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Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

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Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#21

Post by sendos »

I disagree. Jobs achieved the greatest comeback in business history. He was ousted from his own company, the company almost goes bankrupt, he returns, and with one innovative and wildly successful product after another manages to make it the most valuable company in the world (in terms of market cap).

I don't think this story will be forgotten in 50 years.

I also don't think Gates will be forgotten either in 50 years. Maybe in the much longer term Gates will be remembered more than Jobs.

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#22

Post by rprasad »

faramarz wrote: post #16
rprasad wrote: post #4

Everyone remembers Carnegie, Mellon, Rockefeller, and Stanfurd because of their generous acts. Nobody remembers their almost-as-successful, but far less generous competitors. To date, Bill Gates has donated more money to charity than Steve Jobs was ever worth. Steve Jobs...has donated less money to charity than your average churchgoer.

Malcolm did not assert this statement based on Gates financial contributions to charities. He says Bill Gates will be remembered, because he (almost has) will eliminate Malaria.

Yes, by donating a huge chunk of his wealth to funding malaria research, treatment, and prevention programs.

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#23

Post by siglesias »

It's somewhat odd that folks are suddenly measuring greatness along the dimension of philanthropy and forgetting that people who make history come in all shapes and sizes--good, bad, greedy, selfless, originals, remixers, creators of that which has fallen and creators of that which is still with us. To suggest that Jobs won't be with us simply because he didn't donate to charity is to forget a great number of reasons why people are remembered.

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#25

Post by dewarrn1 »

kennywinker wrote: post #10
shpoonj wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh so you have Jobs' personal finance records? That's amazing! And you're breaking the news here on HN of all places! Okay but seriously, you don't have a clue what Jobs did with his money and neither do I. So there's no point speculating.

According to the NYT "there is no public record of Mr. Jobs giving money to charity" ( http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/the-mystery-of-steve-... ). Giving publicly is important if you want to be remembered for your charitable work.

Or perhaps giving publicly is what you do when you want to rehabilitate a tarnished public image.

Regardless, Gladwell is taking the lazy columnist's approach of irresponsible prediction, intending to provoke indignation. There's plenty of room in history books, and both Gates and Jobs will have significant entries. I'll submit Edison and Telsa as examples of contemporaries in the same general field who both remain widely known decades after they passed on.

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#26

Post by Goladus »

This depends on whose memory you are talking about. For leader-types, academics and historians looking to study someone with massive charisma and ambition, it's Jobs they are going to remember. Videos of speeches and interviews will be preserved, and where Jobs and Gates are side by side it's clear that Jobs is the one with the presence.

For everyone else including the general public, it'll probably still be Gates, but Jobs certainly won't be forgotten, if for no other reason than his involvement in Pixar. Pixar's original string of hits (Toy Story{, 2}, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, etc) are definitely going to survive in public consciousness longer than 50 years. The narrative of Pixar itself will probably survive that long as well.

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#27

Post by rprasad »

firefoxman1 wrote: post #18
chollida1 wrote: post #6

Is this considered a controversial point? I would have thought that most people would have thought the same thing. it's really been amazing to see how Bill Gates reputation has rebounded in tech forums in the past 5 years. 5 years ago it would be the rule rather than the exception for Bill to be bad mouthed in tech forums. Now I've noticed that it's mostly the opposite. My guess is that in 50 years Bill Gates will be…

It's just like how Carnegie wasn't spoken of very well until later in his life, after he became a philanthropist. On the other hand, Fred Harvey (a very Jobs-like entrepreneur and a hero of mine) is remembered by very few. I'm sure you could find dozens of other examples throughout recent history, but the thing I've noticed is that the true heroes don't care if they're remembered; they're content in knowing they made…

Eradiacting a disease that has killed millions...that is a meaningful contribution to society. Helping fund massive innovation in the education system...that is a meaningful contribution to society. Selling electronics gadgets for a lot of money is not a meaningful contribution to society.

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#28

Post by technosmurf »

rprasad wrote:

> You can quibble over whether he donated a dollar or two to some bum somewhere, but ultimately, Steve Jobs donated less to charity than either of us.

I don't know how to reply to individual posts, so I'll write in the main thread. Rprasad, you are still assuming many things about Jobs' private attitude in regards to charitable giving. After the New York Times opinion piece that appeared to stir up controversy after Jobs' resignation on Aug. 24, 2011, Bono wrote this as a response:

"Apple has been (RED)’s largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — giving tens of millions of dollars that have transformed the lives of more than two million Africans through H.I.V. testing, treatment and counseling. This is serious and significant...

You don’t have to be a friend of his to know what a private person he is or that he doesn’t do things by halves." [1]

What most people don't know when they compare Bill Gates and Steve Jobs is that Jobs' Buddhist beliefs probably influenced the nature of his charitable giving, which is to do it anonymously.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/opinion/bono-praises-steve...

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#29

Post by planetguy »

rprasad wrote: post #4

Everyone remembers Carnegie, Mellon, Rockefeller, and Stanfurd because of their generous acts. Nobody remembers their almost-as-successful, but far less generous competitors. To date, Bill Gates has donated more money to charity than Steve Jobs was ever worth. Steve Jobs...has donated less money to charity than your average churchgoer.

Good point. Check this list of the top hundred richest people in US history, ranked by their wealth as a portion of GNP:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/07/29/the-wealthy-100...

A. T. Stewart, anybody? Frederick Weyerhaeuser? William Weightman? John I. Blair?

Mind you, you don't have to be a big-name philanthropist to be on that list and remembered. Rockefeller was so goddamn rich that he's famous just for being incredibly rich. Howard Hughes is remembered for his eccentricities. Samuel Colt is remembered because he invented something. And then there's George Washington...

Re: Malcolm Gladwell asserts that Gates, not Jobs, will be remembered in 50 years

#30

Post by joenathan »

franze wrote: post #11

some weeks ago i got talked into setting up the internet connection on windows vista machine (of a friend) - a very simple task i though. it was a horrible and unbelievable stupid experience. it took me two hours(!!!) according to a quick google at least 88 000 000 windows vista copies had been sold. i expect that at least (and on average) every vista user had run into a similar issue at least once (probably more oft…

You have to be kidding me, it took you two hours to plug a cat5 cable into the back of a computer? DHCP would have assigned an ip address to the pc within 5-10 seconds and you'd be on the internet, there are many reasons to hate on Vista(like over aggressive prefecthing for one), no need to make up some nonsense.
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