“I’m curious as to what the reaction would have been had it been Bill Gates instead of Steve Jobs?”
Much more of a shrug, since BG hasn’t been (take your pick) either centrally involved at MS for years, or has been quite ineffective at finding hit products, which Apple has been pumping our regularly.
“Both were giants, regardless of which side you were on in the PC vs. Mac debate, certainly Bill Gates would have deserved all of the kudos that Steve Jobs received.”
Well, one deserves the past tense, and not the one that just passed away.
BG doesn’t deserve the same respect at all. His family connections were central to his success. Not so with SJ. His company has been feeding off Apple technology for decades. Apple has literally been MS’ research division. Further, MS success over the last several years has not even remotely compared to Apple’s. Apple is now the #1 company on the US stock market, where Microsoft has lost its once premier position and is way down in the middle of the pack.
I hope this clears things up for you. :-)
Apple went belly up. Gates rescued Apple and Jobs.