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!

Failures

[caluml]

Why should we listen to him - what has he ever achieved? (grumbling) OK, I suppose he has done fairly well for himself....

But I bet one thing though - when his hard drive fails, or some software goes wrong - he can get someone from IT to fix it straight away.

HSW

[earthstar]

" How Bill Gates Works "

Interesting.

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

How does he work? With 3 Screens!

[digitaldc]

...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??

TFA

[Kangburra]

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!

Re:HSW

[clevershark]

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...

Shady guy

[AsciiNaut]

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

Obligatory Simpsons Reference

[bri2000]

He didn't get rich by writing a lot of cheques...

Schematics?

[Novotny]

I was expecting some sort of poorly commented code

Desktop search

[frdmfghtr]

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

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

Re:Is he watching?

[Ithika]

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:How does he work? With 3 Screens!

[dsplat]

And Bill, where is your XBOX 360??

What, he can't find one anywhere either?

Re:Is he watching?

[Shano]

Saving up for a digital whiteboard. Right.

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

That is his background picture.

[taxman_10m]

And probably why it is everyone else's default.

Re:Desktop

[jeillah]

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:Failures

[stunt_penguin]

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

Or does he use a Mac?

Next year

[johansalk]

"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?

Re:Failures

[towsonu2003]

But I bet one thing though - when his hard drive fails, or some software goes wrong - he can get someone from IT to fix it straight away.

Nope... He carries around a Knoppix CD for that, didn't you know??!

Re:Desktop

[AxminsterLeuven]

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:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff

[TripMaster Monkey]

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:HSW

[TERdON]

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...

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:Why isn't Bill Reading Slashdot?

[GFPerez]

http://img85.imageshack.us/my.php?image=billgates4 000cn.jpg [imageshack.us]

Re:HSW

[ozbird]

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.

Does anyone really believe this article?

[hachete]

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...

Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff

[idontgno]

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.

Re:Is he watching?

[Ucklak]

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

Re:Desktop

[oahazmatt]

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.

Re:Desktop

[Anonymous Coward]

That office is his "interview office".

His day to day meglomaniac office has a desk carved from a single diamond, and his real desktop scrolls the names and addresses of every person using a pirated M$ product.

Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff

[maxwell demon]

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

So that is the truth behind Steve Ballmer's Monkey Dance?

Re:Is he watching?

[scarolan]

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

Re:The Technology Hasn't Been Up To Snuff

[elrous0]

For the amount of money that Bill has at his disposal, he could just hire Bob Ross to generate his presentations on the fly.

For the kind of money Bill has, he could regenerate Bob Ross just to unzip his fly.

-Eric

Re:Is he watching?

[MarkGriz]

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!

Rich Nigerians...

[TheIndifferentiate]

I'm guessing there was a wave of newly rich Nigerians just before his email filtering team was put in place. Ballmer is probably still patiently waiting on his bequethals, lottery winnings and fees for helping rich politicians flee their countries-Can't pass these up because the return is much better than hustling software!

Bill actually used to have a whiteboard

[Anisty]

I can see that many of you are confused as to Bill's lack of a spanking new digital whiteboard - unfortunately due to an incident recently a Fucking Chair(TM) ended up through the whiteboard which is now Fucking Buried(TM) outside under the very apple tree that Newton was sitting under when he discovered that he'd done it before and was going to do it again.

Bill now has to wait until Steve finishes therapy.

How Bill Gates Really Works

[eldoo77]

1- Make sure no one is looking. 2- Boot "alternate OS" to desktop Linux. 3- Run Open Source apps such as Firefox, OO.org. 4- Take detailed notes on how to... ahem... "borrow" features from these apps. 5- Get Ballmer on the phone and order him to get cranking implementing these "innovative" features that he just came up with. 6- Reboot back into Windows XP. 7- Profit!!!

Re:Is he watching?

[Ihlosi]

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

Re:How he gets his email filtered

[Skim123]

what if you were Bill Gates and afflicted with a weird fetish? Phewh. For once I'm glad I'm not Bill Gates.

Or his wife!

Re:huh?

[Pope]

That was a mini-VAX, not a dorm fridge!

RE: A few thoughts...

[darkfire5252]

Well, I sure know when I write a program that is buggy to all hell, I never have any problems using it.

"Ahh! I entered the wrong input and tried to erase it and it went nuts!!11^H^H^H^H"
"... oh yeah, you have to not make a mistake on that part"

Re:Shady guy

[Anne_Nonymous]

>> doesn't he like Windows?

The windows are fine, it's the vista that's bothersome.

Re:Desktop

[Hymer]

"I'm sure he minimized his windows so everyone could see he was running WindowsXP."
I use XP background on my SuSE just to keep my boss happy... I'm sure Bill is doing the same to keep Steve happy...