Bill Gates reveals his greatest mistake

During a "fireside chat" with the venture capital firm Village Global, Bill Gates got extremely candid about what he considers his "greatest mistake ever" while running Microsoft.

Apparently, Gates regrets letting Google become the dominant non-Apple mobile operating system. He explained that, at the time, the market had room for just one Apple alternative, and Microsoft should have been poised to produce that system. However, Gates said he engaged in "mismanagement," that led to Microsoft not competing hard enough, and letting Google "win." 

"In the software world, particularly for platforms, these are winner-take-all markets," Gates said. "So the greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is. That is, Android is the standard non-Apple phone platform. That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win." Read more...