10-07-2011, 05:16 PM
I'd rank Gates over Jobs. Although, as Diggles message suggests, it's hard to know just how much credit goes to the guy at the top and how much actually goes to his team, Gates lead Microsoft to be a force of nature which Apple (and NeXT) was always way far behind. Since Gates left, it seems like Microsoft has kind of subsided and turned into more of a patent holding company. Ballmer is no Gates.
What I suspect Jobs brought to the company was less to do with his personal ability to invent devices and more to do with him being good at providing focus and direction -- in particular I suspect it was him that lead the charge to bring artistry and technology together. He cared about how things looked, and combined with an effective marketing campaign, I think this is where you start to get the Jobs-as-messiah trend. He managed to bring emotional appeal into the world of computer hardware!
Apple didn't know what to do without him. It'll be interesting to see if that's changed.
So he's no Newton. I'm not really sure you could say he was a Bill Gates. Maybe a Jeff Bezos, albeit more prominently displayed -- a good, insightful leader that took his company into a good direction and made it successful in a way that almost no other CEO has managed.
What I suspect Jobs brought to the company was less to do with his personal ability to invent devices and more to do with him being good at providing focus and direction -- in particular I suspect it was him that lead the charge to bring artistry and technology together. He cared about how things looked, and combined with an effective marketing campaign, I think this is where you start to get the Jobs-as-messiah trend. He managed to bring emotional appeal into the world of computer hardware!
Apple didn't know what to do without him. It'll be interesting to see if that's changed.
So he's no Newton. I'm not really sure you could say he was a Bill Gates. Maybe a Jeff Bezos, albeit more prominently displayed -- a good, insightful leader that took his company into a good direction and made it successful in a way that almost no other CEO has managed.