A tour of Bill Gates' mansion in Medina is going for a hefty price tag. The bid to tour his house (and have him guide you around) is up to $35,000. Last year, the tour sold for $8,600, the Seattle PI is reporting.
But before you run out to start bidding, it's only available to those who work at Microsoft as part of its annual charitable giving campaign. According to the Seattle PI, word slipped that the bidding was on the rise this year from Microsoft CIO Tony Scott at the Society for Information Management's SIMposium on Tuesday.
The Seattle PI is saying that employees can also bid to go on a run with CEO Steve Ballmer and the opportunity to buy the "World's Best Bologna Sandwich." But it's the tour of Gates' house that receives top billing every year. And for good reason--that thing is huge.
But all this talk of going on a tour of Bill Gates' house begs an important question: how much would you pay to talk a walk around Bill's house? Let us know in the comments below.
And just to start things off: $500. That's my limit.
(Credit:
Microsoft)
Microsoft announced 3,000 layoffs earlier this week. The layoffs inch Microsoft closer to its goal of cutting 5,000 employees from its payroll. The company claims the layoffs are a part of broader strategy that aims at making the software giant more focused on others areas of its operation.
Whatever the logic, there's one person at the company that, over the past nine years, has performed quite admirably: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
I'll be the first to admit that Ballmer can be eccentric. He's often criticized for his outspokenness and willingness to mix it up with tech royalty (I'm looking at you, Apple). He has a tendency to open his mouth when he shouldn't. And he has embarrassed himself on a few occasions.
But when we look at his performance as a CEO from a financial perspective, I don't think even the most ardent Microsoft hater can say that he has done a poor job. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that these layoffs are a mark on his record, but when taken as a whole, Ballmer has proven to be one of the tech industry's most competent CEOs.
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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer opened his big mouth again. He decided to dish on Apple, saying the company competes by providing little more than a logo and a higher price.
"Apple gained about one point, but now I think the tide has really turned back the other direction," Ballmer said in a keynote speech at Media Summit 2009, discussing Apple's recent gains in the market. "The economy is helpful. Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment...to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be."
Apple fans came out in force, responding to Ballmer's latest bullet. Commenters tried to correct Ballmer, saying, "That extra $500 gets you an OS that doesn't get viruses and allows you to run for the life of the computer without having to wipe the computer and reinstall." Others were more reactionary. Said one, "Ballmer is an idiot...period."
But is he? Sure, he opens his mouth when most competitors wouldn't, but it's hard to argue with his track record as a CEO. Over the past four years alone, he has presided over a staggering increase in Microsoft's bottom line. During that period, profits at the company have risen from $12 billion in 2005 to more than $17 billion for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008. Revenue has nearly doubled in that time. And shareholder value--a measure of a company's ability to increase its free cash flow over time--has increased since he became CEO of Microsoft.
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 | EPISODE 51 |
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Melinda Gates was recently interviewed in Vogue magazine and had some rather interesting things to say about her husband and the technology in her home.
According to Gates, both she and Bill have strict rules forbidding their children from having an iPod or iPhone.
"There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household," Gates tells Vogue. "But iPods and iPhones are two things we don't get for our kids."
But it gets better. Gates went on to say that there is an "inevitable lure of forbidden fruit" and "every now and then" she looks at her friends and says, "'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'"
Of course, the blogosphere has erupted, adding fuel to the Bill Gates fire that might never extinguish. In fact, commenters on David Carnoy's Crave article first reporting on this story have delivered some interesting takes on the issue.
"That is kind of a pathetic insecurity that demonstrates just how little confidence Gates and wife have in the products that built their lives," a commenter named ewlech wrote.
In Gates' defense, commenter David Dudley writes, "I don't think it's a confidence issue, they just don't see a point in using their own cash to increase market share of a competitor. You certainly would not espouse Apple to use Dell servers in their internal infrastructure despite opinions of what is 'superior' or otherwise, right?"
The argument could rage for hours. But I don't think it's as difficult an issue as some might think. If I were Bill Gates and I had three children running around my mansion, I'd ban all Apple products, Nintendo consoles and handhelds, Linux, and every single Zune competitor. There's something to be said about family loyalty.
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Microsoft launched a new ad this past weekend showing a delightful four-year-old girl using Windows Live Photo Gallery to upload, edit, and share pictures. At the end of the ad, she shows how "easy" it is to perform those basic functions and says, "I'm a PC and I am four and a half."
Once again, Microsoft is trying to show that there's a lighter side to its operation, which has taken a beating from Apple over the past few years. During Apple's "I'm a PC and I'm a Mac" ad campaign, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company continually suggested the software giant is dull and that Vista can't compete on any level with Mac OS X.
Microsoft's public image declined as Apple gained control of the topic. The average consumer only heard one side of the story.
Microsoft was forced to fight back against Apple and it started its $300 million campaign by enlisting the help of Jerry Seinfeld. The Gates-Seinfeld spots didn't discuss the value of owning a Vista machine and said little about Microsoft itself. Instead, they used Seinfeld's image and humor to convey a message: "Bill Gates is synonymous with Microsoft and just like him, we're able to loosen up, poke fun at ourselves, and we want you to realize that although Apple has painted us in a certain light, we're nothing like that."
Those who follow the tech world, readers of this column, and others [like your editor, Don] believed those ads failed to capture, well, anything positive. They believed that Gates looked awkward on camera. The humor was lost on them, and because they didn't discuss Microsoft products, they saw them as a waste of money.
I couldn't disagree more.
... Read moreMicrosoft's dismissal of Jerry Seinfeld is a blunder of epic proportions. And in the latest video, I explain exactly why.
Even better news: you can now subscribe to this show. Just add it up right here!
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The Bill Gates-Jerry Seinfeld ad series is back for its second installment and after watching the latest commercial, I'm not nearly as impressed as I was by the first.
My dislike for this commercial has nothing to do with the content. (I still think that mentioning Vista and talking about the product is a mistake at this juncture because Microsoft needs to paint itself as a more likable company.) Instead, I don't like this ad because it paints Gates as the geeky rich man that he is. And for an ad that's trying to change a company's image, that's unacceptable.
When I watch a commercial with Seinfeld in it, I fully expect George Costanza, the pudgy, bald sidekick from his show. Call me crazy, but if Seinfeld is in a commercial, don't we need someone to complement his comedic style?
A screenshot from the latest Microsoft ad starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.
(Credit: Microsoft, CNET)After watching Gates for a while, it's utterly apparent that he doesn't provide anything of the sort. Instead, he shouts one-liners like it's his job (maybe it is?) and has no delivery, nor comedic sense to get him through the commercial.
And please, don't even get me started on the robot scene at the end.
... Read moreEven though Bill Gates gave his farewell speech at CES this past January, the soon-to-be retired founder of Microsoft has been strangely vocal ever since his departure announcement. And although he's inexorably tied to his beloved software company, why hasn't he entered the twilight of his life as he said he would?
After all, doesn't he have something better to do, like take care of his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or water flowers in the backyard or watch the ruined Price is Right?
Obviously he doesn't think so. Instead of helping to lead the fight against diseases all over the world, ol' Billy can't seem to break the ties that bind him to his company and by the looks of things, he doesn't even want to.
And although he may take some time off to explore the world and make good on some of his charitable promises, Gates will never retire from Microsoft and if you ask me, he'll be at the helm sooner than you think.
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