Bill Gates rubs TIME's face in it

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

Date: Sat, 3 Jun 1995 07:01:22 -0400
To: farber () central cis upenn edu (Dave Farber)
From: ped () panix com (Philip Elmer-DeWitt)
Subject: Bill Gates rubs TIME's face in it


> From this week's TIME cover package on Bill Gates and Microsoft. Reposted
with permission. For information about reposting TIME stories, e-mail
ped () well com.


INTERVIEW


HARD DRIVE


Bill Gates displayed his well-known combativeness last month when Time
questioned him about Microsoft's controversial business practices. These
are excerpts from a two-hour interview with Time technology editor Philip
Elmer-DeWitt and San Francisco bureau chief David S. Jackson.


TIME: Are you betting the company on Windows 95?


Gates: I don't know what "bet the company" means. We're a company with $4
billion in the bank. I don't think we'll disappear. We're not like Time
Warner, with $15 billion in debt. But if you had to take one thing in the
next year and say what will our biggest impact on the PC industry be, it
would clearly be Windows 95. Windows 95 is a very, very big deal.


TIME: Have you won over all the easy computer customers? Is it going to be
harder now to convert the nonusers?


Gates: Well, 20 years ago, when we started, we talked about a computer on
every desk and in every home. Now, if you take that to its extreme and say
100% of the people, clearly we'll never get there. There'll always be some
people who choose not to participate, just like some people don't use the
phone or watch TV.
I see it as a continuum. That is, as more multimedia titles come out, as
more information is online, as we make these things easier to use, we start
to draw in more and more people. Now, once you get in for one application,
the hurdle to learn a second one is fairly low. My dad wanted to do his
taxes automatically. Then I got him doing word processing and now
electronic mail because everybody in our family is connected.


TIME: Do you spend much time on the Internet?


Gates: Well, I spend a few hours a week just seeing the new stuff that's
out there. If you count E-mail, I'm on the Internet all day, every day.


TIME: We'd like to ask you about some of the charges that have come out in
court.


Gates: This is old, old stuff.


TIME: We'd like to have it on the record, if you wouldn't mind.


Gates: Are you, like, a historical publication or a newsmagazine?


TIME: Just last January, according to Apple, you threatened to stop
developing for the Macintosh. Is this true?


Gates: We at no time, in any way, have ever threatened to stop developing
for the Macintosh. I don't even understand what it would mean. It's the
most bizarre thing in the world. What would we get out of that? It's a big
revenue source. It's a profitable business.


TIME: Borland [another Microsoft competitor] charges that you used
vaporware [the preannouncement of a nonexistent product] to screw up the
development of Turbo BASIC. Which you did, right?


Gates: No! If you're accusing me of competition, then yes. You have to
decide. Are we optimized to help competitors, or are we optimized to help
customers? Should we be open about our plans?
Do you understand what is being said here? The question is, are you allowed
to tell people what your products are in advance?


TIME: Isn't the point that if you're a small player and you pre-announce a
product, it has no effect, but that when a large player preannounces, it
can freeze out the competition?


Gates: I'd say that's pretty nonsensical. Let's say you take a market, like
the cigarette market, and you ban advertising. Who benefits?


TIME: The manufacturer with the largest installed base.


Gates: Installed market share, totally. So let's have an absolute ban. You
may never talk about new products in advance. But people do talk about
their plans. You know, it's this damn free-speech thing. It's well
established that communications is valuable for the efficiency of
marketplaces. That's all procompetitive stuff. This assumes that you like
capitalism.


TIME: We don't live under free, unfettered capitalism. Isn't that why we
have antitrust laws?


Gates: When did antitrust come up in the discussion? Antitrust is the way
that the government promotes markets when there are market failures. It has
nothing to do with the idea of free information.


TIME: I guess in Judge [Stanley] Sporkin's mind it does. He's saying
vaporware is an issue.


Gates: You have to laugh. I mean, this is a judge who goes off and
intentionally reads a book [a biography critical of Gates called Hard
Drive] in advance and asks about some of it. It's minor. I mean, you're
either here to talk to me about Microsoft or talk to me about that stuff.
This lawsuit has nothing to do with Microsoft. Nothing.


TIME: Are we supposed to ignore the fact that there is a complaint that has
Microsoft's name on it?


Gates: There are probably 60 cases with Microsoft's name on them. There
will be at all times. Period.


TIME: Have you given much thought to succession?


Gates: I have a will written that, you know, talks about how the company
should be run and who should vote my shares. There's nobody designated as
my successor.


TIME: How long do you plan to run Microsoft?


Gates: Well, I'm 39, and my response to that question has always been that
for the next decade I plan on playing pretty much the role I am today.


TIME: You always answer one decade?


Gates: Yeah, that's as far ahead as I can see.


Copyright 1995 Time Inc. All rights reserved.




Transmitted: 95-05-28 16:11:17 EDT (T5060503)



--
Philip Elmer-DeWitt                                           ped () well com
TIME Magazine
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