A couple of decades ago, computer technology was almost exotic and was used only, perhaps, in the offices of government agencies and large companies. Today almost all people have desktops and tablets. This widespread dissemination of modern technologies is primarily the merit of two specialists - Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
The relationship between creators Apple and Microsoft has always been rocky. Jobs and Gates throughout the history of doing business have alternately become rivals, now associates, or even just enemies.
Rivals
In their early days, the young Gates and Jobs were more rivals than friends or enemies. Many people believe that Windows 85 was the first graphics operating system that made the PC experience as easy as possible for ordinary users. However, this is not entirely true.
For the first time, the idea of using graphical user-friendly interfaces for PCs was nevertheless implemented by Apple on the Apple Macintosh PC. It was with the aim of concluding a contract for the supply of software for these desktops that Jobs in his youth - in the 80s of the last century - came to Washington to see Bill Gates.
The creator of Microsoft at that time considered the capabilities of the new OS a little limited, but nevertheless agreed to cooperate with Apple. Subsequently, for a couple of years after the release of the Macintosh, the companies worked together and the relationship between Jobs and Gates was quite friendly.
Enemies
The collaboration between Microsoft and Apple has become, in the opinion of both leaders, quite productive. However, once Bill Gates noted that he had more specialists working on Mas than Steve, considering it unfair.
After that, the relationship between the companions began to gradually deteriorate. They finally fell apart with the release of the first version of Windows by Microsoft in 1985. The news had the effect of a bomb on Steve.
Jobs considered the new OS a common rip-off from the Macintosh, which he was quick to inform the public about. Bill replied to this that even before collaborating with Apple, he had hatched the idea of developing a graphical shell, believing that the future was in it.
In addition, the founder of Microsoft pointed out the fact that the very principle of interaction between a user and a computer through graphics was invented by specialists not at all by Apple, but by Xerox PARC, which they once admired Jobs. From that moment on, the former business partners became bitter enemies.
In 1985, Stephen Jobs left Apple and incorporated his own company, NeXT. However, after he stopped working for Microsoft's main competitor, the relationship between Bill and him did not improve.
Have you ever been friends?
Despite years of hostility, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs always treated each other with a grain of respect. Steve commented on Gates 'great sense of humor and excellent business skills, and Bill has repeatedly expressed admiration for Jobs' good design taste.
In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple, which was then on the brink of bankruptcy. To improve matters, he decided to turn to Bill for help. Since then, the former enemies have declared a truce.
Jobs, who had mercilessly criticized Microsoft products before, even publicly praised Internet Explorer for Mac, Office, which simply shocked his fans. In the next five years, until the end of the contract with Bill, Steve never once allowed himself to express any criticism of Microsoft in any interviews. But later, never having forgiven his partner for what he had done, from time to time he still tried to hurt Gates' pride, releasing, for example, a series of truly ingenious videos ridiculing the PC.
The largest experts in the field of computer software did not become friends until Jobs's death. Even the success of Apple did not reconcile the former partners who had become rich, achieved a lot in life. However, it is possible that the strained relationship between Bill and Steve was to some extent only an appearance.
After Jobs's death, it was revealed that he kept a letter from Gates on the table next to his bed until his death. The richest man in the world, as noted by his relatives and friends, experienced the death of his "sworn friend" really hard.
