I don’t disagree with you. But I admire Jobs for living in a normal house, no live in servants, no ridiculously expensive cars. (I don’t know if you saw the 60 minutes special on him?) Even after becoming a very rich man he wanted to live as normal a life as possible. I think that sends the message that he was in it for what he was doing as much as (or more than) for the money. Likewise he almost never did interviews. He didn’t want publicity for him (only for his products).

I’m pretty sure my mom purchased a 30 year subscription to Parenting for me, because even though I never renew it I still seem to get it in the mail every month. I really get irritated reading that magazine. I just don’t like the “voice” of it, if that makes any sense. I feel like they dumb down the writing and subject matter. One of the articles this month gave example of situations that can occur during play dates and what to do when they happen. They called the examples “The Sitch”. That made me want to scream. Anyway, the whole “raising geniuses” really did it for me. I’m not interested in raising a genius. I’m interested in raising a kind, adventurous, moral, thoughtful child who can embrace whatever it is they love and get as far with it as they want to go. If it’s science, technology, art, literature, photography, dirt bike riding or skateboarding (whatever!) I’m behind them and will help them nurture it. That whole magazine just pushed this idea that the only way to be successful is to be the math wiz, or whatever, get straight A’s in school, and making zillions of dollars. Success and “genius” comes in all kinds of packages.

I think Bill Gates is just a super, straight up dude (as is his wife Melinda). I think it’s sad to hear about upper echelon folks who don’t give back in some way…

I think Macs are cool and all, and would love to have one some day (duh). But the PC is kind of for the every man, you know? I can’t afford Apple products. I can do amazing things with the materials within my financial reach, and Bill Gates is a big part of who made that so.

I also have to agree with ANG up there…Parenting has a saccharine, narrow-sided sort of guilty twinge to do it that I can’t stand. I’ll pick it up in the doctor’s office but that’s about the extent of it. What our children need the very most is our love.

While I have a great deal of respect for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (it’s not just Bill!!), I can’t agree with you Katie.

Bill Gates was not exactly a role model with respect to the way he ran his business — notice how the lawuits keep coming? He didn’t have the same sort of creativity or sense of innovation that Jobs did. I celebrate the fact that Jobs actually acknowledged that aesthetics have some sort of role in our lives, because frankly, I am sick and tired of how beauty and aesthetics and designs are considered to be superfluous and downright wasteful in our very Protestant (Puritan!) North American culture. We’ve lost sight of quality of life, as well as the notion that urban design is a key component of community, something which living in Europe for some 5 years has laid bare for me.

That said, my husband works in the field of Bill Gates’ current endeavours (that’s why we were in Europe — he was working with the U.N.). In fact, he has rubbed shoulders with him several times, working as he does on such issues as HiV/AIDS, polio eradication, vaccination, health system strengthening, child & maternal health, malaria and tuberculosis. You get the picture. So I have a very strong personal commitment to Gates’ work; my life revolves around it. And my anger at Gates and his business practices is somewhat mollified at least by what is happening with the enormous profits he reaped through Microsoft.

From what we know about Steve Jobs’ will, his money went into a trust, the management of which is secret. I don’t find it inconceivable that perhaps a good amount of that will discretely find its way into some sort of development work or charity. We may never know.

Frankly though, I think the amazing man in all of this is my husband — afterall, he is the one who knows how to actually make the development happen, and has devoted his entire professional life to ensuring that it does. He’s the one who was almost on a plane which disappeared in the Himalayas when he was working in a World Bank Water Project; he’s the one who has walked through mine-infested fields in Cambodia and inspected a daycare center in Peru while a bomb was hidden in it. And on his off-time, I’ve seen him put out a neighbour’s house fire, and chase an attempted rapist down a gravel path for 500 m in his bare arthritic feet (after rescuing a woman from being raped). (Yeah, and he LOOKS like Superman too!).

All this to say, I don’t want my kids to be like either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Neither one of them were particularly nice people as captains of industry; each just tried to maximize his market share and profits. Neither one of them built our communities or brought jobs to them; both out-sourced work to China, taking advantage of deplorable labour and environmental standards all in the name to maximize profits. Frankly, I find them both unethical, even if Gates is now “giving back”. Because Katie, what Bill Gates is really doing is personally deciding how his tax dollars should have been directed if he had been properly taxed, which to me is the height of arrogance (even if I happen to agree with his decision). I don’t believe in grand gestures of charity, which I find rather demeaning, and more about the giver than the recipient. Just as I am not big on most NGOs, but rather, support the more careful and respectful efforts channeled through governments and the UN by means of our tax dollars (because that is the right way to do it).

