After Hours

Tech Troopers: Recreating iconic images from the life of Bill Gates

By · September 21, 2012, 1:51 AM PST

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  • Tech Troopers

    Like many TechRepublic readers, I’m a big Star Wars fan. I recently stumbled upon a great deal on Star Wars action figures and bought a bunch of them. Thinking it would be fun to photograph these action figures in humorous situations, I began experimenting with different scenarios involving computer hardware and dubbed the series Tech Troopers.

    Eventually, I got the idea to use the action figures to recreate iconic images from the life of Bill Gates. It turned out to be quite a bit fun, and I decided to share some of the humorous images with the TechRepublic community.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • The Microsoft company portrait

    This image was inspired by a 1978 photo in which the original 11 Microsoft employees got together for a company portrait. A copy of the original portrait, as well as some interesting details about the photo, can be found in a 2011 Business Insider article.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • The mug shot

    In the early days, when Microsoft was based in New Mexico, Bill Gates loved fast cars and racked up several speeding tickets culminating in an arrest. This image was inspired by Bill’s infamous mug shot. A copy of the original picture can be found over in the Mug Shots section of The Smoking Gun.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • The desk pose

    This image was inspired by a picture of Bill Gates posing for promotional photos for Microsoft Windows. A copy of the original photo can be found on the DailyTech site.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • The Windows floppy

    In another promotional photo, Bill Gates holds a Microsoft Windows 5.25-inch floppy disk. A copy of the original photo can be found on the BusinessWeek site.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • Time magazine cover

    This image was inspired by Bill Gates's appearance on the April 16, 1984 cover of Time magazine. You can see the original on the Time Magazine site.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • The Coke commercial

    This image was inspired by a Coke commercial from the mid ‘90s, in which Bill Gates, who is working late in a Microsoft office building, goes to get a drink from a Coke machine and realizes that he doesn’t have any change. You can watch the Coke commercial on YouTube.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

  • The Windows 98 Blue Screen

    This image comes from a video of Bill Gates and Chris Capossela, who was demonstrating Windows 98’s support for Plug and Play at the 1998 Comdex show, when all of a sudden the system encountered a Blue Screen of Death, leaving both men speechless for several moments before the event becomes humorous. You can see a recording of the event on YouTube.

    Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

Tech Troopers

Like many TechRepublic readers, I’m a big Star Wars fan. I recently stumbled upon a great deal on Star Wars action figures and bought a bunch of them. Thinking it would be fun to photograph these action figures in humorous situations, I began experimenting with different scenarios involving computer hardware and dubbed the series Tech Troopers.

Eventually, I got the idea to use the action figures to recreate iconic images from the life of Bill Gates. It turned out to be quite a bit fun, and I decided to share some of the humorous images with the TechRepublic community.

Image created by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic.

Related Topics:

After Hours Innovation Hardware Tech & Work

By Greg Shultz

Greg Shultz is a freelance Technical Writer. Previously, he has worked as Documentation Specialist in the software industry, a Technical Support Specialist in educational industry, and a Technical Journalist in the computer publishing industry.