
What I loved about Paul Allen - uknownuser
https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Remembering-Paul-Allen?WT.mc_id=10_16_2018_10_PaulAllen_BG-TW_&WT.tsrc=BGTW&linkId=58288095
======
gtycomb
"... Popular Electronics. It featured a new computer called the Altair 8800,
which ran on a powerful new chip. Paul looked at me and said: “This is
happening without us!” That moment marked the end of my college career and the
beginning of our new company, Microsoft. It happened because of Paul."

What a magical moment, those youthful fancies. I know that very spot they
stood and it still is the same I guess -- all the traffic on either side of
the newsstand, street singers, students running to their classes, eating
places to decide upon, bookstores ... and the ideas that bloomed from there
are so many.

Bye, Mr. Allen.

~~~
buzzert
One of my favorite movies growing up was Pirates of Silicon Valley (excellent
movie, even today) and they portrayed that scene exactly the same as Gates
recalled it.

~~~
chewxy
except if my memory serves, it was Paul who was sleeping in a pile of dirty
socks and Bill barged into the room saying that. Then the scene cuts to New
Mexico

~~~
slededit
Bill was waking up from a hangover due to the previous night. He awakes to
Paul waving the magazine saying, Bill! Bill!

------
mabbo
I have perhaps one friend that I've known more than 15 years. Part of it is
that I seem to be bad at keeping friends, and also because I spent a decade
moving around a lot and just lost touch with people.

Paul Allen and Bill Gates were friends from early teenage years until the 60s,
until death. Through so much change in the world, much of it instigated by
them. Through becoming some of the richest, most powerful people on the planet
and then turning into philanthropists together. Nearly half a century.

I literally cannot imagine the emotions Gates has to be going through as he
writes this note. My heart goes out to him as much as Allen's family.

~~~
slededit
They did have a falling out but it seems they reconciled. Paul Allen claims
BillG tried to cut him out of Microsoft when he was first diagnosed with
Hodgkin's disease.

~~~
DenisM
Source?

~~~
TomVDB
[https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-
to-...](https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-rip-me-
off/)

> Paul Allen: Gates, Ballmer tried to 'rip me off'

> "One evening in late December 1982, I heard Bill and Steve speaking heatedly
> in Bill's office and paused outside to listen in," he writes in his memoir.
> "It was easy to get the gist of the conversation. They were bemoaning my
> recent lack of production and discussing how they might dilute my Microsoft
> equity by issuing options to themselves and other shareholders. It was clear
> that they'd been thinking about this for some time."

~~~
DenisM
Thanks. Did we ever hear Gates’ side of the story?

I can imagine there could be good reason to dilute someone by issuing more
stock to the remaining productive collaborators. That would depend on the
scale, and method used to calculate the proportion, and of on obtaining
consent from the diluted party.

~~~
runciblespoon
@DenisM: “I can imagine there could be good reason to dilute someone” ..

Cutting a business partner out of his fair share while he's in the middle of
battling a life threatening disease, a good reason. I guess you went to the
same school of ethics as Gates :]

~~~
dexterdog
Many companies can die with the dying partner if the remaining partners are
not able to capitalize and run the business in his absence.

~~~
hedvig
I see it more as greed than administrative prudence.

~~~
cortesoft
Wouldn't we have to know about details of the situation?

------
gus_massa
From the caption of the first photo:

> _Here we are in school. That’s Paul on the left, our friend Ric Weiland, and
> me on the right._

In case you are wondering
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Weiland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Weiland)

~~~
pgrote
Thank you for bringing this up. I had never heard of Ric Weiland.

Here is another article discussing how he distributed his wealth:

[https://www.geekwire.com/2017/remarkable-life-legacy-ric-
wei...](https://www.geekwire.com/2017/remarkable-life-legacy-ric-weiland-
microsoft-employee-no-2-still-making-impact-decade-death/)

~~~
screye
"A gay man who fell victim to HIV."

The number of times I have heard of this misfortune is sometime truly
astounding. A whole community ravaged by an illness that we don't have a
solution to, with the government turning their back to it.

