People are finding out Bill Gates' mugshot was used by Microsoft users and they didn't even know it
Bill Gates is one of the most reputable names on the planet with a net worth of $130 billion.
Coming in as the sixth richest individual on the planet according to Forbes, the Microsoft founder has certainly done well for himself.
However, in his younger days, the 68-year-old was actually arrested - something his company paid homage to many years later.
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All the way back in 1977, police stopped a young Gates for driving without a licence and intentionally skipping through some traffic lights as he made his way through New Mexico.
The tycoon was subsequently cautioned, and even had a mugshot. And we thought Donald Trump was the biggest celeb to have one.
While you'd think Gates would want to forget about the whole situation, the event was actually included in Windows years later with a hilarious reference.
Funnily enough, two separate references have been made in connection with the arrest on the platform.
The first came during the development of Outlook 2010, which saw the 'Social Connector' introduced.
The function allowed contacts to appear at the click of the button, which was certainly handy some 14 years ago.
But many may not have noticed at the time what the image for the tool actually was.
Hilariously, Windows used a silhouette of Gates in the iconic mugshot.
The second occasion the mugshot was used came during the development of Windows 8 between 2011 and 2012.
Users back then would boot up their PC to be asked to log in to their profile.
Well, the default silhouette that appeared at the time was of the founder's mug shot.
A discussion surrounding the mugshot has since begun on Reddit, with the vast majority not knowing Microsoft used it in a hilarious way.
"Didn't even know Bill Gates had a mugshot photo," one person commented.
"What a smooth criminal," a second joked.
It comes as Gates looked into the future rather than the past with his thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI).
In an interview with Dax Shepard on the Armchair Expert podcast, Gates spoke about how he thinks AI won’t magically solve problems that humans aren’t already good at.
He explained how he uses AI himself, stating: "I'm using it all the time and saying, 'Okay, no, it's not good enough for this — but wow, it is good enough for that.'
“If it's a problem that humans are not good at dealing with, then present techniques don't create some novel approach."
Topics: Bill Gates, Microsoft, Crime
Callum Jones