Bill Gates believes technology companies "deserve" the kind of scrutiny they received during Congressional hearings last month, and that the late Steve Jobs was a "genius," he told the Armchair Expert podcast.
"If you are successful like me or like any of these people, you deserve rude, unfair and difficult questions," the Microsoft founder told host Cax Sheppard.
"The government has the right to shoot you ... This kind of investigation comes with great success, and it's OK," Gates added.
Gates was referring to the July 29 session before the House Judiciary Committee where the chief executives of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon were questioned about their business practices as part of an ongoing antitrust investigation.
During the podcast interview, Gates talked about his foundation's work on vaccines, and what it was like when Microsoft started; But he also talked about what it was like to be a celebrity. He says that the idea of tech entrepreneurs being famous in society, it took me some time to get used to it, “It was crazy because I was classified as a weird and very antisocial person, then suddenly it becomes The axis of this world, and the world becomes obsessed with what you say about this, and what you say about it. "
Gates said of his late rival, Steve Jobs, that he was not as "tough" as him; But he was impressed by how he turned Apple when he got back.
Gates admitted that he envied the personality of the late CEO of Apple. "Jobs was a genius, and this is what he did especially when he returned to Apple ... Nobody can do what he did there. I wouldn't do that."
"He was a wizard at overly motivating people," Gates joked. "I was a little wizard so I couldn't fall under his spell, but I could see him cast a spell ... I was so jealous."
Gates even spoke about what he considered some of his personal flaws, saying, "I am not good socially, and I do not know how to cook, and I am very embarrassed that I do not speak any (other) languages fluently."