AdAge asks Gates about Hodgman to ill effect
By Ryan Block 
posted March 15th 2007 10:32PM
posted March 15th 2007 10:32PM
AdAge: I want to ask you one more thing: Those Mac ads -- how do you feel about the John Hodgman character?
Gates: I can't comment on someone else's ad.
AdAge: OK ... but he's you.
Gates: Yeah, I'm not gonna comment on someone else's ad.
AdAge: OK, well, Bill Gates, thank you so much for joining us.
(Silence)
AdAge: Can I just have a clean goodbye?
(Silence)
AdAge: OK, can you just say goodbye? Thank you or goodbye or something like that?
Gates: Goodbye. [Oh, and it was curt alright.]
Damn son. We might recommend just pretending you're Justin Long (aka Mac) next time, and see what happens.
[Via digg]
I think you have to stop buggin gthe guy about the MS verus MAc thing. Hes basically just a face for MS at this point. I dont see Apple donating their fortunes to finding a cure for anything except the PC. (Hahaha, funny!) at least gates is using his money for good. Curing AIDS.
Take a bite out of that, apple.
As I prepare for the flames, let me just say that I used macs up until about 7 years ago. My favorite was the Mac Power PC with the AV option. (I was watching and recording live tv 13-14 years ago as a kid)
That being said, the old operating systems of Mac were my favorite and I constantly still use an emulator to run systems 8-8.6 (mostly for the old mac abandonware games that still beat almost every small/simple game i can think of out for PC or Mac... POP1 & POP2 were the best in gamesplay and graphics for the mac and I have played all of them on every platform - see www.popuw.com). However, I am unfortunatly not a huge fan of Mac OSX etc.. for whatever reason, I can't understand why, it just never has felt the same. Maybe I just have gotten used to windows over the years through school/ work being easier to use a PC for compatibility issues. And its not because I have a problem making files compatible for myself, but because I got tired of having to show everyone else how to get my files to open on their PC.
Ultimate computer for me would be one that could have partitions to run Mac OS systems 7-current and Windows XP-Vista.
Finally, I wish I could find a reason to switch back other than the fact that apparently... everything just works, because I don't find that to be the case all the time. Plus I am not a complete moron, so I can get just about anything to work on whatever system
People here keep commenting about Bill's fortune and the content of the Apple ad, but those are actually SIDE issues, imho.
What's at issue here is that BG was interviewed by "AD"Age, not by PC magazines. Hodgeman's PC is one of the most recognizable advertizement characters in media today. How can BG NOT expect to be asked about the Hodgeman character?
Usually, with these celebrity interviews, your questions are usually given a scrub before time or were given a list of things to must ask or not ask. So, either somebody dropped the ball and not do this with AdAge, or AdAge ignored it.
Regardless, Gates did his and his corporate image no favor here.
How about:
"If I'm the PC character, let me ask you this: Who does that Apple character represent, and what has he done for the world lately?"
Seriously, everyone one of you who thinks Bill Gates (or anyone for that matter) deserves ridicule or to be baited:
1. Put down the mouse
2. Step away from your Mac (or Linux box)
3. Go outside
4. Breathe deeply
Yes, Bill Gates is rich - very rich. Does that make him less of a person? Does that make it okay to poke fun at him, waste his time or otherwise antagonize him?
This interviewer with the Napolean complex needs to go away. I, personally, think Bill should use some of his money to unearth a bunch of nasty crap about the guy doing the interview and completely destroy his life. I mean, fair is fair afterall. But, of course, he won't. Why? Because, though he very well could - he understands its petty and cheap and he doesn't have anything to prove.
Why on Earth would he respond to the Mac commercials? Take yourself outside of the "yeah, well, he talked shit about me so I need to respond" fifth-grade mentality here and realize that there is much more at stake in every single word he utters, so he'd be best to choose them carefully.
Regarding The Daily Show: so he walked off abruptly. Could be he's a busy guy...could be he's used to the format "interviews over it's time to go" or it could be that he felt snubbed in some way. I certainly can't get inside the man's head, but since you obviously can The Amazing Randi has a $1 million dollar prize for you at www.randi.org to buy up all the Mac gear you could ever want.
