Bill Gates is the ultimate geek

Posted on June 28, 2008
Filed Under Blogroll |

Bill Gates showed up for his last day of work last Friday, June 27th. Gates is retiring to focus on his charitable foundation and was all teary-eyed during the media event along with Steve Ballmer.  As he reached this milestone one cannot avoid thinking about him as a character deeply embedded in the collective mind at a nearly universal level. Come to think of it, Gates is the ultimate geek, a pop cult icon beyond his original field of influence–enough of a somebody to appear in The Simpsons.

 When I interviewed him for Zona Digital (CNN en Espanol) in 2005, Microsoft was turning 30. He was of course ticked off by the Google phenomenon but was very emphatic on the notion that the final word on that front had not been said yet. I notices, however, that he was more concerned with the future of the personal computing technology, and above all, digital media. He described his dream of digital media converging seamlessly onto a single, portable device (or devices).  Now that’s a truly pleasant idea: all sorts of digital stuff converging seamlessly on devices that can talk to each other–so what if it involves a monopoly. I know… that’s why some of my friends call me Bill Gates’ b..ch. 

For sure Gates is revered or hated deeply in some courts, as is every other known figure.  It comes with the territory. So he is retiring and rumored to be suffering from some ailments. And he is no longer the richest man in the world but he is not about to start collecting social security.  He will still be influential, or even more so now. Look at the fans who signed his virtual birthday card. He is now free to be a full time pop icon.

 

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