Editing Bill Gates (section)

=== Treatment of colleagues and employees ===
Gates had primary responsibility for Microsoft's product strategy from the company's founding in 1975 until 2006. He gained a reputation for being distant from others; an industry executive complained in 1981 that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls."<ref name="freiberger19810831">{{cite magazine |last=Freiberger |first=Paul |date=August 31, 1981 |title=Bugs in Radio Shack TRS-80 Model III: How Bad Are They? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rD0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49 |url-status=live |magazine=[[InfoWorld]] |page=49 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902132455/https://books.google.com/books?id=rD0EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA44&pg=PA49 |archive-date=September 2, 2016 |access-date=February 28, 2011}}</ref> An Atari executive recalled that he showed Gates a game and defeated him 35 of 37 times. When they met again a month later, Gates "won or tied every game. He had studied the game until he solved it. That is a competitor".<ref name="Atari Thorlin Interview 2000">{{cite interview |last=Thorlin |first=Fred |interviewer=Kevin Savetz |title=Fred Thorlin: The Big Boss at Atari Program Exchange |url=http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/thorlininterview.php |access-date=December 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101040619/http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/thorlininterview.php |archive-date=January 1, 2013 |url-status=live |publisher=Atari archives |date=April 2000}}</ref>

In the early 1980s, while business partner Paul Allen was undergoing treatments for [[cancer]], Gates—according to Allen—conspired to reduce Allen's share in Microsoft by issuing himself stock options.<ref name="alforbes">{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Frederick |date=March 30, 2011 |title=Bill Gates Tried to Screw Paul Allen? What's the Surprise? |work=[[Forbes]] |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011/03/30/bill-gates-tried-to-screw-paul-allen-whats-the-surprise/ |access-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522182125/https://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011/03/30/bill-gates-tried-to-screw-paul-allen-whats-the-surprise/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="acarr">{{cite news |last1=Carr |first1=Austin |date=May 21, 2021 |title=Bill Gates's Carefully Curated Geek Image Unravels in Two Weeks |work=[[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]] |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-21/bill-gates-s-carefully-curated-dad-geek-image-unravels-in-two-weeks?srnd=premium&sref=i4qXzk6d |access-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522003458/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-21/bill-gates-s-carefully-curated-dad-geek-image-unravels-in-two-weeks?srnd=premium&sref=i4qXzk6d |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="hkcnn">{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=Heather |date=October 17, 2018 |title=Paul Allen's battle with Bill Gates defined his legacy |work=[[CNN]] |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/17/tech/paul-allen-microsoft-legacy/index.html |access-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-date=May 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522182122/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/17/tech/paul-allen-microsoft-legacy/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In his autobiography, Allen would later recall that Gates was "scheming to rip me off. It was mercenary opportunism plain and simple".<ref name="alforbes" /> Gates says he remembers the episode differently.<ref name="acarr" /> Allen would also recall that Gates was prone to shouting episodes.<ref name="hkcnn" />

Gates has often been accused of bullying Microsoft employees.<ref name="bbc5/8/2021">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58099778 "Epstein meetings a huge mistake, says Bill Gates"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330032153/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58099778 |date=March 30, 2022 }}. [[BBC]].</ref> He met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers, and the managers described him as being verbally combative, berating them for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk.<ref name="rensin">{{cite magazine |last=Rensin |first=David |year=1994 |title=The Bill Gates Interview |magazine=Playboy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Ballmer |first=Steve |date=October 9, 1997 |title=Steve Ballmer Speech Transcript&nbsp;– Church Hill Club |url=http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/churchillclub.mspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420152806/http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/churchillclub.mspx |archive-date=April 20, 2008 |access-date=March 31, 2008 |publisher=Microsoft}}</ref> Gates saw competition in personal terms; when [[Borland]]'s [[Turbo Pascal]] performed better than Microsoft's own tools, he yelled at programming director [[Greg Whitten]] "for half an hour" because, Gates believed, Borland's [[Philippe Kahn]] had surpassed Gates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1=James |last2=Erickson |first2=Jim |title=Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire |year=1992 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=0-471-56886-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/harddrivebillgat00wall_0/page/277 277]-278 |chapter=Growing Pains |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/harddrivebillgat00wall_0/page/277 }}</ref> Gates interrupted presentations with such comments as "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard"<ref name="time GOS">{{cite news |last=Isaacson |first=Walter |date=January 13, 1997 |title=The Gates Operating System |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/gates/gates5.html |url-status=dead |access-date=March 31, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000619090559/http://www.time.com/time/gates/gates5.html |archive-date=June 19, 2000}}</ref> and "why don't you just give up your [[Employee stock option|options]] and join the [[Peace Corps]]?"<ref>{{cite web |last=Bank |first=David |date=February 1, 1999 |title=Breaking Windows |url=http://www.breakingwindows.net/1link3.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416032811/http://www.breakingwindows.net/1link3.htm |archive-date=April 16, 2016 |access-date=March 31, 2008 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> The target of his outburst would then have to defend the proposal in detail until Gates was fully convinced.<ref name="time GOS" /> Not all harsh language was criticism; a manager recalled that "You're full of shit. That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard" meant that Gates was amazed. "In the lore of Microsoft, if Bill says that to you, you're made".<ref name="smith20230226">{{Cite magazine |last=Smith |first=Matthew S. |date=February 26, 2023 |title=Flight Simulator Gave Birth to 3D Video-Game Graphics |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/microsoft-flight-simulator |magazine=IEEE Spectrum |language=en |access-date=February 28, 2023 |archive-date=February 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227112044/https://spectrum.ieee.org/microsoft-flight-simulator |url-status=live }}</ref> When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend".<ref name="chapman">{{cite news |last=Chapman |first=Glenn |date=June 27, 2008 |title=Bill Gates Signs Off |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8aV1bK5vmwLaw9wYr9nY5bFc4YA |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630070506/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8aV1bK5vmwLaw9wYr9nY5bFc4YA |archive-date=June 30, 2008}}</ref><ref name="pdc97" /><ref name="herbold">{{cite book |last=Herbold |first=Robert |url=https://archive.org/details/fiefdomsyndromet00herb |title=The Fiefdom Syndrome: The Turf Battles That Undermine Careers and Companies&nbsp;– And How to Overcome Them |year=2004 |publisher=Currency Doubleday |isbn=0-385-51067-5}}</ref>