How Bill Gates Works

ZZeta writes "What's a day like for the richest man on Earth? In this Fortune interview, Bill Gates explains what he does on his average workday. Most interesting? He is not into some of Outlook's features, such as to-do lists and email notification. Also, he works with three monitors and is looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard next year." I was interested in how he gets his e-mail filtered. Hey Bill, if you read this, I'll totally put you on my e-mail whitelist!

Re:Failures

Also, does he ever get viruses, the BSOD, spyware, spam, crashes, and driver conflits?

Or does he use a Mac?

Re:Failures

Aside from his three screens, his office looks REALLY unimpressive.

From what I have heard/read about Bill Gates in the past, his office is about what I would expect. Gates doesn't seem to be the type of person who would have an "Emperor Palpatine" type office, at least for everyday use. He may have a show office for meeting "important people", but somehow I doubt he even has that. It doesn't suprise me that he uses a 3 screen set up -- I use two screens at work, and wouldn't want to go back to one.

Personal feeling about how big Microsoft is and how much of a monopoly it has aside, it seems that Bill Gates is the type of person who still has fun and likes to do and build new things, all while dominating in whatever it is he does. That said, I think Microsoft is a little (okay, a lot) too big and powerful, so that is why I use Open Source software as much as possible.

HSW

" How Bill Gates Works "

Interesting.

I Guess,How stuff Works should include how such " stuff " works too .

Re:HSW

Bill Gates is supported by a system of veins and arteries that cycle blood throughout his body, as well as a set of lungs which collect oxygen which is then added to the blood...

Re:HSW

Bill Gates is supported by a system of veins and arteries that cycle blood throughout his body, as well as a set of lungs which collect oxygen which is then added to the blood...

No heart? That figures.

huh?

"Also, he works with three monitors and is looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard next year." I can't fathom why the world's richest man would wait for any period of time before buying something, especially if it's something useful!

The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff

I use a digital whiteboard at work. It's placed on top of a multi-thousand dollar plasma screen and and the whiteboard itself cost thousands also. I think the company that makes it is called Smarttech [smarttech.com]. It's a nice thing but there are many frustration/time consuming aspects of it. If I were a billionaire, I wouldn't want to waste my time fiddling with a whiteboard that--in the end--would give me a little better control over my demos and presentations.

What I'm trying to say is that I bet he was waiting for this technology to get to a point where maybe the two units came as one and were more sleekly integrated. The maintenance/recalibration of this thing is a pain and there are times when we have customers sitting in front of us and we're trying to present to them but we have to run through some diagnostics.

Not cool.

Now imagine those customers were interested in million dollar contracts with you.

Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff

he could just hire Bob Ross

I'm sure Gates can afford it. Summoning the undead is essentially free.

Maintenance (roll-on antiperspirant, fresh changes of embalming fluid, regular sacrifices to the unspeakable powers of darkness) is a bit of a financial drag. But I think in the "unspeakable powers" category, Gates gets an employee discount.

How does he work? With 3 Screens!

...err I mean Windows!

Hey Bill, change your desktop wallpaper, it is looking a bit dated. And wash your hair.

He says he only gets 100 emails a day, surely we can send him some more to [e-mail] ?

And Bill, where is your XBOX 360??

Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens!

And Bill, where is your XBOX 360??

What, he can't find one anywhere either?

How he gets his email filtered

... I read an article in which he was quoted saying that he had a small staff that personally goes through his email.

Alas, I am too lazy to link to such article.

TFA

Today, if there's something up there that's brilliant, I just get out my pen and my Tablet PC and recreate it.

Wow, like that's really changed? See something good and copy it!

Shady guy

Interesting to see him using venetian blinds -- doesn't he like Windows?

Desktop

Two things to notice:

1) His (windows) desktop uses the default XP background. Odd that the world's richest man doesn't change his background picture.

2) The (real) desktop looks as if it were made out of particle board.

Maybe Gates is more down to earth than we'd thought?

That is his background picture.

And probably why it is everyone else's default.

Re:That is his background picture.

Because they format and re-install so often!

Re:Desktop

That looks like a studio version of a generic office except for the side by side trio of monitors on the desk. I'll bet they didn't want to show his real office with the big golden throne and all the other good stuff...

Re:Desktop

1) His (windows) desktop uses the default XP background. Odd that the world's richest man doesn't change his background picture. He probably *did* change his desktop to match his personal preferences. He just changed it on all the computers on the entire world.

Re:Desktop

1) His (windows) desktop uses the default XP background. Odd that the world's richest man doesn't change his background picture.

The Administrator probably never gave him enough privelages for that.

Desktop search

Another digital tool that has had a big effect on my productivity is desktop search.

I wonder what he uses...*cough*GDS*cough* :)

Re:Ikea beats Microsoft?

Nope, not anymore. Ingvar Kamprad used to be though, when the IT market flushed, making all BG's stock more or less worthless.

Bit too clean...

His office looks like mine when I take a picture of it. Beforehand, I'd have gone through and cleaned off the mess of paper, chip bags, and cans though. I'm sure he's got a whole team at Microsoft responsible for sanitizing his office prior to press visits.

The again, it sounds like all he does is chat on the phone and read/write emails. If that's all I had to do my desk would look like nobody worked there too.

