Bill Gates tells why he pulled the plug on his Facebook page |
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Bill Gates tells why he pulled the plug on his Facebook page
Dan Schlatter © Puget Sound Business Journal
Bill Gates
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates covered a lot of ground in a talk Friday in New Delhi India, discussing immigration policies, health records and the impact of the economic recession on innovation.
And -- on a lighter note -- he also explained why he canceled his Facebook account. The problem? Too many friend requests.
Gates said that he spent too much time trying to figure out whether to accept someone as a friend or not.
“Do I know them? Don’t I know them? I had to give it up,” Gates said. In fact, the software magnate -- who admitted to not being a big texter or a "24-hour technology person" -- said the new communications tools could simply "let us waste our time if we’re not careful.”
Obviously, given those statements, it could be a little while before Mr. Gates jumps on Twitter.
For more on Gates' talk -- including his thoughts on immigration -- check out The New York Times story.
And while Gates may not have time for Facebook or text messaging, he does have time to blog. In a blog post for Gizmodo today titled "My 1979 Memories," the software pioneer describes what it was like trying to build a high-tech company in 1979. He also writes about the nervousness he felt 30 years ago of doubling the workforce to -- get this -- 28 employees.
The Good old days
"Even though we were doing pretty well, I was still kind of terrified by the rapid pace of hiring and worried that the bottom could fall out at any time.
What made me feel a little more confident was that 1979 was the year we began to sense that BASIC was right on the verge of becoming the standard language for microcomputers. We knew this could be the catalyst that would unlock the potential of the PC to democratize computing and create the right conditions for an explosion in programs and applications that would lead to really rapid growth of the PC market."
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
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