A lot of reporting uses a backhanded compliment to explain Apple’s success under Steve Jobs. They say he was so great that he, and he alone, happened to be right a lot and that’s why Apple lucked out. Bill Gates in particular is a big proponent of this theory – he believes Apple’s success isn’t repeatable.
But let’s be clear: Bill Gates may be a saint, and smart, and a once-in-a-lifetime businessman, but he’s awful at product design. He doesn’t grasp product design, and it showed in Microsoft’s culture when he was at the helm, both as CEO and as Chief Software Architect.
