The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency – Bill Gates

At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas, but the image is that they all come from the top , I’m afraid that’s not quite right – Bill Gates

About three million computers get sold every year in China, but people don’t pay for the software. Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade – Bill Gates

Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved – Bill Gates

There’s only one trick in software, and that is using a piece of software that’s already been written – Bill Gates

If you give people tools, [and they use] their natural ability and their curiosity, they will develop things in ways that will surprise you very much beyond what you might have expected – Bill Gates

Whether it’s Google or Apple or free software, we’ve got some fantastic competitors and it keeps us on our toes – Bill Gates

Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana – Bill Gates

This is a fantastic time to be entering the business world, because business is going to change more in the next 10 years than it has in the last 50 – Bill Gates

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning – Bill Gates