How Bill Gates Works 424
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!
HSW (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting.
I Guess,How stuff Works should include how such " stuff " works too .
Re:HSW (Score:5, Funny)
Re:HSW (Score:2, Funny)
Aren't you forgetting the borg parts of him (just look at the picture at the top of Slashdot)? Those would be the parts that don't work like the rest of us.
Re:HSW (Score:5, Funny)
No heart? That figures.
The translation (Score:2)
huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
Obligatory Simpsons Reference (Score:2, Funny)
The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:2, Funny)
For the amount of money that Bill has at his disposal, he could just hire Bob Ross [wikipedia.org] to generate his presentations on the fly. ^_^
Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff (Score:2, Funny)
So that is the truth behind Steve Ballmer's Monkey Dance?
Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff (Score:3, Funny)
For the kind of money Bill has, he could regenerate Bob Ross just to unzip his fly.
-Eric
Low cost digital whiteboard howto. (Score:2)
Re:huh? (Score:2, Informative)
J.
Re:huh? (Score:2)
Setting an Example perhaps? (Score:2)
Maybe that's why he is rich (Score:2)
Maybe because that's how he stayed rich in the first place: by not giving in to impulse buying.
Re:huh? (Score:3, Interesting)
(Of course, for most normal people, neat gadgets come before life necessities and productivity boosters...)
Re:huh? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:huh? (Score:3, Funny)
How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:5, Funny)
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 billg@microsoft.com ?
And Bill, where is your XBOX 360??
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:2)
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:2)
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:2)
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:2)
I think either people are waiting for the PS3, the price to drop because it is too expensive, or more and better games to start being released. Sometimes waiting a while for new technology to work the bugs out is the best thing anyway.
Makes me laugh to think back in December I saw XBOX 360s on Ebay going for $600 - $800 a piece.
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:2)
But, looking at the picture, he's only using a single screen anyway...
Re:How does he work? With 3 Screens! (Score:2)
Ok, I read the article (Score:2, Insightful)
Two things I learned from this.
1. Mr. Gates is getting old and sad (look at the picture).
2. He does not have much to say to us.
How he gets his email filtered (Score:4, Interesting)
Alas, I am too lazy to link to such article.
Re:How he gets his email filtered (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How he gets his email filtered (Score:2)
Re:How he gets his email filtered (Score:3, Funny)
Or his wife!
Re:How he gets his email filtered (Score:3, Informative)
Four million Spam a day - here's the article [guardian.co.uk] for ya, and a quote from it:
Look's like he'll have to find some other way to make his finger sore :-(
TFA (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, like that's really changed? See something good and copy it!
Shady guy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shady guy (Score:3, Funny)
The windows are fine, it's the vista that's bothersome.
Schematics? (Score:2, Funny)
Desktop (Score:3, Insightful)
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. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:That is his background picture. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Desktop (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Desktop (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Desktop (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Desktop (Score:2)
Maybe Gates is more down to earth than we'd thought?
The "self-made billionaire" types usually kick it average joe style so that they can stay in touch with their customer's sensibilities.
I heard a story about Ross Perot when he got involved with GM. Normally, high level executives can get their cars serviced through a premium service station that has parts flown in same day on private jets. Ross insisted on using the normal service stations that regular customers had to deal with so he could get a be
Re:Desktop (Score:3, Insightful)
If anything Ross should have been congratulated on his foresight to want to improve services. Simply sitting in an ivory tower won't get the job done. Witness what not checking on quality and service has done for GM.
Re:Desktop (Score:2)
he probably had a girly picture as his background, but changed it for picture being taken.
Re:Desktop (Score:5, Funny)
The Administrator probably never gave him enough privelages for that.
Re:Desktop (Score:2)
Re:Desktop (Score:3, Insightful)
Do I agree with the politics of MS? NO...not in a million years. But demonizing him constantly has lost it
Desktop search (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder what he uses...*cough*GDS*cough*
Re:Desktop search (Score:2)
Re:Desktop search (Score:3, Insightful)
Or perhaps he is using [microsoft.com] his own software?
Email? Still popular? You don't say! (Score:2)
I thought we already knew that [slashdot.org].
:)
I also recall reading an article a while ago on here (no, can't find it) that explained how Bill Gates has a staff of people sorting his (e)mail. Now it looks like that is no longer the case?
