Microsoft founder reacts positively to what Steve Jobs had to say about him

Oct 31, 2011 13:02 GMT  ·  By

Bill Gates is not bothered by the harsh comments of Steve Jobs as he was interviewed by Walter Isaacson for his biography, according to an interview with the Microsoft founder.

"Steve Jobs did a fantastic job," Gates told "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour, when pressed to comment on Steve Jobs’ remarks that Gates wasn't ‘imaginative’, that he hadn’t invented anything, and that he stole other people’s ideas.

Gates brushed off those assertions with kind words about the late Apple co-founder:  "When you think about why is the world better today, the Internet, the personal computer, the phone, the way you can deal with information is just so phenomenal."

Gates did justify his tempered reaction, saying "Over the course of the 30 years we worked together, you know, he said a lot of very nice things about me and he said a lot of tough things. We got to work together. We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all."

Trying to lay out a theory as to why Jobs sometimes used harsh words to refer to Microsoft (Gates), the man behind the Windows operating system said, "He faced, several times at Apple, the fact that their products were so premium priced that they literally might not stay in the marketplace."

"So the fact that we were succeeding with high volume products, you know, including a range of prices, because of the way we worked with multiple companies, it's tough."

"And so the fact that … at various times, he felt beleaguered, he felt like he was the good guy and we were the bad guys, you know, very understandable," Gates said.

The full interview, including Gates’ efforts to get the world’s richest nations and corporations to make this world a better place for everyone, can be found here.