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Comment by jckt | Hacker News Reader

I think Bill Gates is a good counterexample. Microsoft was not the nicest company around, but as a boss he seems pretty normal, even good. And I'd say he's just as successful as Jobs, if not more. (Also difficult to imagine a sociopath being a philanthropist like Gates).

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Bill Gates' first act could qualify as intense to say the least [1] [2], and second act is indeed saintly.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates#Management_style

[2] No judgement on him because not everyone can pull off a Microsoft.

Bill Gates' reviews were notoriously difficult - http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html. I wouldn't call him a "normal" boss either.

A difficult review is not a bad thing, especially when it is a software review.

Do you really need to bean arsehole whilst doing said difficult review?

I guess I meant normal as in not-a-sociopath. As another commenter said, Gates was definitely intense. But then a lot of other people can be similarly described (maybe not to the same degree, but someone like Linus is not exactly known for being mild mannered[1], but he's definitely not a sociopath).

But thanks for the link though, I'll check it out. I must've suppressed all my Gates-criticism for all the good he's doing now.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5107495

Well, for one he also tried to push his co-founder out of the company while he was sick in hospital. If he wasn't a sociopath at the time, he sure acted like one.

Gates had a change of heart, and a matching change of public image.

Gates got older. And realized his mortality. And he was smart enough to act on it.

And perhaps the fact that when you die, people will remember not just the billions you made but the asshole you were as well. Once you are gone, your material success won't be worth squat to you anymore. But your legacy will forever echo the dick you were to others (who now write your history for posterity).

Look, Steve Jobs, despite his accomplishments (and I don't mean to belittle them at all) is a gnat in history. Like the rest of us.

He had marketing brilliance, and was a trend-setting and trend-guesser. But he didn't truly change the world. He didn't better our lives. He (Apple) produce(s) high quality, high price hardware. Simple as that. But in America, right now, we measure wealth to be greatness. It's sad really. Wealth means nothing unless you spread it around. Which Job's never did. As a rule.

Steve Jobs was not a generous man. Not at all. And he also wasn't a kind man. Maybe to his family and close friends - the personal Steve Jobs - I don't know. But everyone else was a tool to be used. Even Woz. Hell, especially Woz.

Despite us turning him into a Saint, in 100 years he'll be forgotten. Bill Gates might not be though.

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