"Study" finds half of Americans want to be Bill Gates

According to a highly dubious study recently released by a maker of paper-shredders, 47-percent of Americans said they would "like to be Bill Gates." The other 53-percent said they preferred being powerless, poor, and not knowing what to do with Visual Basic.

[Linh @ Feb 7th 2008 9:38AM]

I'm 15 now and I'm willing to give up my 15 years to be a 30 year old Bill.

[OneLove @ Jan 17th 2008 12:37PM]

Sorry, that should read... "Study" finds most Americans want to be billionaires.

[Chebwa @ Jan 17th 2008 12:43PM]

What a shitty study. An interesting one would be to only ask people in their twenties and thirties if they want to be Bill Gates. Sacrifice their youth for his money.

I am currently working on my own study to prove that Americans enjoy delicious foods, sex, and large televisions. Engadget will apparently post any study remotely linked to tech, so maybe I'll get it published!

[BrianB @ Jan 17th 2008 1:04PM]

Steve Jobs now the color of green apple.

[ray @ Jan 17th 2008 1:20PM]

I don't want his job I only want the money.

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 17th 2008 1:51PM]

Why is it that I never get invited to these "surveys"? hmm?

[Andrew ? @ Jan 17th 2008 1:52PM]

If they showed that picture of him, people might change their mind.

[derX @ Jan 17th 2008 4:26PM]

Andrew, think so?

What most people will the pay most attention to:
[1] Drop out of college.
[2] Get arrested.
[3] Become the richest man in America.

Err, something tells me it'll do a lot more bad than good to show that picture.

[pscs @ Jan 18th 2008 9:20AM]

sorry, you mean "Half the Americans don't know who Bill Gates is".

[Sabba @ Jan 17th 2008 12:37PM]

hahahaha

[Tin Marin @ Jan 22nd 2008 4:57PM]

Let me get this right:

a. You steal someone else's intellectual property.
b. You are rich beyond capacity because of that, and marry your PR agent, who is not hot.
c. Having created a profitable monopoly, decide to fail in every new venture outside of what you stole.

So everyone wants to be this guy. Green Day is right.

[bob sakamano @ Jan 17th 2008 12:38PM]

i would like to be him BEFORE he donated all his money to charity!

[Eric H @ Jan 17th 2008 12:46PM]

Hell Yeah! Charity is for losers! Ummm I mean don't be greedy... Yeah thats what I meant.

[brian @ Jan 17th 2008 12:47PM]

oh no.. what am i gonna do with the other billions?

as of 11/07 bill holds 857,499,336 shares of MSFT so every 3 months a small 94.3 mil goes into his account from a 11 cent dividend. not mentioning other investments and salary

agree with first post. what a ridiculous study

[Xenoterranos @ Jan 17th 2008 12:39PM]

Damnit Engadget, stop clicking on those "Punch a monkey" banner adds. You're gonna get a virus. I don't care How COOL they say their survey is.

[Chris @ Jan 17th 2008 12:55PM]

rofl. i love those games

[imacmatt09 @ Jan 17th 2008 12:41PM]

Where can I get some of those fresh shades? Far out man!!! :)

[Rand @ Jan 17th 2008 12:42PM]

I'd settle for being Bill Gates' embezzling CPA.

[muddyh2o @ Jan 17th 2008 12:43PM]

speaking of surveys, what happened to the "should HD DVD just give up" survey?

[Prokanda @ Jan 17th 2008 12:55PM]

awww... I bet your ps3 gave you a hug after that one, eh?

(I'm also an owner of a ps3, so I have some right to make that comment.)

[muddyh2o @ Jan 17th 2008 1:35PM]

actually, i was really curious to know why it was pulled from the homepage

check this link

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/01/17/poll-should-hd-dvd-throw-in-the-towel/

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 17th 2008 1:41PM]

You know that's engadgetHD.com, right?

[Flashpoint @ Jan 17th 2008 12:44PM]

I guess that explains all of the students in college for MBA degrees to add to the FLOOD of MBA degrees already in the market.

[Lord HowitHurtz @ Jan 17th 2008 7:43PM]

i don't want to be bill gates
i wanna be bill gates rich!!