No, I am telling my children about Vaclav Havel, who was my moral compass from the time I was very little. I am also telling them about Tommy Douglas, who fought for universal healthcare in Canada (Keifer Sutherland’s grandpa no less), and Lester B. Pearson, the former Canadian prime minister who brought in much of what we cherish in Canada (including our flag), and the man who originated the concept of UN Peacekeepers (for he won a Nobel Peace Prize). And heck, Pierre Trudeau too, another Canadian PM, who was frighteningly smart, kept the government out of people’s bedrooms but believed in universality and the role of government, was rakishly sexy, and had the gall and whimsy to do a pirouette behind Queen Elizabeth’s back when he met her.

http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/trudeaus-pirouette/

I guess this just shows how different we Canadians are from our American cousins!

Let’s not lionize Bill Gates! My sense (from several people I know socially) is that his foundations do not always treat their employees very well! There is a lot of churning, i.e., not renewing contracts at the end of two- and three-year contracts, and this can be highly disruptive since employees often relocate for the job.

Further, he is a thief. Windows is an unabashed ripoff of Apple! It amazes me that Microsoft (and Facebook too for that matter) is a company built on appropriated products! Microsoft almost destroyed Apple. The iPod and iPhone and iPad saved the company.

ditto to jen, ang, peekytoe and clisby thoughts here. goodness, no wonder our young people are full of anxiety, stress, depression, etc. A parenting magazine puts out a “genius” edition and tells parents what they need to do to raise the next Steve Jobs? There won’t be another Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates, or Michael Jordan are whoever, because they are unique individuals, as we all are. ugh. our definition of success is so screwed up.

I agree with those who don’t want to raise their kids to be like someone else. But if I really need to pick someone, it would be my dad. Or rather a mix of my dad and mom. Sure we had our problems, still have, sure we got into fights, but they are smart, hardworking, honest people with very creative and important jobs: they are well respected teachers. Family matters to them above all and they would give a lot to those who need it. They are no millionaires, sure, but what they have they can be proud of, they gave me a great childhood and life, basically everything that a child needs. Sure, sometimes it’s not what a child wants, but hey, if we get all we want, then we get lazy. I’d like to raise my son like they did with me: with love, support, understanding, honesty, respect, and teach him to be able to have a good life when he is grown up. I think that’s the most important: raise a kid who knows how to get along and how to be happy and make others happy too.

Spot on, Babs! There’s just SO much your average person doesn’t even know… http://knol.google.com/k/david-blomstrom/bill-gates/1i6e04re3w2kp/4#

I agree with those who say they dont want to raise their children to be like anyone else. Do I hope my children have success in their futures, of course! but I would want it to be holistic success, in family, friends, career and finances…not just in wealth, power and career. I admire Gates and Jobs, for the many wonderful innovations they have brought to the world and the wonderful philanthropic work they have done, but I certainly dont want my children to emulate either one of them…whats that saying? Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

I agree with Outraged – who reads this Parenting tripe anyway? “19 apps every modern mom needs”?????

Steve Jobs was raised by working-class parents without college degrees, who no doubt loved him dearly, set a great example of work ethic, and sent him on his way to reach his potential.

For pete’s sake, parents-who-read-Parenting – you can’t raise your child to be the next X, Y, or Z. Do you really not value your children for who they are?

Absolute baloney about Windows being “stolen” from the Macintosh. Both systems were based on a system developed by PARC. Windows is NOT a ripoff of the Mac.

Further, Microsoft SAVED Apple in the 1990s when it was going to go under. Learn some history before you start mouthing off about the software industry.

So don’t believe the ridiculous hater nonsense about Microsoft. Microsoft was sued because of its deep pockets, not because it did anything wrong. Period.

I agree 100% with the first comment on this post, the one written by L. Katie, you are critical of Jobs’ record of PUBLIC giving and you are buying wholesale into the public relations image carefully cultivated by Gates’ peons.

Bill Gates’ legacy is staggering, but I can not help be skeptical that instead of using already established charities or NGOs with long standing records of successful, ethical giving, he reinvented the wheel and established his own charity. A lot of money is therefore being siphoned off for administrative costs, and in return Gates’ generates a great deal of positive publicity for himself and his company. Jobs did attempt to start his own charity in the 1990s, but realized that the issues he cared about (namely promoting vegetarianism) were not mainstream enough to curry positive public opinion and he was overwhelmed by the amount of time and money he needed to commit.

As for this article: no one who has read “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell is going to buy into this silly concept.

i just want my son to grow to be a good loving respectful man…

Clisby, what they each were “given” (in the sense I am using the terminology in this specific blog post) was a unique set of intellectual gifts that allowed them to succeed in the ways they both did.

@Clisby, I have heard that phrase many times, “to whom much is given, much is expected”; I know Rose Kennedy quoted it a lot and raised her children with that philosophy. I always thought it was saying that if you have been given (and I’m guessing many mean by God, or luck) many gifts, share those gifts, whatever they may be, with others in some way, don’t just use them for your own good. Personally I have always loved that sentiment.

Hey Katie, way to do 0% research into Jobs and his legacy. This isn’t an article, this is a snuff piece. The dude just died, there is absolutely no need to rush in or even start a WAR between Jobs OR Gates – JESUS Katie. What is wrong with you? Are you in need of that much validation in your life as a mother?