The Day Bill Gates Saved Apple

22-years ago yesterday Bill Gates and Microsoft basically saved Apple from going out of business.

Steve Jobs had just come back to Apple Computer (as it was known then) and the company was almost out of cash. Bill Gates not only infused the company with $150 million but he also pledged that Microsoft would supply MacIntosh versions of Microsoft Office for at least 5-years.

This saved Apple from going out of business. The shares Gates received were market price and non-voting stock. Microsoft sold their stake in Apple in 2003 but if they had kept the stock it would be worth about $60 billion today.

Gates probably doesn't mind because he has so much money. And besides the reason he made the investment in Apple in the first place was to ward off Federal anti-trust lawsuits - which the investment in his competitor helped accomplish.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Is one of the underrated reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union the opening of China to the West by Nixon? The economy and military capabilities of China have greatly expanded in the years since Nixon's historic visit at a pace the Soviet Union could never match... I wonder what the hammer-throwing girl (Anya Major) from Apple's iconic 1984 commercial is doing these days... Pretty sure if the Earth were hit by a giant asteroid there are many who would somehow blame the event on man-made global warming... A healthy list indeed... In other news Syracuse University forced to change nickname of athletic teams after campus wide breakout of TDS... I did not know this...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- If Obama has lost liberal Hollywood - he's got no chance at re-election.

- I've long suspected that Siri was launched before it was ready just so Apple could have the release before Steve Jobs passed away. I don't blame them if that was the case.

- Banishing consciousness: the mystery of anaesthesia. Long article but interesting. In short - we don't know why anaesthesia actually works or how.

- 10 Worst Celebrity Business Ventures of All Time

- Slavery in the US ended on this date in 1865.

- For Dr. Who fans - 11 Functional Homemade TARDISes

- Really inappropriate holiday decorations

- Interesting - Jon Gruden and how MNF has replaced coaching for him. Like a junkie going from heroin to methadone.