I don't expect you to change your mind because confirmation bias is a powerful force. I did see this video recently and found it interesting. Have you seen it? "Bill Gates - Microsoft Antitrust Deposition - Highlights" [this video]
Q: Okay. Let me ask you to look at Trial Exhibit 560. This is a message from you to Mr. Ballmer and Mr. Chase with a copy to Mr. Maritz and some other people also given copies dated August 15, 1997 at 4:07 p.m. on the subject of IBM and Netscape; correct? A: Uh-huh Q: BY MR. BOIES: And you type in here Importance: High." A: No. Q: No? A: No, I didn't type that. Q: Who typed in "High"? A: A computer. Q: A computer. Why did the computer type in "High"? A: It's an attribute of the e-mail. Q: And who set the attribute of the e-mail? A: Usually the sender sends that attribute. Q: Who is the sender here, Mr. Gates? A: In this case it appears I'm the sender. [link] [this video]
Deposition excerpt of Gates evading questions about an email
I found a highlights video: [this video] (I see the full 11 hour deposition is also on YouTube, but I think I'll save that for another day.) So far, being 10 minutes in, I see a little bit of what you mean, but I haven't gotten to anything "unhinged" yet. He just seems like a bit of a smug nerd who's clearly enjoying going toe-to-toe with one of the country's top lawyers. Do you remember anything that jumped out for you from the deposition? I'd love to see more of what you're getting at.
Deposition highlights showing a smug nerd going toe-to-toe with a lawyer
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.
3 Hacker News comments
From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.
Citations, criticism and jokes
Read more