~~~
evincarofautumn
Yup. It set back LGBT rights by decades; there’s a sizable chunk of an entire
generation of the community just _gone_ , people who might today have become
leaders, activists, and mentors for young LGBT people.

Reagan and the US government not only “turned their back” and failed to act
for _years_ , leading to conservative estimates of thousands of new infections
that could’ve been prevented; they also also actively interfered: for example,
Congress banned the use of federal funds for prevention campaigns that
“promoted or encouraged, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities”. So a
lot of the prevention campaigns became ineffective fear-based propaganda
rather than what was needed: targeted education to vulnerable communities
about safer sex and needle drug use practices.

------
com2kid
Growing up a poor kid in Seattle, Microsoft was always that shining beacon on
the hill. The idea that anyone, if they study hard, can get a job at one of
the most powerful technology companies on earth, was an amazing motivator and
source of inspiration.

That beacon has grown a little bit dimmer.

And yet still, the impact Paul Allen has had on Seattle shall remain for
generations to come.

~~~
dhnsmakala
Dimmer why?

------
ProAm
The only thing I ever think of when Gates speaks about Allen is how they tried
to reduce his equity when he got sick. It's something that has stuck with me
for 20+ years.

~~~
wwarner
True, but not fair, to Gates OR to Allen. "After a few years all that passes.
Bill and I have always been friends, even through the ups and downs"
[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/may/02/paul-
alle...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/may/02/paul-allen-
microsoft-bill-gates-ideas)

~~~
pastor_elm
If you ever go into business with a friend, you should anticipate the worst.
They're only human. You have to be on your toes from the start, and you can
only blame yourself if you get beat or blindsided. At that point, its
irrelevant to your friendship. It was just business.

~~~
yesenadam
I hope your friends read this! Sounds like you value money - _just business_
\- incomparably more than friendship. Why?!

~~~
coverband
I think you may be misreading the intent. I've also seen several friendships
destroyed because of business disagreements. I take the message as "Don't get
into business with friends if you value their friendship."

~~~
yesenadam
Replying also to the other comments: Ah thanks, yeah. I've painfully learnt
not to lend/give friends money! It cost me a great friendship. But it wasn't
deliberate on their part; I guess I read the GP as saying "Expect your friends
to fuck you over, and that's ok/your own fault." I am familiar with the risk
of business to friendship, but the GP seemed to be going somewhat further,
although it seems ambiguous exactly what they're saying.

------
akerro
Did you also like that he got cancer and you tried to rip him off?

[https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-
to-...](https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-rip-me-
off/)

[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371608/Bill-
Gates-...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371608/Bill-Gates-tried-
cut-Paul-Allen-Microsoft-fell-ill-cancer.html)

------
superos
I loved him because he was a proper guitar geek. Owner of a lot of vintage
stuff and really a good player too. A lot of people wanted him to buy and
revive Gibson.

------
sureaboutthis
Does everyone know the story about why Paul left Microsoft? That when he told
Gates and Ballmer about the cancer, in the early days, they immediately went
in the other room to talk about how to divvy up Paul's shares in the company
and Paul overheard them?

Don't read any of the more recent happy articles. Search for articles and
books from the early days when the real truth was printed.

------
code_duck
The way he portrays Allen as a man he looks up to, and he choice of photos, is
touching.

------
dharmon
I wonder if he had to look up what the name of that Jimi Hendrix album was? :)

~~~
djmips
no

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brainpool
Expected more from an eulogy from Bill, but that was not to be. Co-founding is
obviously hard. Successful business or not.

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burger_moon
It seems odd to have a popup over your eulogy of one of your best and oldest
friends.

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enyone
comment unrelated, but do not track me with
?WT.mc_id=10_16_2018_10_PaulAllen_BG-TW_&WT.tsrc=BGTW&linkId=58288095

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knodi123
anybody have a mirror? site's down...

~~~
runciblespoon
> anybody have a mirror? site's down...

[http://archive.is/hldpY](http://archive.is/hldpY)

I wonder did Gates ever manage to get the shares back?

[https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/10/15/business/15reuter...](https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/10/15/business/15reuters-
people-paulallen-obituary.html)

------
volandovengo
What a beautiful tribute!

