Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, was recently interviewed on the Carlie Rose program. The hour-long discussion aired on PBS on Monday and a lot of topics were touched on. Gates talked a lot about Microsoft’s new Surface tablet, which he feels is very “exciting” for the market.
Microsoft’s failure to create a market for a tablet device a decade ago was also discussed. Gates praised his friend and business rival, Steve Jobs, on the success of the iPad, but dismissed thoughts of his own company’s failures by saying that he had the idea of a tablet PC “way too early.” He chalks up the success of the iPad to the “package that he (Jobs) had put together”; in other words, the hardware and software innovations. Gates also admitted that Microsoft could have done things differently to make the Windows tablets more successful.
With news of Microsoft’s upcoming Surface tablet, iPad comparisons were close at hand. While Gates did not reveal any new details about the product itself, he did say that the new Surface tablet would force Apple to reconsider its own iPad.
He described the Surface as “a completely new form factor” but did not elaborate on this. Instead, Gates suggested that the Surface will be a two-in-one device, having “everything you like about a tablet and everything you like about a PC all in one device.” Gates argued that this is something Apple doesn’t have, but may need to consider going in this direction.
Gates’ excitement about the tablet was palpable throughout the interview, and he hesitantly suggested that Apple may come to see the Surface’s eventual success as real competition.
Gates, however, who has always been an advocate for improving education, does not see the Surface, or iPad, as a successful part of the classroom, believing a computer with keyboard-type input to better suit classroom needs.
When the conversation again turned to Steve Jobs, Gates waved off the idea that he would be more fondly remembered than Jobs because of his continued charity work since retiring from day-to-day involvement at Microsoft. He admitted that Jobs had done things better than him concerning the tablet. He again praised Jobs on the “phenomenal” work he had done, both as partners with Gates and as a rival of Microsoft. Classy guy.
Source and Image Credit: Electronista
