Bill Gates was mocked for his view on the internet on The Late Show with David Letterman back in 1995
Bill Gates – one of the most revolutionary computer developers of all time – was once mocked for thinking that the internet was next big thing.
I mean, to doubt the co-founder of Microsoft, now the second biggest company in the world behind Apple, takes some doing.
Though mind you, back in 1995, things were obviously a lot different, not just because it was the year I was born.
Bill Gates on The Late Show with David Letterman back in 1995 (CBS)
Rather, Gates‘ opinion on the internet wasn’t taken so seriously by audience members attending The Late Show with David Letterman, as they found the whole thing pretty hilarious.
Ironically, the short clip has been shared again and again on the internet, and for most of us, it came to our attention when Elon Musk retweeted it on X in 2022.
During the interview, Gates is asked: “What about this internet thing? Do you know anything about that?” To which he replies: “Sure.”
The audience then started to chuckle as Letterman added: “What the hell is it exactly?”
Gates explained: “Well, it’s become a place where people are publishing information so everybody can have their own homepage, companies are there, the latest information…it’s wild what’s going on. You can send electronic mail to people.”
If only he knew what else the internet would go on to do…
Gates was mocked for his views on the internet (CBS)
“It is the big new thing,” the tech expert claimed.
However, Letterman didn’t seem to be convinced.
He replied: “Yeah, but you know it’s easy to criticise something you don’t fully understand, which is my position here.
“But I can remember a couple of months ago, there was, like, a big breakthrough announcement that on the Internet, or on some computer deal, they were going to broadcast a baseball game.”
He continued: “You could listen to a baseball game on your computer and I just thought to myself, ‘Does radio ring a bell?'”
At this point, the mid-90s audience broke out into laughter as Gates attempted to explain the difference between the two, adding: “It’s not a huge difference, but you can listen to the baseball game whenever you want, too.”
Letterman then asked if it’s ‘stored in one of your memory deals’, which Gates confirmed was the case.
Well, we know who got the last laugh.
The internet was actually first used in the 1960s as ARPANET, a US military project to connect computers.
By the 1980s, universities adopted it for research, and in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web, which we now use today.
The internet quickly became accessible to the public, a move which changed our world forever.
Featured Image Credit: CBS
