“Steven, Bill Gates called. Call him back.” | Hacker News Reader

“Steven, Bill Gates called. Call him back.”

hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com

65 pointsjashkenas9 comments

> (1989) It was super weird to see that written because Microsoft wasn’t on our collective academic radar and most people didn’t know who Bill Gates was

In 1989 'most' people would for sure know who Bill Gates was. He made the cover of Time Magazine on April 16 1984 and most likely even earlier. Microsoft went public on March 13 1986 this article details some of that.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-bill-gates-accidentally-be...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/faq.aspx

Steve Jobs was on Time Magazine in 1982 (cover that is). Impossible to believe that by 1989 Gates was not well known (I am old enough to remember him from the 80's but I wouldn't consider myself 'most' people). Generally Steve and Bill were usually mentioned in many of the same articles.

Elon Musk has been around for a while now. I first heard about him some 10 years ago, about the time Steve Jobs died and some mentioned he could be a good replacement for Jobs at Apple. Most people in my family did not know who he was (or who Jeff Bezos was) until a few months ago and I'm sure that some of them do not still know who he is.

I did not know who Tom Brady was until last year.

Fame is a lot more relative than it appears and there are many parallel universes out there.

I’m not American but in my corner of the world Gates’ name wasn’t really ubiquitous until Windows 95. Making the cover of Time one week just means the most switched-on section of the population will know about you... for a week. With something as boring as a tech CEO, that window probably looks more like a few days, and again we’re talking about the “reading” section of the population. Remember it was the ‘80s, software was not cool among adults - boomers in their 30s and 40s largely looked up to rockstars, actors, and sportsmen - not rich nerds.

Windows 95 broke that only because it made so much money, it was in every home and every office, so “who did this” made Gates a celebrity.

He wrote that in the context of explaining where he was going to work to his family. In tech circles sure, with people interested in computers Bill was known, but owning or using computers back then was extremely rare. I started a degree in CS in 1986 and didn’t even own a computer until 1989, and that was only possible because I did a sandwich course and worked for a year. Even most CS students didn’t have a computer, let alone ordinary people, so there’s no reason they would care.

This is so well written, what a pleasure to read. For any of us around computers in those days, it is great to hear these 'inside' stories. I am hooked. The origin of email addresses. First boot problems. Networking challenges. Onto the next chapter...

If you want some more good 80's-90's silicon valley stories, Jaron Lanier includes a lot of tangents like that in his books.

I worked with Steve Sinofsky briefly, and he was a brilliant engineer. Unfortunately had to lead some products with very stiff existing competition.

What I find interesting is his fascination with the periodic table. I recall Bill also being very fascinated with it, and could talk about it’s intricacies for days.

I’m wondering if that’s a strong predictor of technical curiosity, or mere coincidence. Or Bill just liked hiring other nerds with similar interests!

A rare story where employee stock options end up worth something!

$100 million (assuming he still has them)!

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