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Bill Gates Brags About Vista, Reacts to Apple's Latest Ads

Posted by Zonk on Fri Feb 02, 2007 04:14 PM
from the oh-bill dept.
Microsoft Businesses Operating Systems Software Windows Apple
fr8_liner writes "In an unusually candid interview with Newsweek Bill Gates lays it all on the line, bragging about the benefits of Vista, ragging on Apple for their 'I'm a Mac' ads, and claiming primacy in a number of features shared by Vista and OSX. Specifically, it is Mr. Gates' opinion that the Apple adverts are misleading if not untruthful. He makes the claim that 'security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.' The interview also touches on the future of Microsoft and Operating systems, and some of the company's plans for internet-based computing."
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Bill Gates Brags About Vista, Reacts to Apple's Latest Ads 25 Comments More /

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  • ring ring (Score:5, Funny)

    by HomelessInLaJolla (1026842) * <lajollahomeless@hotmail.com> on Friday February 02 2007, @04:16PM (#17864080) Journal
    > And then I might edit a high-definition movie

    Bill, is that the MPAA on the phone?

  • Truth or Dare? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2007, @04:17PM (#17864114)
    'I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.'

    oh don't worry Mr Gates, we will.

  • 4 TEH WIN! (Score:5, Funny)

    by operagost (62405) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:18PM (#17864124) Homepage Journal

    Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.
    Looks like he lost his temper (and his sense) again. His personality's a lot like Ballmer's, he just can't fling chairs as far.

    • Re:4 TEH WIN! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chyeld (713439) <<moc.yugswen> <ta> <dleyhc>> on Friday February 02 2007, @04:35PM (#17864466)

      Looks like he lost his temper (and his sense) again. His personality's a lot like Ballmer's, he just can't fling chairs as far.

      What many people do not realize is that Ballmer is actually a costume for Gates, who wears it when he feels he is exceptionally out of control. Any time you see the two of them together, Ballmer or Gates is actually a puppet designed by the Henson Co.

      Jim Henson actually was assassinated when he threatened to reveal these secrets. True story.

  • WTF (Score:5, Funny)

    by n1hilist (997601) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:20PM (#17864172)
    "He makes the claim that 'security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.'"

    It's almost like virgins talking about sex, I'd question if he actually *uses* his own O/S.

  • Exploits on Vista? (Score:5, Informative)

    by soapbox (695743) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:20PM (#17864176)

    I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.'

    Yeah, there's one this month [eweek.com].

    also here. [indiatimes.com]

  • Bracket attack (Score:5, Funny)

    by honkycat (249849) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:23PM (#17864228) Homepage Journal
    [Bill] Gates [responded to] questions in an [unusually] candid [interview]. For [some reason] most [of] his [words] were [interjected] by the editor. This [seemed] somewhat [odd and] excessive [to me]. Did [anyone else] notice [this]? [I] mean, a[n occasional] edit for [clarity] is pretty [normal], but it [seemed] like [every other] word was [inserted later].

    • Re:Bracket attack (Score:5, Funny)

      by Divebus (860563) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:49PM (#17864654)

      Steven Levy needed to fill in the dead spaces in Bill's output - like this:

      Yes, although security is a [The process could not access the file because it is being used by another process]. You're [Overflow at 0x0b26f033: WKSSVC.DLL has stopped responding.] the fact that there have been some security updates already for Windows Vista. This is exactly the way it should work. When somebody comes to us [A Runtime Error has occured. Would you like to debug? Line: 29 Error: Object Expected] we've got [The Program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down] before there is any exploit.

  • Gruber (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2007, @04:23PM (#17864234)
    Great write up at Daring Fireball already: http://daringfireball.net/2007/02/lies_damned_lies _and_bill_gates [daringfireball.net]

  • Mac Exploits? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Paulrothrock (685079) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:25PM (#17864292) Homepage Journal

    I'm the "computer guy" in my family and I've convinced everyone to buy a Mac. So I'm constantly looking around for possible exploits to warn my parents, my wife, and my mother-in-law about. I paid particular attention to the month of Apple bugs.

    So I'd know if people were finding "daily" security flaws with Macs. This isn't to say that there aren't any, but three hundred sixty five a year? That's not even happening in Windows. And most of the ones that I've heard about require physical access to the machine, or for the attacker to be on the network. And the very few that have been able to be remotely triggered have been fixed within the month through Apple's software update.

