Bill Gates family PC or else!

[Gutboy Barrelhouse]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1158905/Microsoft-boss-Bill-Gates-bans-children-using-Apple-products--wife-admits-shed-like-iPhone.html

Microsoft boss Bill Gates bans his children from using Apple products... but his wife admits she'd like an iPhone

Microsoft founder head Bill Gates has banned the use of products made by arch-rival Apple from his house, his wife has revealed.

But the blockade could backfire on Gates, 53, after Melinda admitted there are times she feels envious of her friends' iPhones.
She told Vogue magazine that the couple's three children Jennifer, 13, Rory, 10 and Phoebe, seven, are not allowed Apple products.
 Banned: Bill Gates, above, has banned Apple products in his home - but his wife Melinda, above, has admitted she wouldn't mind an iPhone
'There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household,' she said.
'But iPods and iPhones are two things we don't get for our kids.'
Like any forbidden fruit, however, Mrs Gates, 44, admitted that some Apple products do have the power to tempt her.
'Every now and then I look at my friends and say 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone,' she admitted.
For many years, Microsoft had a monopoly on the technology market.
But over the last decade, the popularity of new Apple products such as the iPod and the iPhone as well as their computers, has promoted the company to chief rival.
There have been rumours of animosity between Gates and Apple founder Steve Jobs but the pair have made public efforts to appear friends.

The Gates live in a vast mansion on the shores of Lake Washington and are very protective of the privacy of their children.
Gates stepped down as chief executive of Microsoft  to concentrate on charity the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the world's biggest philanthropic organisation.

Apple's Steve Jobs, meanwhile, has been forced to take sick leave because of health problems.

[Oban]

I would gladly agree to never use an Apple product again for a potential fifty-fifty split of a billion or more dollars.

Smart woman.

[NowhereMan]

Maybe it's part of the reason I don't have a few billion to throw around but... why...?

[MahrinSkel]

Why does Jared (of the Subway commercials) have a clause in his contract forbidding him from eating food from any other fast food chain in public, or even being in a position where he can be photographed in or near one?  Considering how many times that Microsoft was publicly shamed for using Linux on web servers back in the 90's (which apparently got him quite upset, and it was only of interest to hardcore geeks), can you imagine if he was seen with an iPhone rather than something running Windows Mobile?

--Dave

[Trippy]

I think you meant BSD.

[Chimpy]

It is not really any different than people I know saying "iPods are cool, but I would never buy anything made by Apple". People are weird about brand loyalty, and Bill and Melinda Gates both have deep roots in Microsoft (his deeper than hers, obviously) so it is somewhat understandable that they will stay loyal to their brand.

My step-dad will not drink Coke. Ever. He will only drink Pepsi. Even if they stopped selling Pepsi tomorrow, he would not drink Coke.

People have the right to be irrational when it comes to personal buying decisions. Just like I have the right to be irrational and say I will never ever ever watch Forrest Gump because I was sick of people telling me how much I HAD to see it when it came out in the theaters.

[Bzalthek]

I thought Forrest Gump was a good movie.  But I feel the same way about Titanic.  I will never watch it.  Dark City got 2 weeks in the theaters.  I got to listen to stupid bitches complain about the ending of Titanic for 6 months. 

[Slyfeind]

I thought Microsoft owned Apple?

[UnSub]

I thought Forrest Gump was a good movie.  But I feel the same way about Titanic.  I will never watch it.  Dark City got 2 weeks in the theaters.  I got to listen to stupid bitches complain about the ending of Titanic for 6 months. 

"The ship sank? What the fuck?" 

[MahrinSkel]

I thought Microsoft owned Apple?

Only 10%.  Back around 97-98, they threw Jobs a few billion to keep Apple from going under (after settling a long-running suit with Apple over Windows 3.0/3.1 "borrowing" UI design from Apple for an undisclosed amount).  As their only significant competitor for the desktop, that would have been bad for their anti-trust case and cost them a lot more in the long run.

