The Bill Gates comparison was meant to illustrate the perception people had of him. Originally, (after his rant about people stealing his Basic for the... IMSI? Name escapes me) he was perceived as trying to do the things that the common man wanted. Remember the "Information at your fingertips" marketing crap?

Shuttleworth started out the same way, except with Linux instead of DOS/Windows, and now he's insisting on making unpopular changes because he thinks he can see the future. Remember when Gates believed there was no future in the Internet?

Anyway, I'm rambling so I'll stop here.