We all concede that it's cool to be a Mac fan right now and we're gonna let you off the hook since you've got all this pent up frustration of years of getting your lunch handed to you by the rest of the PC world. But, don't think for one minute that you're passion translates into superiority. Your perfect Apple can only ride the iPod fueled windfall for so long and you can only brush corporate governance issues under the rug for so long until the bills come due.
In the meantime, enjoy the ride - you and Apple have paid your dues and deserve a few moments in the sun. But, leave the cheap shots at the door. It makes you look smug and childish.
Bill, if you're reading this...keep fighting the fight. Your products aren't perfect and neither are you, but I'm encouraged by your ability to stay on top for so long, your generosity and the new approach you're taking to some very old world problems. You've no doubt learned by now there are dicks in the world trying to make a name for themselves off of your "celebrity" and seem to handle yourself with a level of poise when confronted by children.
Poor guy! Give him a break, He's giving millions to charities and he still gets put down so often.
Why don't we put down Steve Jobs, who is wealthy, but doesn't donate one cent of his money?
"Unintentionally" lovable???
So basically you think Apple/their agency had no idea how funny/cool this Hodgman guy is, and just picked him out of a photo book of available talent because he looked dorky?
Don't you think they may have actually LIKED Hodgman themselves??
Oh, well. Once a geek, always a geek I guess.
Matthew House got it right (posting above). Billie G. isn't doing anything to diffuse or defend against the stereotype that is suggested by the Apple ads. In fact, he's only perpetuating it and drawing attention to his severe awkwardness. Most successful businessman in history or not, grow up dude. Drop some stones and quit pouting. Please refer to the above list of great -- and perfectly reasonable responses that you should have made.
I expect to get rated "Lowest Ranked", judging by the other comments, but I'll post anyway. I think this is all very silly, both parties involved are acting like children. I didn't listen to the audio feed, so maybe the interviewer really did sound like a jerk, but even still, Gates sure comes off as childish to me.
What's wrong with asking about the Apple ads? A large Microsoft competitor creates an ad campaign with comical characters to represent both sides. Bill interviews with AdAge. *Ad*Age. Here's the Google description:
"A definitive general collection of news and analysis regarding goings-on in the world of advertising."
Maybe the "world of advertising" has a different meaning than the one I'm thinking, but it seems like a very relevant topic of discussion to me. How childish is Gates that he can't even comment on the ads? If that is the case, why did he agree to the interview in the first place? I'm very, very curious what he expected when he was approached. "Surely they only want to hear about how great I think Vista and the rest of my products are!"
Everyone knows he's the richest man in the world. He wasn't born into the money. He created a successful business and everyone knows it. Is he really that insulted? I don't think the question was even meant to be insulting. Engadget says in the post the character is lovable. Everyone loves John Hodgman. Furthermore, the character represents the product -- Bill Gate's product. It's what he's known for and will forever be known for. Why is it stupid of AdAge to ask him to comment on a depiction of it?
On a personal level, I've never really understood why people get upset about an insult. For example, when I'm undoubtedly flamed for my post, I'm going to disregard every one of them :) I don't lose sleep or get angry if someone calls me a nerd, it's a waste of energy. I just take it in stride and have fun with it. How is it that Bill Gates is not similarly enlightened?
If I was as successful as him, I'm not sure I'd care about anyone's opinion but my wife's. Or maybe that's the problem, maybe his ego is [rightfully?] too large, and he gets a bit defensive when someone doesn't acknowledge his greatness. Who knows?
"On a personal level, I've never really understood why people get upset about an insult. For example, when I'm undoubtedly flamed for my post, I'm going to disregard every one of them :) I don't lose sleep or get angry if someone calls me a nerd, it's a waste of energy. I just take it in stride and have fun with it. How is it that Bill Gates is not similarly enlightened?"
What a nerd! j/k
Some has an iTude.....