This was about the same time they were throwing money at SCO to sue RedHat and IBM over Novell's Unix patents.  If at some point in the future we need to pinpoint "when Microsoft lost their edge", putting the lawyers in charge of their corporate strategy is probably it.

My WTF about Titanic's ending, 10 years later when my wife and daughter finally cornered me and made me watch it, was "Why the fuck don't you tie him to the board, you stupid twit?"  No, she just lets him drift into the deep, and that's supposed to be romantic pathos?  Sure, he probably would have died anyway, but at least she could have *tried*.

--Dave

[Trippy]

My WTF about Titanic's ending, 10 years later when my wife and daughter finally cornered me and made me watch it, was "Why the fuck don't you tie him to the board, you stupid twit?"  No, she just lets him drift into the deep, and that's supposed to be romantic pathos?  Sure, he probably would have died anyway, but at least she could have *tried*.

Huh? He tried to pull himself up to where she was but it started to tip over so he stopped. Basically there was only enough room/stability for one person up there so he let her have that spot.

[MahrinSkel]

Huh? He tried to pull himself up to where she was but it started to tip over so he stopped. Basically there was only enough room/stability for one person up there so he let her have that spot.

Yes, so he was mostly in the water.  So tie him to the board, or to yourself, with him mostly in the water, and therefore not weighting the board.

--Dave

[Trippy]

Huh? He tried to pull himself up to where she was but it started to tip over so he stopped. Basically there was only enough room/stability for one person up there so he let her have that spot.

Yes, so he was mostly in the water.  So tie him to the board, or to yourself, with him mostly in the water, and therefore not weighting the board.

He didn't fall into the depths until after he died.

Edit: The sequence was they were floating in the water and found a wood panel that was only big enough for her so he just hangs on the edge of it and they both essentially pass out from exhaustion. She wakes up when she hears some rescuers nearby but when she looks at him he's dead from the icy water. She pushes him into the water and then blows her whistle to get rescued.

[MrHat]

Jesus Fucking Christ you two.

[IainC]

They didn't show the real ending where the German U-Boat slips back beneath the waves which I thought was a shame.

[Merusk]

I can't see the point of complaining about this.  There's plenty of iPod options out there, and the iPhone is getting a lot of competitors already.   This should be retitled 'Spoiled rich people bitch their golden teat won't let them own latest status symbol."

The more interesting Gates story was last week when he released all those mosquitoes at the conference while talking about the deadliness of malaria.

[bhodi]

Whatever, she was REALLY dumb for throwing the gem in the ocean. Could have sold that to a private collector and lived out the rest of your (short) life in luxury. Sentimentality does not extend to multi-million dollar objects.

[Sky]

My step-dad will not drink Coke. Ever. He will only drink Pepsi. Even if they stopped selling Pepsi tomorrow, he would not drink Coke.

People have the right to be irrational when it comes to personal buying decisions.

That's not irrational at all, they taste different. I don't drink Pepsi, nor would I. If the place doesn't carry diet coke, they lose a beverage sale as I have ice water.

The sequence was they were floating in the water and found a wood panel that was only big enough for her so he just hangs on the edge of it and they both essentially pass out from exhaustion. She wakes up when she hears some rescuers nearby but when she looks at him he's dead from the icy water. She pushes him into the water and then blows her whistle to get rescued.

But people who freeze like that can be revived. At least manslaughter, the bitch.

[Paelos]

Whatever, she was REALLY dumb for throwing the gem in the ocean. Could have sold that to a private collector and lived out the rest of your (short) life in luxury. Sentimentality does not extend to multi-million dollar objects.

Or, you know, giving it to charity when you die. It was unarguably a really stupid poetic device.

[UnSub]

Here's a question: do you think Jobs uses any MS products? I'm betting: no.

[Samwise]

Does he have kids?  If so, it must suck for them to be banned from any decent video games.

[MahrinSkel]

Does he have kids?  If so, it must suck for them to be banned from any decent video games.

They could still play Wii and PS3.  Oh, you said *decent* video games.  Yeah, you're right, that does suck.

--Dave

[Azazel]