Bill Gates: Microsoft Would Have Bought WhatsApp Too, But Not For $19 Billion

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Bill Gates admits he and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg are a lot alike.

"We're both Harvard dropouts, we both had strong, stubborn views of what software could do," Gates said in an interview with Rolling Stone published this week.

But Gates vaguely questioned fellow billionaire and friend Zuckerberg over the $19 billion WhatsApp deal. Gates said that while he liked Zuckerberg's style, he couldn't swallow the jaw-dropping price paid.

Gates said:

It means that Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be the next Facebook. Mark has the credibility to say, "I'm going to spend $19 billion to buy something that has essentially no revenue model." I think his aggressiveness is wise - although the price is higher than I would have expected. It shows that user bases are extremely valuable. It's software; it can morph into a broad set of things - once you're set up communicating with somebody, you're not just going to do text. You're going to do photos, you're going to share documents, you're going to play games together

Google was rumored to be after WhatsApp, too. And Gates said Microsoft also would have snapped it up given the chance but wouldn't have outbid Zuckerberg. Gates explains:

Microsoft would have been willing to buy it, too. . . . I don't know for $19 billion, but the company's extremely valuable.

This isn't the first time, Gates has taken a swipe at Zuckerberg. In November, Gates dissed Zuckerberg's big plans to bring the Internet to the developing world, saying

"Hmm, which is more important, connectivity or malaria vaccine? If you think connectivity is the key thing, that's great. I don't."

In contrast, Zuckerberg has called Gates his hero says he's "one of the greatest visionaries that our industry has ever had."

Interestingly, Microsoft's other former CEO also recently commented on the WhatsApp deal and the amount Zuckerberg paid for it.

Ballmer, speaking at the Oxford University's School of Business earlier this month wondered how Facebook determined the value of WhatsApp. Ballmer said:

WhatsApp ... 450 million users sell for $19B. Does this imply that everything that gets to 450 million users will sell for $19B? No it does not. Is it a fad? Well, probably not. It looks like text messaging. I don't know if they'll be successful or not but you have to say, what's my goal? Will those 450 million people ever really generate enough revenue to pay off? Reasonable people, [like] Zuckerberg believe so and there's no reason to doubt him, but you really have to look at it and say, "what is the measure of success?" In long run, the measure of success is, do I make enough money for my shareholders relative to their expectations?

Report by : JULIE BORT

Bill Gates says "frustrated" iPad users can't type or create documents

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Just when we thought that the 'iPad can't do productive stuff' debate was over, Microsoft co-founder and Chairman Bill Gates, has fired fresh salvos at the world's best selling tablet.

During an interview with CNBC, speaking on the declining PC market, Gates said that people using iPad-like devices were frustrated because "they can't type, create documents, and don't have Office." He said that tablets were becoming more popular and that the line between PCs and tablets was becoming thinner.

He also praised the Surface, Microsoft's own tablet, for integrating the "portability of the tablet with the richness of the PC."

Microsoft launched Windows RT in October 2012, along with the Surface tablet (Review). The software runs on a few tablets from other manufacturers as well. Windows RT is designed to run on phone-style chips, of the kind used in the iPad, rather than PC-style chips, which tend to use more energy and require bigger batteries. Using Windows RT means the tablets can be thinner and lighter, but it also means regular Windows programs won't run on Windows RT. That's caused some confusion and limited the appeal of Windows RT, analysts say.

However, the market response to Microsoft's Windows RT powered tablets has been anything but good. Researchers at IDC said manufacturers shipped 200,000 tablets running Windows RT, the special version of Windows for iPad-style tablets, in the January to March period, down from about 900,000 shipped in the fourth quarter.

It's worth pointing out that Apple still remains the top tablet seller although Android tablets are showing increased presence thanks to low cost devices from Asian sellers. Tablet shipments reached 49.2 million units in the January-to-March period, according to IDC. Apple's iPads accounted for 19.5 million units out of these. Android tablets accounted for 56.5 percent of shipments in the March quarter, compared to 39.6 percent for iPads. Tablets running Microsoft's new Windows and Windows RT platforms accounted for 3.7 percent of total shipments.

Report by : Anupam Saxena

Bill Gates and Microsoft Co-Founder Recreate Iconic Photo

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Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen have recreated a picture they once took back in the 1980s, rekindling nostalgia from that era and showing the once-estranged duo is no longer on the outs.

The two came together for an event this week to celebrate computer pioneers at Allen's Living Computer Museum in Seattle. Allen — who spoke to attendees, which consisted mostly of an intimate group of his friends — sent a tweet with a picture of the duo posing just as they had 30 years ago, surrounded by early models of Microsoft PC computers.

"So much fun catching up w/ computing pioneers at the #LCMCelebration last night! Here I am with old friend @BillGates," he tweeted.



According to a GeekWire report, a staff member at the museum said the PCs were tracked down specifically for Gates' visit. The men are dressed similarly as they were in the original picture too — Allen is in a suit and Gates is in a casual sweatshirt.

The picture represents how the co-founders have patched up their relationship, which was highlighted in Allen's autobiography Idea Man. Although Allen said Gates and present CEO Steve Ballmer tried to scale down his stake in the company, an epilogue has since been added, saying they have mended their differences.

