Gates Gets Emotional in 60 Minutes Interview

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently discussed his friendship and business relationship with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on CBS' 60 Minutes. It was an emotional interview that left the former Microsoft chief executive officer fighting back tears.

For decades the Jobs-Gates relationship has been portrayed as highly complex.

In some instances, such the 1999 made-for-TV movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley," which starred Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall, the two are depicted as rivals viciously battling for control of the consumer electronics industry.

Gates Keeps Quiet About Jobs' Insult

Jobs seemed to support this position by telling biographer Walter Isaacson that "Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

Gates has dismissed that criticism in the past and in this most recent interview suggested that he shared a special relationship with Jobs that went beyond business.

Of their relationship, Gates insists that the two "always retained a certain respect." Gates also noted that, when Jobs fell ill in 2011, "I got to go down and spend time with him." (Source: pcmag.com)

When discussing this final meeting with Jobs, Gates struggled to keep back the tears.

We Were "Naively Optimistic," Gates Says

However, Gates acknowledged that he and Jobs spent most of their professional careers competing with one another. Both took their companies in very different directions.

"We were within a year of the same age and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies," Gates said in the interview with 60 Minutes' Charlie Rose. "We achieved all of it, and most of it as rivals."

For the most part the 60 Minutes interview focused on Gates' involvement with various charities. The former tech mogul continues to work towards his goal of eliminating polio, tuberculosis, and malaria within ten years' time.

Gates is also actively contributing to projects designed to help residents of third world countries gain access to proper sanitation. (Source: cbsnews.com)

To view Gates' 60 Minutes interview, click here.