Sort of Interesting but

This was a quick and sort of interesting glimpse into how Bill Gates works but it felt like a pitch for Microsoft Share Point... I thought we were going to get a blow by blow account of Bill Gates from the time he gets out of bed until he goes to bed.

If I wanted a Share Point Ad, I'd return the calls from my M$ rep. :-P

Next year

"Also, he works with three monitors and is looking forward to buying a digital whiteboard next year" - why next year? is he saving up for it?

Well from the article.

The guy is 100% manager these days. He has some filtering whitch decides whether his assistant will read it or him personally.
I think thats best for a guy like him. If hed get all emails that where send to him he would spend all time getting unimportant emails, now there is assistant who checks the filter which if there is some email he should get.
He has triple screens, but those screens aren't the 30" dells.
He has such huge amount of information to go through and manage that he needs to use some search application to keep it in order.

How boring, Bill! Let's hear the interesting stuff

Instead of hearing about all the wonderful "Microsoft Technologies" he uses like a desktop that spans three
screens I guess the really interesting thing to hear from him is how he gets himself focused and disciplined, what's
his mental trick here. I know how to work an email client like the next guy but I'm still a miserable, disorganized,
unfocussed son of a bitch. That "part" of your workday is what is really interesting, Bill.

A few thoughts...

First of all how can the be the richest man in the world's office? Bill Lumberg's office was nicer than that! Geez, cheap basic apartment blinds, a cheesy plant, particle board desk, etc. Maybe that's an attempt to endear him as an average joe.

Second of all I wonder how much real direction Bill offers Microsoft nowadays. Or he is more of a figurehead? I would think a company with 50,000 employees and lots of entrenched middle/senior level management would be relatively self sustaining. Perhaps Bill just gives generic wish list contributions, like "It sure would be swell if people could collaborate on a project through a hosted website." And the underlings put flesh and bone to the task.

Third of all if he eats his own cooking, doesn't he get occasionally frustrated with the stability and security shortcomings of Windows? Granted XP is a lot more stable than the Windows 9x/ME branch of their product line, but security is still a concern. Even with SP2 in place. Perhaps his Internet access is going through multiple software firewalls, firewall appliances, etc. so he doesn't get hit by malware.

Forth, this really isn't a day in the life of Bill Gates, and is (as the article is entitled) how he gets his work done. I want to see him on MTV Cribs or the equivalent. Showing off all of his electronic bling. That would be cooler than this self serving advertisement.

Re:A few thoughts...

That has always been the MO for Bill Gates. Even after Microsoft went IPO he still drove around an old ratty Mercedes (and bought a Porsche collection, but that was more for his love of speed then bling). From day one he has made sure all developers have the same size office as him, with the same amount of windows (why Microsoft's original buildings were X's). Bill Gates is competitive, not materialistic. There is a reason he doesn't just quit right now and buy a huge yacht with Paul Allen. He's never seemed to care much about the bling.

Does anyone really believe this article?

if you do, then you should have sucker stamped permanently across yr forehead. This is an advert for SharePoint and the tablet pc. Period. In the pictures, BG even looks like the typically gormless boss forced to advertise their own products. That they have sunk this low...

What a useless article...

Self aggrandize much, Bill Gates? Holy shit! The article could have been summed up as, "Be organized, email is good, collaboration is good."

Re:Is he watching?

Well I've now RTFA and it is, to put it mildly, "content-light". He sorts his email rather than using a to-do list, and he's saving up for a digital whiteboard. This merits an article? I've written more involved blog posts about train journeys to work (no, seriously). Such is the privilege of being the richest rogue^Wentrepreneur in the world.

His desk also looks a bit unreal though. A potted plant and three flatscreens is all that he amounts to. Are you sure that picture wasn't taken in Ikea?

Re:Is he watching?

Saving up for a digital whiteboard. Right.

This is Bill Gates we're talking about. Obviously you mean a digital whiteboard company.

Re:Is he watching?

Does he use Dance-Dance-Revolution to sort email or to just remove spam?

Re:Is he watching?

Maybe his office is so sparse because Steve Ballmer breaks all his furniture?

Re:Is he watching?

Article summary:

8:30 Arrive at Microsoft
8:32 Find penny in parking lot. Pick it up.
8:37 Open my office door. Add penny to the "Digital Whiteboard Fund" jar on my desk. I've got about $100 in there now, and am hoping to
          have enough to get one by next year.
8:39 Look at my 3 monitor setup and chuckle about the rest of the world running Windows(TM) on their little 15" flat panel. Peasants.
9:15 Write up advert^H^H^H^H^Hrticle about my typical day, making sure to plug as many Microsoft(TM) products as possible.
9:30 Email advert^H^H^H^H^Hrticle (DAMMIT, did it again) to Fortune Magazine. Fortune *chuckle* .... how apropos!
9:35 Profit!

Re:Is he watching?

9:35 Profit!

I think you forgot every second from 0:00:00 to 23:59:59.

00:00:00 Profit !
00:00:01 PROFIT !
00:00:02 Pr0f17 !!!! ...

23:59:57 ProFIT !!
23:59:58 pRoFiT !!!!!
23:59:59 profit