Rather, they went on to, in lockstep, shaping the computing industry together. Full instructions, Means Test, samples, and all District Court documents. The 1997 deal didn't end the competition between the two tech companies. File personal Chapter 7 or 13 Bankruptcy with easy-to-use legal forms software. That standing has since flipped: Apple's market capitalization is $839 billion and Microsoft's is $560 billion. "In fact, every couple years or so, there's been something new that we've been able to do on the Mac and it's been a great business for us."Īlso, as part of the deal, Apple agreed to drop a lawsuit accusing Microsoft of copying its operating system.Īt the time that Microsoft saved Apple, Microsoft was by far and away the larger of the two companies. "That's worked out very well," says Gates at the 2007 conference. When Jobs announced the $150 million investment at the Macworld Boston conference in 1997, the audience booed Gates' appearance via satellite.įor Microsoft, the investment meant propping up one of its greatest competitors, but it was also a new business opportunity. It describes the state of a company that is operating its business with outdated software programs commonly known as legacy platforms. The two founders did just that, though their partnership met with resistance. And Apple was very weak and so I called Bill up and we tried to patch things up." So it was just crazy what was happening at that time.
"And it was also important that, you know, Microsoft was the biggest software developer outside of Apple developing for the Mac. "To me, it was pretty essential to break that paradigm," says Jobs. To stay alive, Jobs had to step outside of the competitive mindset. Apple had to remember who Apple was because they'd forgotten who Apple was."