Bill Gates Blog. AHHHHHH!!!!!

June 26, 2004 12:48 AM

Bill Gates May Blog. Always ahead of the curve, the astute visionary's groundbreaking foray into the virginal internet territory, known by computer hackers as "web logging," won't be all business, either. He's expected to share personal details such as tidbits from recent vacations. I for one am trembling on the edge of my seat. 1.0 lacks that special something.
posted by scarabic (18 comments total)

(via Waxy)
posted by scarabic at 12:49 AM on June 26, 2004

Hey, to be fair, I think it is interesting and significant that the CEO of a major corp, the world's wealthiest man, etc. is keeping a blog. One can't imagine that the content will be the least interesting, but, you know.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 12:51 AM on June 26, 2004

I think it is interesting and significant

So do I: that's why I posted it!

But part of that interest is in the farce and ridculity of it. Leaving aside the late-to-the-party cracks for the moment, it will be interesting to see if the content is really the point of his blog, or if he's just using it to showcase MS technology in some cheap-shill way. I'd love to read about the lifestyle of the world's richest man, but somehow I think he's "above" writing anything interesting about that.

I have to say that his personal vacation details interest me less than my own navel. I already know which 2 words are banned from use in his own bedroom, and that's all the Bill Gates personal data I need to know!
posted by scarabic at 1:34 AM on June 26, 2004

I have two questions:

1. will Bill Gates be actually writing this himself, or will some MS copywriter be tasked with shilling the latest offerings?

2. Does anybody really care that Bill Gates has decided to adopt a (fairly) mature technology, apart from the fact that many people will be sucked into seeing it as a wonderful new thing invented by MS?
posted by dg at 1:43 AM on June 26, 2004

I think that's part of why I think it's significant. There was an article recently, somewhere, about CEOs blogging. The point was that they really have little leeway or inclination for that matter, so write anything interesting. Gates, though, can do whatever he wants. But he's not a maverick, so it's doubtful that he'll have anything interesting to say.

Y'all are such MS bashers. I can think of many tech execs that are more brilliant; but I think he's most often underestimated. I don't think his success is luck, I think it indicates that he's very good at something. And that "something" is something important to be good at—too many tech folks, including entrepreneurs, think that good tech is the whole story, and it's not. And I think highly of him for his philanthropy.

Nevertheless, the stuff he's written has never been that interesting or farsighted. He thinks he's a bit of a visionary, but he's not.

But I still think that any CEO, much moreso one of a very large company, and especially the world's wealthiest man, keeping a blog is important. Sure, he's a tech exec and so we expect him to be a little more cutting-edge. But these types of folks, even if they come from the tech industry, are pretty damn tempermentally conservative.

Oh, and expect MS to put some kind of blogging-friendly support into Office soon, as well as integration with the also soon-to-be-seen CMS support in IIS. It will happen, and soon, and people like the Six Apart folks will be shortly extinct. I don't know what they're thinking.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:54 AM on June 26, 2004

Y'all are such MS bashers.

I think highly of him for his philanthropy.

the stuff he's written has never been that interesting

we expect him to be a little more cutting-edge

expect MS to put some kind of blogging-friendly support into Office soon

Dood. You say it all.
posted by scarabic at 2:04 AM on June 26, 2004

If Bill Gates wanted a Mefi account, would Matt give him one?
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:18 AM on June 26, 2004

This goes to show, blogs are a bore.
posted by Eekacat at 2:40 AM on June 26, 2004

Oh, and expect MS to put some kind of blogging-friendly support into Office soon, as well as integration with the also soon-to-be-seen CMS support in IIS. It will happen, and soon, and people like the Six Apart folks will be shortly extinct. I don't know what they're thinking.

Blogging features in a $400 piece of office software will threaten a set of free / cheap services? Somehow I don't see it happening.

More likely would be integrating it into MSN / Hotmail. But even then, people have a lot invested inthe look and content of their blogs which make migration difficult, and mass-migration an impossibility.
posted by Space Coyote at 3:05 AM on June 26, 2004

Six Apart is charging for almost everyone that wouldn't be in the Office market. That's what I think their mistake is. Open Source and other free stuff will survive. Anyone trying to make money off of consumer-friendly and workgroup blogging will perish.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 3:19 AM on June 26, 2004

Keyser Soze : if Bill Gates wanted a Mefi account, considering his precedents, he'd buy Matt .
posted by elpapacito at 4:17 AM on June 26, 2004

You have to admire someone who makes money out of crashing peoples computers.
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:00 AM on June 26, 2004

There goes the neighbourhood!
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:15 AM on June 26, 2004

Billionaire Mark Cuban started a weblog a few months ago. Just started looking at it and am impressed it doesn't seem like some ghostwritten PR stunt but quite human.

And blogging in Office sounds interesting, there aren't too many client based weblogging software. Then you'd be able to easily update a page on a server you only have ftp access to, or just keep it on your personnel computer until your ready to upload.
posted by bobo123 at 9:04 AM on June 26, 2004

Bill Gates is not the CEO of Microsoft.

Steven A. Ballmer is the CEO and Bill Gates is the Chairman and Chief Software Architect.
posted by quam at 9:44 AM on June 26, 2004

For those keeping score at home, Gates is the pasty-faced geek with glasses and the money while Ballmer is large, florid and given to jumping around like a monkey that sat on a fire ant hill.
posted by tommasz at 10:02 AM on June 26, 2004

Monday June 28th

Mood: Bored

Man, I'm so sick of all the anti-trust lawsuits. I mean, thank god for the Bush administration, but some of these states won't back off, and this patent mess we're in is just crazy. I think a helicopter ride might cheer me up.

Oh before I forget, check out what I found in Ballmer's office. Its a ab-roller! Haha, Steve is getting kinda chunky. After my massage I'm going to smack him in the belly and ask him if its a boy or a girl. Everyone laughs at that one. Then again, everyone laughs at all my jokes...

Laterz!

PS Stop asking me if I'm on friendster. Shhh, we're going to launch MSNster next month, so save your friend invites for then!

Peace.

Bill G.
posted by skallas at 3:22 PM on June 26, 2004

He won't blog until there's Microsoft blogging software, I'll tell you that.
posted by abcde at 8:27 PM on June 26, 2004