Bill Gates’ highest form of praise to employees ‘was to brutally insult them’, ex-Microsoft manager claims
Bill Gates’ highest form of praise for employees ‘was to brutally insult them,’ claims former Microsoft executive
- Former Microsoft executive has claimed Bill Gates would ‘brutally insult’ staff
- Scot Bayless revealed how Gates cursed in response to Flight Simulator details
A former Microsoft executive has claimed that the way Bill Gates praised employees “was by brutally insulting them.”
Scot Bayless, a former studio manager who oversaw the production team for Flight Simulator 2000, said Gates cursed at staff as he reacted in disbelief at the game’s level of detail.
After Flight Simulator 2000 achieved a technical milestone by successfully mapping the entire planet in one-kilometer blocks, Bayless says an early demo left the Microsoft founder, 67, bewildered.
Bayless recalls that after explaining to Gates that the software included all the airports in the world, Gates responded by saying, “You’re full of crap. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” per IEEE spectrum.
He added: “This was Gates’ highest form of praise. According to Microsoft lore, if Bill tells you so, you’re made.”
Scot Bayless, a former studio manager who oversaw the production team for Flight Simulator 2000, said Gates cursed at staff as he reacted in disbelief at the game’s level of detail. Pictured: Bill Gates delivering a speech at the Malaria Summit at 8 Northumberland Avenue on April 18, 2018
Indeed, the level of detail in Flight Simulator made it a hit with gamers, as it entered the best-selling charts.
The team responsible for the game has since been renamed Aces Game Studio and has created spin-offs for Microsoft such as Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator and MicrosoftSpace Simulator.
There was even talk of a universal platform for general simulation on a global scale, which eventually culminated in Microsoft’s Enterprise Simulation Platform.
ESP lasted only a few years, but was licensed by Lockheed Martin for its Prepar3D simulation platform.
The company’s latest flight simulator game, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, is scheduled for release next year and will be available on Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
Bayless’ claims come as Gates has bet on Bud Light’s comeback after the tech mogul bought 1.7 million shares of the brand’s disgraced parent company.
Gates acquired the Bud Light shares through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust in the second quarter of this year.
The shares have a market value of about $95 million, TipRanks reports.
His investment comes as Anheuser-Busch companies are still reeling from the fallout from their partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney on April 1, after videos and images posted by her sparked nationwide boycotts of Bud Light in the US .