Bill Gates and Paul Allen, geeks forever

Bill Gates (PSBJ file)

Bill Gates paid tribute to his Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, at a recent dinner in Seattle where Allen was given the First Citizen award. Allen wasn't able to attend, because of an unidentified medical procedure, and Gates joked that he felt "completely unbound to tell stories about Paul."  Click the play button to listen to everything Gates had to say, and read on for excerpts.

Bill Gates on Paul Allen (12:17)

Gates told the well-known stories about their early days at Lakeside School and sneaking computer time at the University of Washington, of course, but he talked about Allen's personality and their friendship.

On Allen's musical ability: "If you haven't heard Paul play guitar, I highly recommend it. He's very passionate and very, very talented. He definitely turned me on to Hendrix at a very young age. He never really explained to me what it meant, 'Are You Experienced?' but someday he'll explain that to me, I'm sure. "

On the Lakeside days: "His class was the last all-male class of Lakeside. The class of 1971. There's actually a tombstone there in the -- I don't what they call it, it used to be called the senior circle, but they don't have that anymore. A tombstone that says, 'Last All-Male Class.' So I always gave Paul a hard time. We bought a girls' school in time for me to get a little broader exposure, not that it mattered much. "

On Allen's ill-fated Seattle Commons project: "I hardly drive through the South Lake Union area without thinking how nice it would have been if that proposition to have an even bigger park would have passed. It's going to be a great area, but Paul really gave the city an opportunity that was, I think, partly missed there. It's the kind of insightful, forward-looking thing that he's always involved with."

On Allen's philanthropy: "Paul likes being ahead of his time. Studying the brain is something that I think will pay big dividends. Will it be 10 years from now, 15 years from now? Paul's not concerned about that. He's out there on the cutting edge. Asking the tough questions. He's thinking about what kind of cultural things can be done. Willing to try things out, some of which end up being super-popular, some of which are less so. But that's the beauty of great philanthropy, is that it's the sector that is different than the corporate sector, different than the government sector, that can drive in a new way and have that kind of creativity."