What Would You Ask Steve Jobs And Bill Gates?

Encore Reveiw: Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Arguably, two men who’ve done the most to shape personal computing as we know it today.

If you could, what questions would you ask each? I have a few that come to mind. Based upon all the lies that Bill Gates is spreading these days, I can think of more than a few questions.

What about you? What would you ask Steve Jobs? What would you ask Bill Gates?

The trick, of course, is not the question. It’s getting an answer. I could ask my questions, send them in an email or snail mail letter to Apple or Microsoft, and pray for world peace, a date with Miss America, and an end to disease and hunger.

The latter would occur before I’d get a reply from either Jobs or Gates. There’s a better chance for peace in the Mideast than even getting a “no thank you” reply from Apple or Microsoft.

Since Mac360 is a great forum for expression, we should get together and write an “Open Letter” to either Jobs, or Gates, or both.

The Open Letter To… would ask all my questions, give my email address, or a pop-up comments box, or just use the Comments section at the end of each of our articles.

Then, we’d all just kick back and wait for Steve Jobs to respond to our queries, right? Sure. Except the wait would be until shortly after hell freezes over, which will be just after Windows Vista’s successor ships.

Still, there’s hope that either Jobs or Gates reads Mac360 and would respond to my list of questions. Hell has frozen over before. Macs come with Intel Inside these days.

When you stop to think about it, there are all types of questions we could ask the respective leaders of Apple and Microsoft. We could ask about upcoming products. Both would probably say they don’t talk about such things.

Well, they don’t talk about such things with the likes of mere mortals like you and me. Still, I’d like to know what’s coming, and it doesn’t hurt to ask.

We could ask product related questions. We could ask futuristic questions, in an attempt to garner bits of wisdom from each on the future direction of computing.

Neither Jobs or Gates has shown much accuracy in predicting the “next great thing,” Jobs perhaps a bit better than Gates. Maybe all the good things have already been invented.

We could ask personal questions, such as “Have you ever used drugs?” If that question were asked at a symposium, technology town hall, or during a news conference or keynote, the asker would probably get hustled off the premises.

I’m sure the answer would be interesting as both leaders have a speckled history of exploring alternative thinking methods.

What would you ask Bill Gates? One obvious question is, “How much are you worth?” Or, the equally mundane and juvenile, “How much money do you carry in your wallet?”

The answers would be interesting, though likely forgettable. How about, “Why are you such a liar?”

Microsoft’s stock has flatlined for about five years (with a recent uptick), Bill Gates is the company’s self-avowed Chief Software Architect, and co-buddy Steve Ballmer presides over an Etch-A-Sketch organizational chart; they had to bribe God to help get Windows Vista out the door, so…

I’d hold up a big color poster of Steve Ballmer and ask Gates, “Why’d you hire this guy?” Follow up questions are important, too. Such as, “How much longer will you keep him around?”

See? Fun questions designed to keep a dialog rolling along for hours. Or, minutes. Or, not.

The employees at Apple would love Mac360 more than they do now.

What about the beloved Steve Jobs, co-founder and head of Apple. I could ask something like, “Hey, when’s my AAPL stock going back up?” Remember, follow ups are important. Then, “Are you going to jail?”

This kind of seasoned reporter questioning would make me popular at Apple’s Cupertino, CA headquarters. Or, not.

Here we go. What questions would you ask of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates?

The questions can be about each company, about each other, about the industry, about the past. Personal, business only, or the future. You name it. The forum is yours.

Bambi tells me that it’s highly unlikely that both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates read Mac360 regularly. Why not? We have great fashion tips and software reviews.

Knowing that, the opportunity I’m presenting now may be the only chance you’ll have in this lifetime to ask a question of Jobs and Gates and be fully assured that your voice will be heard.

What’s your question? What would you ask Steve Jobs and Bill Gates?