Separately Gates looks amazingly old in the last few years way beyond his age. Especially in that photo. That is not the skin of a man in his late 50's.
I've speculated that he has either to much sun exposure [1], smokes (but he doesn't?), or has some sickness that has caused him to age.
Actually when he retired from Microsoft I had thought that health might have something to do with it. (I don't remember many cases anecdotal of successful business people "retiring" as early as he has done. They usually continue strong until a ripe age.)
Obviously there is no known sickness that he has spoken publicly about but that wouldn't be that unusual.
[1] But he doesn't seem like the type that would be baking in the sun over the course of many years and he does live in Washington State not in Florida.
Edit: It's not off topic and it's not a comment made for vanity reasons (ie "jeez doesn't he look bad!"). The comment is made primarily because I think he possibly has health issues and I'm curious what others think (especially those on HN with a medical background).
He's likely done a lot of traveling and probably has a yacht or two- so he's had more sun exposure than the average Microsoft employee. His father is almost 90 and is still going. If someone could find some photos of his father as a 60-something we could probably make a rough determination if there's maybe some genetic factor involved in the sort of skin wrinkling Mr.Gates III shows now.
It's quite inappropriate to speculate on a person's private health matters in a public forum. It's little different than being in the same room as someone, then pointing at them and asking "What's wrong with that person's funny skin? Is anyone a doctor here? Let's have a discussion about it!"
"It's quite inappropriate to speculate on a person's private health matters in a public forum."
I don't agree at all. And what are you basing that on? Is there some "rules of public forum" that has been agreed upon and accepted by the internet rule setting committee? Is there anything in the HN faq that states this?
Even more importantly, Gates is a very public and well known person. I'm not making comments on some unknown individual who works in marketing at some YC company (or Microsoft for that matter). Or an HN commenter.
It's totally appropriate to speculate on his health [1] (and in fact the media does this all the time about many well known people). That is not the same as saying people on HN (such as yourself) might not find it inappropriate (obviously I'm being downvoted so many people reading this particular post don't seem to agree with me.)
Lastly, the richest or near richest man in the world doesn't need to be protected from some anonymous person's speculation.
[1] Not the same as saying HN likes the speculation or it's appropriate for HN. But you didn't say that. You said "health matters in a public forum".
The word "forum" is a Latin word, and I'm using it in its traditional meaning (ie: a "public venue"), not in the recent "internet message board thingy" meaning. And I think I'll just have to disagree with you as (1) I don't consider today's media as demonstrating exemplary values, and (2) it's not about whether or not a wealthy/public person needs protection; it's about whether a particular activity is right. Obviously my value system is different from yours in that regard.
Building Microsoft cannot have been a low-stress endeavor, and people always remark how quickly Presidents visually age during stressful political times.
I agree that Presidents age over the course of their term.
But there are many differences between being Potus and the head of Microsoft.
President is a short term job (in general) and it is entered into later in life after I would guess a less stressful (than being President that is) life.
Gates started Microsoft when young and grew into the job over time. Not to mention that being the captain of that ship is greatly different (in terms of the "masters" that you serve) than being a politician.
Not having done either it's hard to really decide what the real differences are. But my guess is that Gates obviously had a tremendous amount of support from people hand picked over the years to carry out his wishes and way more latitude to do what he wanted which a President doesn't have. I think that factor alone is good with reducing stress of a job. (Being more in charge of your destiny, being more in control).
Also although I don't have photos to show I do remember there was a demarcation point where he started to just "look older". That didn't seem to coincide with just normal aging.
Ballmer of course doesn't look bad for his age. (Not that that proves my point but I will point that out.)
Bill Gates brand suffered during this time, and it was definitely a high stress timeframe for him. He polished his brand by donating money (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundati... ) and he stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in January 2000.
Google image search "Bill Gates [year]" and compare how he aged over time.
It reminds me of photos I've seen of Latin American farmers. Leathery skin due to excessive sun exposure. Seems strange, but maybe he doesn't use sunscreen?
Why does anyone care what he looks like? I sometimes think Fancy boys are drawn to tech? Yea, down vote me; I don't care, nor even know what a down vote is? I don't think I
want to know either. I just found out what Hell-banning is--and it seems petty, and something a spoiled, angry, teen would do to someone.
I've speculated that he has either to much sun exposure [1], smokes (but he doesn't?), or has some sickness that has caused him to age.
Actually when he retired from Microsoft I had thought that health might have something to do with it. (I don't remember many cases anecdotal of successful business people "retiring" as early as he has done. They usually continue strong until a ripe age.)
Obviously there is no known sickness that he has spoken publicly about but that wouldn't be that unusual.
[1] But he doesn't seem like the type that would be baking in the sun over the course of many years and he does live in Washington State not in Florida.
Edit: It's not off topic and it's not a comment made for vanity reasons (ie "jeez doesn't he look bad!"). The comment is made primarily because I think he possibly has health issues and I'm curious what others think (especially those on HN with a medical background).