Why Bill Gates was jealous of “genius” Steve Jobs

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Why Bill Gates was jealous of “genius” Steve Jobs

From being bitter rivals to having a grudging respect for each other and finally being friends, the relationship between two tech titans — Bill Gates and Steve Jobs — existed on a spectrum that had seen it all. The two of the most powerful men tech industry has ever seen almost came up together at the same times setting up Apple and Microsoft in the late 70s and early 80s. Since Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, died 9 years ago, Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, from time to time shares anecdotes about their relationship. In a recent interview with the Armchair Expert Podcast, Gates called Jobs a “genius” and also revealed that he was jealous of Apple’s legendary CEO.

Gates admitted that he was envious of the charisma that Jobs had. “Jobs was a genius, what he did, particularly when he came back to Apple, no one else could do what he did there. I couldn’t have done that,” Gates said in the interview. The co-founder of Microsoft said that Jobs was “wizard” when it came to motivating people and jokingly said that was “so jealous” of that quality. “He was such a wizard at over-motivating people— I was a minor wizard so I couldn’t fall under his spell— but I could see him casting the spell,” Gates said in a lighter vein.

In earlier interviews, Gates has mentioned how there was no match to Jobs when it comes to picking talent and that his sense of design was really good. Gates has also said that Apple was “on a path to die” before Jobs rescued the company. According to Gates, a lot of people wanted to or can “imitate the bad parts of Steve” and that Jobs could be “an asshole at times” but “he bought some incredibly positive things along with that toughness.”