( CNN ) -- Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell , no stranger to provocative opinions , is at it again . During a recent interview in Toronto , Gladwell said that people a half-century from now will revere Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates but will have no clear memory of his longtime tech rival , Apple chief Steve Jobs . `` Of the great entrepreneurs of this era , people will have forgotten Steve Jobs . 'Who was Steve Jobs again ? ' But ... there will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World , '' Gladwell said . `` There 's a reasonable shot that -- because of his money -- we will cure malaria . '' Of Gates , whose foundation has given more than $ 2 billion to causes around the world , Gladwell said : `` I firmly believe that 50 years from now he will be remembered for his charitable work . No one will even remember what Microsoft is . '' Gladwell made the comments late last month during a public appearance at the Toronto Public Library . His remarks began drawing attention this week after the library posted a video clip of the interview online ( the Gates-Jobs stuff starts around the 9:30 mark ) . Gladwell 's popular nonfiction books include `` Blink '' and `` The Tipping Point . '' His most recent book , `` Outliers , '' attempts to explain what factors separate highly successful people from average ones . `` We need to be clear when we venerate entrepreneurs what we are venerating , '' Gladwell said in Toronto . `` They are not moral leaders . If they were moral leaders , they would n't be great businessmen . '' Gladwell did not elaborate on why he believes Jobs ' legacy wo n't endure , although he made some unflattering comments about the late Apple co-founder , who died in October 2011 . `` Every single idea he ever had came from somebody else . And he would be the first to say this . He would also take credit for things . He was shameless . He was an extraordinarily brilliant businessman and entrepreneur . He was also a self-promoter on a level that we have rarely seen . '' Even so , Gladwell said he was fascinated by Walter Isaacson 's recent biography of Jobs . For him , the most extraordinary moment in the book came near the end , when Jobs lay on his deathbed but refused to wear an oxygen mask because of its inelegant design . `` To him it was like making him send his final e-mails using Windows , '' Gladwell said , to laughter from the audience . `` A man has to draw the line somewhere , right ? ''
Author Malcolm Gladwell : In time , `` people will have forgotten Steve Jobs '' Gladwell : `` There will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World '' He made the comments during a recent public appearance at the Toronto Public Library .