Revisiting the spectacular failure that was the Bill Gates deposition

Post by Sebb767 » Sat, Sep 12, 2020, 7:55 PM UTC

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #3

While there might or might not be questionable or illegal things that Bill Gates did, by himself or as the MS corporation at that time, the over-fixation of the article on how he is talking to the attorney in the deposition seems misguided and amateurish. Boies: What non-Microsoft browsers were you concerned about in January of 1996? Gates: I don’t know what you mean “concerned.” Boies: What is it about the word “con…

    Boies: Mr. Gates, is the term proprietary API a term that is commonly used in your business?
    Gates: Let me give you …
    Boies: all I’m trying to do is …
    Gates: … the common meanings that those words could have and you can pick one of them and ask me a question about it
    Boies: no
    Gates: Do you want me to define proprietary API or not?
    Boies: No, I don’t want you to define proprietary API. I didn’t ask you to define proprietary API. I asked you a simple question about whether the term proprietary API was commonly used in your business. Now I’m prepared to sit here as long as you want to to answer questions that I haven’t asked. But I have a certain number of questions that I am going to ask at the end of these other answers. Now this is a simple question. You can say yes, no, or it is used in lots of different ways. But then I can choose what to follow up on. Or you can simply make whatever statements you want and I’ll go back to my question afterwards. Now, is the term property API a term that is commonly used in your business?
    Gates: I don’t know how common it is. It has many different meanings.

Post by unishark » Sat, Sep 12, 2020, 7:58 PM UTC

zeroimpl wrote: post #10

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #3

While there might or might not be questionable or illegal things that Bill Gates did, by himself or as the MS corporation at that time, the over-fixation of the article on how he is talking to the attorney in the deposition seems misguided and amateurish. Boies: What non-Microsoft browsers were you concerned about in January of 1996? Gates: I don’t know what you mean “concerned.” Boies: What is it about the word “con…

The opening question here pre-supposes he was concerned. Unless the prior discussion had Gates explicitly saying he was concerned (which I assume it didn’t based on Gates asking about a document using the term), then it makes complete sense to me to respond with a question rather than an answer. I’d have probably gone with “When did I say I was concerned about non-Microsoft browsers in January 1996?”

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 12, 2020, 8:04 PM UTC

zeroimpl wrote: post #10

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #3

While there might or might not be questionable or illegal things that Bill Gates did, by himself or as the MS corporation at that time, the over-fixation of the article on how he is talking to the attorney in the deposition seems misguided and amateurish. Boies: What non-Microsoft browsers were you concerned about in January of 1996? Gates: I don’t know what you mean “concerned.” Boies: What is it about the word “con…

The opening question here pre-supposes he was concerned. Unless the prior discussion had Gates explicitly saying he was concerned (which I assume it didn’t based on Gates asking about a document using the term), then it makes complete sense to me to respond with a question rather than an answer. I’d have probably gone with “When did I say I was concerned about non-Microsoft browsers in January 1996?”

Post by quelsolaar » Sat, Sep 12, 2020, 8:08 PM UTC

jasoneckert wrote: post #14

The 2019 documentary "Inside Bill's Brain" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCv29JKmHNY ) definitely focused a part on how Bill still hates talking about this deposition. He makes it very clear in that documentary how much he regrets that he wore his disdain for the antitrust suit on his sleeve, as it played directly into the prosecutor's hands.

Post by function_seven » Sat, Sep 12, 2020, 8:13 PM UTC

Beldin wrote: post #28

function_seven wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Just reading the snippet you included, I'm on Bill's side here. "Concerned" can mean all sorts of things ! If he answers "Netscape Navigator", then the Boies will continue on with the meaning that Gates was viewing them as a competitive threat. If he answers "None", then Boies can go down the path of Microsoft not giving a damn about interoperability with 3rd-party software.

Frankly, he should have immediately replied "Internet Explorer". Because that's the browser his company makes, so, amongst browsers, that should have been his main concern. No need for wordplay, no looking at competition. Just the concern you'd expect from the CEO: a focus on their own product.