In 1985, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs—two of the most influential figures in the history of computing—stood at a pivotal crossroads in their early rivalry and collaboration. At the time, Gates was the co-founder of Microsoft, already supplying software to many personal computers, while Jobs was the charismatic co-founder of Apple, pushing the envelope with the graphical user interface of the Macintosh.
That year, their relationship was complicated. Microsoft had created software like Word and Excel for the Mac, but tensions were rising. Jobs accused Gates of copying the Mac’s GUI for Microsoft’s upcoming Windows operating system. Gates famously responded, “I think it’s more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox, and I broke into his house to steal the TV, and found out that you had already stolen it.”
A now-famous photo from that period shows the two men together—young, ambitious, and on the brink of reshaping the digital world. Despite their differences, they shared a vision of putting computers in homes and hands across the globe.
1985 was also the year Jobs was forced out of Apple, only to return over a decade later. Gates, meanwhile, continued leading Microsoft to dominate the PC market.