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by anonymous246 5559 days ago
"least loyal and trustworthy friends a person could ask for": citation?

Are you referring to the discussion Gates and Ballmer had about diluting Allen? That seems to be a way to dilute a founder who was slacking off. The word partnership is used several times; this may imply that everybody was 100% vested already. If so, this is the only thing they could do to somebody who wasn't pulling his weight.
2 comments
sunchild 5559 days ago
Are you seriously asking for a citation to show that Bill Gates is (was?) a ruthless person with questionable ethics? Forty years of ripping off other people's software, berating and humiliating his own team, buying and shutting down competitors, and impeding progress in the name of vendor lock-in, plus the newly-published "insider" memoir of his co-founder isn't enough for you?

I've met Bill Gates, so I'll stick with my personal opinion. You're entitled to yours.

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anonymous246 5559 days ago
The parent claimed "least loyal and trustworthy friend".

Where have you supported that claim? If you've "met" BG, I invite you to post some already-known anecdotes etc about his conduct as a friend, which is exactly what I asked about.

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sunchild 5559 days ago
That comment was based on Allen's account of Ballmer and Gates plotting to dilute him – a dick move by any measure, esp. after Allen showed his good faith on a number of occasions.

Gates and Allen were friends at when they went to school together. I went to the same school some years after them, and drew my own opinions based on first and second hand experiences with both of them.

No matter what you believe about the quality of their friendship, there's a teaching lesson for co-founders in their story.

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spinchange 5559 days ago
He was fighting cancer.
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anonymous246 5559 days ago
Heartless as it sounds, it is absolutely fair to think about how to protect the business and yourself in the event that a fully vested founder were to be unable to do the duties one has reasonably assumed they would do.

Ownership shares are not like salary (imho): they're not just for past work, but also for future contributions.

Without specifics on to what extent exactly they were planning to dilute him, I am not prepared to condemn BillG. YMMV.

Jobs' actual cheating through a straightforward lie to Woz wrt how much they got paid for Atari's contract job they did is FAR worse than a planning conversation BillG had. IMHO. http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/hackers/steve-wozniak/

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