[blade417 @ Jan 17th 2008 1:04PM]

Me? Wanna be Bill? Nah.. just give me enough money to not have to work anymore.
So I can climb the mountains and sing the songs that I like to sing... Or go to a movie theatre, and take a dump in one the seats and just wait.... till someone sat in it... and hear a squish.... thats funny to me.

[BigD @ Jan 17th 2008 3:11PM]

Nice Chappelle reference.

[webran61 @ Jan 17th 2008 1:05PM]

Is it because half of Americans think they could make a better operating system or iPod competitor?

[ethana2 @ Jan 17th 2008 4:01PM]

Well, a bunch of people people around the world just /did/, whether it's the people who took the survey or not.

I'd rather be Torvalds than Gates.

[apeguero @ Jan 17th 2008 1:07PM]

What's that around his neck?

[Matt @ Jan 17th 2008 1:12PM]

It's a mug shot, so that would be the ID tag for the picture

[apeguero @ Jan 17th 2008 1:15PM]

Yeah Matt. I can it's a mug shot and I know that's the ID tag. But what's that other colorful looking thing around his neck? Is that the collar for his shirt or a hanckerchief neck tie or something? Was that the style back when this took place? 1977? Damn that's a long time ago.

[Neal @ Jan 17th 2008 1:21PM]

Ye shis shirt collar. If IRRC, this was taken around '77 when he had just started MS in Arizona. He was also supposedly caught in 75 for driving without a license and speeding in a straightaway on the freeway out in the desert.

[Juice @ Jan 17th 2008 1:31PM]

Don't even tell me that he isn't stylin' in that pic. Look at the clash of those patterns and colors he's got on. It's come full circle. He's wearing his favorite shirt under his favorite sweater with his favorite glasses.

[BJ Sisco @ Jan 17th 2008 2:41PM]

It's what all the rappers and bad asses wear now.

[unbound @ Jan 17th 2008 3:34PM]

that is not in style. that was never in style. period. someone show me a picture of a rapper...no better yet, someone from the time period of 1975-1980 who dressed like that and was considered 'in style.' no, just find me another human being in history who wore something similar to that.

[bdkennedy1 @ Jan 17th 2008 1:20PM]

People are too lazy and procrastinate too much to be Bill Gates, or we'd have tens of thousands of them.

[Paris @ Jan 17th 2008 1:22PM]

I would like to be Hugh Hefner.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 17th 2008 1:30PM]

You mean impotent and surrounding yourself with hot chicks to make you feel better?

[Paris @ Jan 17th 2008 1:35PM]

I meant when he was young obviously.

You actually think people saying they want to be Bill Gates mean they want to be a 53 year old?

[malone @ Jan 17th 2008 1:43PM]

"The other 53-percent said they preferred being powerless, poor, and not knowing what to do with Visual Basic."

I think virtually everyone wants nothing to do with Visual Basic.

[roach @ Jan 17th 2008 1:28PM]

I rather be Steve. He will be richer because he doesn't give his money to charities.

[Mabedan @ Jan 17th 2008 1:33PM]

it's grosse...

[rawhead @ Jan 19th 2008 12:54AM]

Heh.

And I thought the article was gonna read "the other 53% want to be Steve Jobs". What a fuckin' Apple fanboy I am ;-)


Seriously, though, Chebwa had a great comment up there. Who'd want to be a Bill/ionaire even if it meant sacrificing your youth? I'm currently 35, but I still wouldn't give up 15 years of my life to become a 50 year old Bill.

[granny down east @ Jan 17th 2008 3:51PM]

Here's a hot tip...you're gonna give up those 15 years eventually anyway, and you won't be rich.
Trust me on that.

[rawhead @ Jan 17th 2008 5:01PM]

No, I would be living those 15 years, and I'm saying all the billions aren't worth it for me. If you can't share my views, then fine, but your hot "tip" is worth about as much as amoeba shit to me.

[granny down east @ Mar 20th 2008 1:32PM]

Not worth amoeba shit?
I'd say you don't drink alcohol, then.

[Passarinhuu @ Jan 17th 2008 1:42PM]

You can keep the money, I just wish I had the look...

[frankz00 @ Jan 17th 2008 2:04PM]

Yeah? What about a Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates study?

[Fezman @ Jan 17th 2008 1:50PM]

So what if I'm powerless, poor, but really good at visual basic? hehe

[ethana2 @ Jan 17th 2008 4:05PM]

C++, BASH, and Python for me :)

..VB can go die.