45From the caption of the first photo: > Here we are in school. That’s Paul on the left, our friend Ric Weiland, and me on the right. In case you are wondering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Weiland
Thank you for bringing this up. I had never heard of Ric Weiland. Here is another article discussing how he distributed his wealth: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/remarkable-life-legacy-ric-wei...
"A gay man who fell victim to HIV."
The number of times I have heard of this misfortune is sometime truly astounding. A whole community ravaged by an illness that we don't have a solution to, with the government turning their back to it.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you for bringing this up. I had never heard of Ric Weiland. Here is another article discussing how he distributed his wealth: https://www.geekwire.com/2017/remarkable-life-legacy-ric-wei...
"A gay man who fell victim to HIV." The number of times I have heard of this misfortune is sometime truly astounding. A whole community ravaged by an illness that we don't have a solution to, with the government turning their back to it.
Not long ago a movie "120 beats per min" told the issues faced by HIV and/or gay groups regarding the start of the epidemic, but in France.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#47The only thing I ever think of when Gates speaks about Allen is how they tried to reduce his equity when he got sick. It's something that has stuck with me for 20+ years.
What struck me is that Allen was living with cancer for the last 36 years of his life.
Magic Johnson has had HIV for the last 27 years
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#48The only thing I ever think of when Gates speaks about Allen is how they tried to reduce his equity when he got sick. It's something that has stuck with me for 20+ years.
That's why it's a mistake to oversimplify public figures into "hero" or "demon" or whatever. They are always just people. If Bill Gates is just a person and not a hero, you don't have to explain away any of his mistakes. You don't have to elevate him for his philanthropy. You don't have to make any judgments about him, unless it has any bearing on any decision or action you have to take.
I don't pass judgement on Gates. It's just business. Same for Zuckerberg. Money winds up in somebody's pocket. Might as well be yours. He's doing good things with it too, so maybe his instinct was right.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#49The only thing I ever think of when Gates speaks about Allen is how they tried to reduce his equity when he got sick. It's something that has stuck with me for 20+ years.
True, but not fair, to Gates OR to Allen. "After a few years all that passes. Bill and I have always been friends, even through the ups and downs" https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/may/02/paul-alle...
If you ever go into business with a friend, you should anticipate the worst. They're only human. You have to be on your toes from the start, and you can only blame yourself if you get beat or blindsided. At that point, its irrelevant to your friendship. It was just business.
Re: What I loved about Paul Allen
#50I have perhaps one friend that I've known more than 15 years. Part of it is that I seem to be bad at keeping friends, and also because I spent a decade moving around a lot and just lost touch with people. Paul Allen and Bill Gates were friends from early teenage years until the 60s, until death. Through so much change in the world, much of it instigated by them. Through becoming some of the richest, most powerful peo…
They did have a falling out but it seems they reconciled. Paul Allen claims BillG tried to cut him out of Microsoft when he was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease.