I Am Totally Geeking Out!
For the first time in more than a decade Steve Jobs (CEO, Co-Founder, Visionary, and Savior of Apple Computer) will sit down with Bill Gates (Co-Founder, Legendary Geek, and Microsoft Chairman) and discuss the future of technological innovation. The discussion will be a glorious unscripted free-for-all mediated by the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg.
The last time the two appeared on stage it was MacWorld Boston 1997, where Bill Gates appeared via satellite to announce Apple's darkest day: the announcement of Apple's settlement with Microsoft allowing them to "borrow" Apple's innovation wholesale in exchange for a $150 million dollar investment and a promise to keep delivering Microsoft Office for the Macintosh platform. It was an act of desperation by Apple to save the platform and the company, and for many Macintosh fans it represented Apple's defeat.
How far we have come from those days, from Apple as a small, floundering company beloved by legions of passionate fans to a much larger successful company with mainstream appeal, financial success, a darling of the Corporate world, but with a dwindling number of passionate devotees. I wont lie, I miss those days when being a Mac user was a cult where we looked out for our own and shared a collective sense of identity, purpose, and passion.
Well, that's enough reminiscing this forum is going to be about the most exciting thing to happen in the Geek world in quite some time and promises to be quite the clash of the titans. If we were scoring, I would without reservation say Steve "Insane Visionary" Jobs will crush Bill "Do What Apple Does" Gates. If we're really lucky a mysterious challenger (The Woz) will show up in Lucha Libre garb and give them both a little pain.
For almost ten years Steve and Gates have seemingly avoided meeting in public, although that hasn't stopped them from talking some great smack about eachother. Here's to hoping someone gets a whoopin' and my money goes on Steve.
Let us all pray to the Bit Torrent Gods to deliver us the discussion on Wednesday.
The last time the two appeared on stage it was MacWorld Boston 1997, where Bill Gates appeared via satellite to announce Apple's darkest day: the announcement of Apple's settlement with Microsoft allowing them to "borrow" Apple's innovation wholesale in exchange for a $150 million dollar investment and a promise to keep delivering Microsoft Office for the Macintosh platform. It was an act of desperation by Apple to save the platform and the company, and for many Macintosh fans it represented Apple's defeat.
How far we have come from those days, from Apple as a small, floundering company beloved by legions of passionate fans to a much larger successful company with mainstream appeal, financial success, a darling of the Corporate world, but with a dwindling number of passionate devotees. I wont lie, I miss those days when being a Mac user was a cult where we looked out for our own and shared a collective sense of identity, purpose, and passion.
Well, that's enough reminiscing this forum is going to be about the most exciting thing to happen in the Geek world in quite some time and promises to be quite the clash of the titans. If we were scoring, I would without reservation say Steve "Insane Visionary" Jobs will crush Bill "Do What Apple Does" Gates. If we're really lucky a mysterious challenger (The Woz) will show up in Lucha Libre garb and give them both a little pain.
For almost ten years Steve and Gates have seemingly avoided meeting in public, although that hasn't stopped them from talking some great smack about eachother. Here's to hoping someone gets a whoopin' and my money goes on Steve.
Let us all pray to the Bit Torrent Gods to deliver us the discussion on Wednesday.