The night also had resumes on display from Gates and Allen — who knew it was proper to add height and weight on job applications back then? Both candidates also listed their salaries: $15,000.

Report by : Samantha Murphy

Video of Gates and Zuckerberg talking about coding goes viral

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It isn’t exactly Harlem Shake, but the latest video to go viral on YouTube has Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg explaining the importance of coding. Within just two days of being online, the video has garnered over five million views on YouTube. The sudden popularity has resulted in increased donation to the organisation that commissioned the video, Code.org—a non-profit foundation that is dedicated to growing computer programming education.

The aim behind the short film is to encourage kids to learn computer programming. The video is about ten minutes long and is a combination of animated characters and eminent personalities sharing their experiences as coders. Apart from Gates and Zuckerberg, people appearing in the video include Jack Dorsey (creator of Twitter), Drew Houston (founder Dropbox), will.i.am (Musician/The Black Eyed Peas and Entrepreneur), and a basketball star who coded in college.

Zuckerberg coded his way to success

What works in the video's favor is the fact that it doesn’t contain technical jargon and instead emphasises on the fact that you don’t have to be a geek or a genius. It has managed to do so by having the speakers share their experiences, the joys of coding, and even the lines of code they wrote. The video tries to drive home the point that coding isn’t just a flash of brilliance, but a collaborative team effort in a stimulating environment.

Zuckerberg, who happens to be one of the youngest millionaires today, debunks the myth that you need to amass a vast amount of knowledge to be able to write codes. He says you need to start small. What the video also highlights is the fact that computers are involved in almost every field, which means that there is a growing demand for people who can code.

The video also leaves the audience with the glimpse of the lives led by the coders. Thanks to the great demand, companies ensure that the coders have a fun work environment and perks, right from free food to laundry services, recreational areas, open spaces and much more.

Report by : Priyanka Tilve

Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates urge kids to learn coding in new video

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When Hadi and Ali Partovi immigrated to America from Iran in 1984, they slept in the same cramped bedroom as their parents, who exhausted their life savings on the teenage boys' education.

Nearly 30 years later, the twin brothers are firmly planted in the tech industry's elite circles, after selling companies to Microsoft and News Corp's MySpace, and tapping the rare connections to invest early on in Facebook, Dropbox and Zappos.

Hadi Partovi says the arc of his own successful rise in the tech world was shaped by an early interest in computers and a formal education in writing software, or coding, which enabled that spark to flourish into a career.

Along the way, the twins made influential friends.

Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey - three people who became billionaire tech industry luminaries thanks to their computer programming abilities - appear in a new video released Tuesday by the Partovi brothers as part of their new computer science-education nonprofit, Code.org.

The goal of the online video campaign is to encourage parents to demand more schools to teach computer programming - a potentially lucrative skill that "equalizes opportunity" but is only available to a fraction of U.S. high school students, Hadi Partovi said.

"Computer programming, right now, is the best embodiment of the American Dream," Partovi said. "The American Dream is to be the next Mark Zuckerberg."

"The tragedy is the skills it takes are not hard to learn, but only 10 percent of schools offer (computer science) courses, and these are usually the privileged schools."

After graduating with computer science degrees from Harvard in 1994, the Partovi brothers founded LinkExchange and sold it to Microsoft in 1998 for $250 million. Hadi helped co-found Tellme Networks, a telephony company, while Ali went on to found iLike, a music service that became one of the first apps to integrate with Facebook.

The Partovis' campaign comes at a time tech executives warn of a new digital divide emerging between job-seekers who possess programming skills and those who do not. They also point to statistics showing that while coding jobs are among some of the most well-paid, especially in Silicon Valley, there remains a dearth of computer engineers, who are recruited aggressively by companies like Google and Facebook.

But there have also been strong signs recently that government officials are increasingly raising the issue of technical education, beginning at the secondary level.

In his state of the union speech this month, President Obama vowed to redesign U.S. high schools to meet "the demands of a high-tech economy," while New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week introduced a new computer programming pilot program for 20 schools.

Hadi Partovi, who financed the video with his brother, lined up endorsements from Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and American Federation of Teachers union leader Randi Weingarten, although they did not appear on camera. The 10-minute video was directed by Lesley Chilcott, the producer behind the documentaries "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Waiting for Superman."

Partovi said he hoped to eventually raise money to fund programming courses in low-income school districts and perhaps even advocate for certain policy reforms that champion computer science education. In California, he noted for example, computer science courses are not counted toward high school graduation requirements.

"We owe our success in business to having learned to code," Hadi Partovi said.

Although the video mostly contains interviews with tech entrepreneurs and has familiar startup scenes - like shots of young employees skateboarding inside startup offices - there are some unexpected appearances by pop celebrities, including Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh and Will.i.am, a part-time startup investor himself.

"Great coders are today's rock stars," the music producer, sitting in his recording studio, says into the camera.

But what is considered a truism in Silicon Valley may not be apparent elsewhere, Hadi Partovi said.

"Middle America doesn't realize it's an issue," he said. "We can't solve the problem until we realize it exists."

Report by : Reuters