In the sunset of Steve Jobs’ life, it was a really sad moment when Bill Gates came to visit him.
Biographer Walter Isaacson makes the visit sound unusually mesmerizing: “Gates drove to Jobs’s house, walked through the back gate to the open kitchen door, and saw [Jobs’ daughter] Eve studying at the table. “Is Steve around?” he asked. Eve pointed him to the living room.”
Later the two had a heart to heart for about three hours where they discussed their personal life and what they had in common – the computer industry.
After Gates left, Jobs shared the conversation with Isaacson, and Jobs’ feelings about the meeting is perhaps the saddest thing one would read in the book.
Talking about Bill Gates, Jobs said, “He was happier than I’ve ever seen him, and I kept thinking how healthy he looked.”
It may appear as plain disdain words, but viewing the words from Jobs’ perspective is what adds the real pain and irony in the words. Gates is just eight months younger to Jobs, they both are the computer world’s giants; they both came of age together, they both revolutionized the computer industry with their own vision and personality and there Steve Jobs was, unhealthy and wondering how close he is to his death and how far from death his contemporary was
