Warren Buffett’s simple question to Bill Gates that changed the future of Microsoft

The reflections, questions and advice between Warren Buffet and Bill Gates continue to be shared by tycoons and explain many of their decisions and keys to their success. The insight that came from a question in 1990 remains intact today for Bill Gates and his view of AI.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett They have known each other for generations. The co-founder of Microsoft has revealed his crucial conversations, and has wanted to remember a question, including a key issue, that haunted him, and without which Microsoft, desktop computers, and even the Internet might not have been the same.

As reported yahoo financethe question was asked in 1990, and was recalled in the framework of a debate commemorating their 25 years of friendship moderated by ex-journalist Charlie Rose. What was it that Warren Buffett questioned that made Bill Gates reflect so much?

The answer would eventually lead to the creation of Windows and later the Internet. as we know it. The question was simple. “Microsoft is a small company, IBM is this huge company, why can’t they beat you at the software game you’re playing??”.

“Every day I thought, what advantage do we have? What is it?“, explains Bill Gates. He would soon find the answer: what they could offer were easy to use interfaces for the average userThat was their competitive advantage. No one had noticed the casual public.

The bottom line was Windows first, then a total focus on the Internet.similar to what happens today in the company with artificial intelligence, the great bet of these times by Microsoft

Who knows? Perhaps it was here that Bill Gates learned the advice he ended up giving himself to Warren Buffett: “You move in the direction of the people you relate to” and that served him well in 1990.

Bill Gates’ reflections on the present

Bill Gates is curious by nature, according to those who have worked with him. He has greatly changed his way of understanding work, advances and technology. However, he has considered three revolutionary breakthroughs in his life: the graphical interface, digital icons and AI. Even in 1994 he predicted Facebook and Netflix.

In addition to betting on sustainable energy, Gates today maintains that, just as it happened with Windows, when it changed the world, AI will change the way you search the Internet, and will make Google and Amazon obsolete. The one who gets the best virtual assistant will win. Said assistant will read, buy and search the web for you.

In this sense, in the same way as in 1990 after that question from Warren Buffett to Bill Gatesyour intuition remains the same: the one who manages to make life easier for the average user will be the one who dominates technological change.