Maybe Bill Gates did cure spam but is not telling anyone else how to do it.
Ikea beats Microsoft? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Ikea beats Microsoft? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ikea beats Microsoft? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Ikea beats Microsoft? (Score:2, Informative)
1 William Gates
2 Warren Buffett
3 Carlos Slim Helú
4 Ingvar Kamprad
5 Lakshmi Mittal
6 Paul Allen
7 Bernard Arnault
8 Prince Alwaleed
9 Kenneth Thomson
10 Li Ka-shing
Bit too clean... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
News Filter (Score:2)
If I were Bill Gates I'd enter My Name into my Google News customization search string, just as I do for My Corporation.
I'm not Bill Gates, nor as famous, so I wouldn't get any hits.
Sort of Interesting but (Score:3, Interesting)
If I wanted a Share Point Ad, I'd return the calls from my M$ rep.
Next year (Score:4, Funny)
Same thing he does every day. (Score:2)
Well from the article. (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Screen Four (Score:2)
I guess the laptop/tablet on the photo at the bottom is the domain of Clippy.....
How boring, Bill! Let's hear the interesting stuff (Score:5, Interesting)
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... (Score:5, Insightful)
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... (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously (Score:2)
He gets others to work for him. That's why he's rich.
Does anyone really believe this article? (Score:3, Funny)
Snake Plant (Score:2, Informative)
Not everyone can afford multiple monitors (Score:2, Interesting)
However, noone at microsoft feels that consumers need to have virtual desktops.
It's 2006 and Windows still ships with the poorest of window managers, and no support for multiple virtual desktops.
Pricey Digital Whiteboard? (Score:2)
What, it wouldn't fit in this year's budget?
What about Steve Jobs? (Score:2)
What a useless article... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Is he watching? (Score:5, Funny)
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? (Score:5, Funny)
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? (Score:2)
That's bacause no-one makes the exact style he wants. If he owned the company there would be no issue
On another note:
e-mail comes straight to me from anyone I've ever corresponded with, anyone from Microsoft, Intel, HP, and all the other partner companies, and anyone I know.
Time to see if I'm in a partnerish enough company . . . tempting, Really tempting.
-nB
Yeah!! (Score:2)
Re:Is he watching? (Score:2)
And neither does your comment mention anything about saving up for a sense of humour, but it's obvious that you still haven't scraped together the cash yet. Or maybe they shipped it this morning but you'll have to wait overnight for it to come. We'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
Re:Is he watching? (Score:3, Informative)
Wealthy people tend to save money. This may be difficult for non-wealthy people to realize, but it's true. The average millionaire in the US drives a 10 year old car... didn't we just read about the Head of Ikea driving a 14 year old Volvo? If you want to be wealthy, you budget, plan and spend accordingly, you don't rush out and buy trinkets whenever a whim strikes you and you don't get a new car lease (fleece) every couple of years.
Re:Is he watching? (Score:2)
Damn those things must be expensive!
Re:Is he watching? (Score:2)
-nB
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Is he watching? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is he watching? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is he watching? (Score:5, Funny)
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*
9:35 Profit!
Re:Is he watching? (Score:5, Funny)
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
Re:Bill on Slashdot (Score:2)
Re:Failures (Score:5, Funny)
Or does he use a Mac?
Re:Failures (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Failures (Score:2, Insightful)
Aside from his three screens, his office looks REALLY unimpressive.
But the over
Re:Failures (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Re:We're much more alike than you think, Mr. Gates (Score:2)
So you have the same pay/work ratio as him: infinity! You should put that on your resume.
Re:Next year? (Score:2, Insightful)
Just because you can afford to buy it, does not mean you have to buy it.
Phil
Re:Advertising Sharepoint (Score:2)
This is just a guess, but maybe Microsoft has a process whereby you request a new item (such as a digital whiteboard) and are placed in a queue to get one. To not seem like the snobby CEO that always is granted an exception, he put himself in the queue; it will get installed when IT gets around to his turn.
My workpl
Re:Advertising Sharepoint (Score:2)
(for the curious, it was that place on Bel-Red Rd., right by the Pagliacci's, and a couple blocks from Crossroads)
Re:Advertising Sharepoint (Score:2)
Re:Why isn't Bill Reading Slashdot? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Why isn't Bill Reading Slashdot? (Score:2)