  • What's with all the [edits]? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lazerf4rt (969888) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:27PM (#17864318)

    Check out this part of TFA:

    Yes, although security is a [complicated concept]. You're [referring to] the fact that there have been some security updates already for Windows Vista. This is exactly the way it should work. When somebody comes to us [after discovering a vulnerability] we've got [a fix] before there is any exploit. So it's totally according to plan, and that's why we have the whole Windows Update thing. We made it way harder for guys to do exploits. The number [of violations] will be way less because we've done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn't done any of those things.

    Is this a joke? It sure [is weird] to read an [article that] has so [many freaking] edits. I wonder [if Bill] was swearing [like a] sailor throughout [the] whole interview, and they [had to] clean [up] his potty mouth?

  • Sidebar is 13 years old (Score:5, Informative)

    by kindbud (90044) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:31PM (#17864404) Homepage

    NEWSWEEK: If one of our readers confronted you in a CompUSA and said, "Bill, why upgrade to Vista?" what would be your elevator pitch?

    Bill Gates:     The most effective thing would be if I could sit down with them and just take them through the new look for a couple of minutes, show them the Sidebar...
    Sidebar, new Windows interface from Quarterdeck [findarticles.com]
    Newsbytes News Network, April 6, 1994

    Sidebar is delivered on a single floppy disk, takes up less than 1 megabyte (MB) of hard disk storage space, and less than 300 kilobytes (K) of random access memory (RAM). It also fits on the right edge of the computer's display to take up as little screen space as possible.

    Quarterdeck has exclusive license of Sidebar from Paper Software of Woodstock, New York. Paper Software originally distributed the product on a try-before-you-buy basis as shareware, then Quarterdeck licensed it, made significant changes, and is now shipping the product. The suggested list price is $59.95.
    Yeah, cool new idea there, Bill.

  • Is Gates wrong, or lying? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by djh101010 (656795) * on Friday February 02 2007, @04:44PM (#17864582) Homepage Journal
    OK couple things about his statements that jumped out at me from reading TFA: The number [of violations] will be way less because we've done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn't done any of those things.

    Um, Bill, Apple hasn't had to fix DLL hell, and processes run by a user blowing away system things, because they didn't build those problems in in the first place. They didn't have to block open ports with vulnerable services listening on the by default, because they're not _open_ by default. And so on. Next?

    Question: How about the implication that you need surgery to upgrade? Well, certainly we've done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done.

    How so, Bill? What are the hardware requirements for your new OS? How many 5 year old boxes, or even 3 year old boxes, meet that?

    You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it's superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it.

    So Bill is saying, that there's no truth to the statement that you need to make hardware changes if you want to upgrade to vista. NO truth to it.

    Tell that to my inlaws; they'll need a new box entirely.

    I mean, it's fascinating, maybe we shouldn't have showed so publicly the stuff we were doing, because we knew how long the new security base was going to take us to get done. Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.

    OK Bill, show me the figures. Show me a total exploit on OSX. Now, show me 365 of them for each year it's been out. Back up your figures or be shown to be the liar you are.

    I just can't keep going through this, I think that one says it all about the guy's outright lies, and/or complete lack of clue. So, windows fanbois, is he lying, or is he clueless?
    • > I haven't heard about all those Mac exploits he's referring to, have you?

      I have. They exist. (Most of) The exploits themselves would take a phenomenal amount of knowledge about the entire underlying OS to turn them into a full-fledged rootkit installation exploit but they do exist.

      > When somebody comes to us [after discovering a vulnerability] we've got [a fix] before there is any exploit

      Bill. I thought you were an uber-hacker. You should know better. This is only true if they come to you with the vulnerability before they've written the full-fledged exploit.

      > The number [of violations] will be way less because we've done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn't done any of those things.

      This statement is borderline libelous. Just the facts, please.

    • Re:upgrading (Score:5, Informative)

      by kebes (861706) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:32PM (#17864424) Journal
      I think the point is that to upgrade a Mac to the latest version of Mac OS X doesn't require rebuilding the computer (nor buying a new one). In fact each version of OS X is a little more efficient and streamlined, so that older hardware may actually run *faster* with the new OS.

      (I'm not saying I particularly approve of the Apple ads, but I don't think your comments about having to throw out apple hardware are particularly fair.)

    • Re:upgrading (Score:5, Interesting)

      by qwertphobia (825473) on Friday February 02 2007, @04:35PM (#17864470)
      I'm running 10.5 on a 7-year-old G4, among other systems. It is in the same configuration as when it was purchased (dual-500 g4's, 1 GB Ram) except that the hard drive has been replaced (40 GB -> 60 GB).

      It might have been a large machine when it was purchased, but it wasn't all that unusual for a Mac. It might not be the fastest computer but it will run the OS faster than it ran the OS it came with (or any other since).

      Let's see you run Vista on a 7-year-old Dell.

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