# Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates

Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates is a four-panel webcomic template that stages a fake conversation between the two tech founders, built from photos of their joint 2007 D5 interview. The blank template started circulating in May 2010 after the humor blog Sad and Useless posted it, kicking off hundreds of user-made jokes about the Apple-Microsoft rivalry.

## Origin
The source photos came from a joint interview at the D5: All Things Digital conference on May 31, 2007, hosted by co-executive editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher[1]. Attendee Joi Ito shot the shared-laugh photograph that anchors the meme and posted it to Flickr the same day[2].

The comic format itself only appeared almost three years later. On May 16, 2010, the humor blog Sad and Useless published the earliest known multi-panel comics built from Ito's photos and other stills from the interview, giving the template its now-familiar four-frame shape[3].

- **Platform:** Sad and Useless (blog) / Reddit (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2010

## Overview
The template pulls four still frames from the D5 interview between Jobs and Gates, staged like a 4koma comic where Jobs opens with a smug line, Gates fires back, and the two share the laughing final panel captured on Flickr by Joi Ito[2]. Most captions run on the Mac vs. PC rivalry, with punchlines about Windows crashes, iPhone pricing, or Microsoft borrowing Apple ideas[3]. The final laugh reads as either genuine friendship or barely-hidden shade depending on the caption, which is what makes the format work.

Later versions expanded the target list to include Google, Linux, and other tech companies. The visible warmth between two rivals who spent decades trading public jabs lets even sharp digs land as knowing humor rather than real hostility[5].

## How to Use
The template typically uses four panels sequenced so Jobs speaks first, Gates replies, one of them delivers a payoff line, and the final panel shows both laughing. Users commonly write dialogue that mocks Windows, macOS, iPhones, or a shared target like a competitor. A common convention is to save the meanest jab for the panel right before the shared laugh, so the visible camaraderie contrasts with the caption.

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates?
It is a four-panel webcomic template that uses photos from the 2007 D5 interview to stage fake exchanges between the Apple and Microsoft founders, typically mocking one company or the other[3].

### Where did Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates come from?
The photos came from the D5: All Things Digital conference on May 31, 2007[1], and the multi-panel comic template first surfaced on the blog Sad and Useless on May 16, 2010[3].

### What does Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates mean?
The format uses the visible friendship between two long-time corporate rivals to frame mock-friendly jabs about Windows, macOS, iPhones, and other tech targets[5].

### How do you use Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates?
Users add captions to the four panels so Jobs and Gates trade lines, with the last panel's shared laugh serving as the punchline setup for the rivalry gag[4].

### Is Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates still popular?
It peaked in May 2010 and saw a resurgence in October 2011 after Steve Jobs died, when tribute versions ran on Reddit and BuzzFeed[7][8]; today it is treated as a classic tech-humor template rather than an active trend.

## References
1. [https://allthingsd.com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview/](<https://allthingsd.com/20070530/d5-gates-jobs-interview/>)
2. [https://www.flickr.com/photos/35034362831@N01/522695099/](<https://www.flickr.com/photos/35034362831@N01/522695099/>)
3. [https://www.sadanduseless.com/2010/05/steve-jobs-vs-bill-gates/](<https://www.sadanduseless.com/2010/05/steve-jobs-vs-bill-gates/>)
4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/c58jq/steve_jobs_vs_bill_gates/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/c58jq/steve_jobs_vs_bill_gates/>)
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/steve-jobs-vs-bill-gates](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/steve-jobs-vs-bill-gates>)
6. [http://comixed.memebase.com/2010/05/20/4-koma-comic-strip-jobs-vs-gates/](<http://comixed.memebase.com/2010/05/20/4-koma-comic-strip-jobs-vs-gates/>)
7. [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/l2q0l/the_end_of_a_meme/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/l2q0l/the_end_of_a_meme/>)
8. [https://www.buzzfeed.com/willio/the-highlights-and-ending-of-the-steve-jobsbill-g-460x](<https://www.buzzfeed.com/willio/the-highlights-and-ending-of-the-steve-jobsbill-g-460x>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/steve-jobs-vs-bill-gates
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library