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245 Comments
- Scaryclouds, on 06/26/2008, -8/+239It's good to see a rich person who is actually committed to helping improve the world and doesn't do charitable work as a good PR.
- virtualonliner, on 06/27/2008, -7/+178No matter how much Bill Gates/Microsoft is hated for being monopoly, shady business practices, crappy products or whatever else, you just have to give it to him for being a philanthropist. He spends a lot of money for good cause.
- Reddog_x2000, on 06/26/2008, -16/+178What Bill Gates has done is a hell of a lot better than imposing a tax. He's EARNED his money & is CHOOSING to use it to help others. That's a hell of a lot better than saying "Well, we've decided that this cause is worthy. So, you're going to contribute to it, in whatever amount we decide, like it or not. Fail to comply and we'll put you in prison.
- jacen6678, on 06/27/2008, -1/+33Anyone who is doing as much good as Gates deserves some recognition. I'm not saying that he seeks recognition or is doing philanthropic work for recognition. But, only the Pentagon still thinks they can spend billions and no one will notice.
- ironeus, on 08/01/2008, -4/+34The John Opel/IBM connection via Gates' mother is an awesome door to have opened.
- ileftfark, on 06/27/2008, -17/+46I for one, have donated to the Steven and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- seantubridy, on 06/27/2008, -3/+30Farewell, Bill. Now please take all that time, money and influence and help fix our screwed up world.
- zionKing, on 06/27/2008, -2/+28Kudos to Gates, a genius and a shrewd strategist, and this comes from a Mac fanboy
- MacParrot, on 06/27/2008, -0/+24So what? Bill Gates putting his name on it doesn't make it less admirable. To put the absolute worst spin on this, let's say he's doing it for immortality. So that he and his name and legacy will continue after he's gone. The money will STILL do an enormous amount of good and in the end THAT'S what matters.
I'm no fan of Microsoft, their business practices, or even how they run the company, but good for you Bill. You rock. - inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+24If he donated a fraction of his fortune and a few hours a month sitting on the board of a charity, that is PR. He has donated a huge portion of his net worth, and even talked his friend, Warren Buffet, in to donating most of his fortune to the Gates Foundation. Now it is his new full time job. They say that in a bacon and egg breakfast the chicken is supportive and the pig is committed. i would say Mr. Gates is committed.
- BuddhaManFizz, on 06/27/2008, -0/+222 diggs?
hax - technogenius, on 06/27/2008, -1/+20I like his name... Anil Dash
- creepermclurker, on 06/27/2008, -5/+22Yeah!
Like wars for oil! and corporate welfare! and faith based initiatives! and tax breaks for the wealthy! and meddling in the affairs of foreign countries! and imprisoning people who smoke marijuana! and ... - Laminarcissus, on 06/27/2008, -0/+15Steve will release iCharity, which will only distribute 35 percent of its funds to the needy, but anyone who contributes will rave about the "perfect charitable donor experience."
- hamobu, on 06/27/2008, -5/+20Bill gates is a nice guy, but he did not put a computer in every home. That kind of happened on it's own trough natural growth of technology. Bill gates only positioned himself well to write a software for every computer in every home.
Saying that Bill Gates put a computer in every home is like saying that Goodyear put a tires on every car. - cheeze_ballz, on 06/27/2008, -1/+15not to mention if you donated millions of dollars, people are going to notice - regardless of who you are.
- Nicksname1, on 06/27/2008, -3/+17FTA:
Mary Maxwell Gates (Bill's Mama) was deeply involved in the work of the United Way for many years before her passing in 1994, most notably as its first female chair. And one of the connections she made through that work back in 1980 was to John Opel, the chairman of IBM who was also a member of the United Way's executive committee.
I guess it is true it's all about who you know. Mary must have been like, "Hello John I'd like you to meet my son Bill he just dropped out of college and has this awesome new OS your company should consider." - Ouze, on 06/27/2008, -1/+14"tech hack" - you keep saying this. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I'm going to do a sweet tech hack my stove now and make some breakfast. - MacParrot, on 06/27/2008, -1/+14It's will really take 1.9 billion dollars to get two girls to sleep with you? That's...a telling statement.
- dpmcalli, on 06/27/2008, -0/+12I guess its true what they say, behind every great man is a nagging wife.
- MacParrot, on 06/27/2008, -1/+13It's more likely you're being buried for being an idiot. But you go right ahead and think it's because we all want to persecute you for being so clever and right.
- Knowltey, on 06/27/2008, -2/+14It would be very difficult to do "anonymous" charity work when you are as famous as Bill Gates, I mean most everyone will recognize you.
- MacParrot, on 06/27/2008, -0/+11Can we leave Apple out of this? What Bill Gates is doing is very admirable and certainly should be an inspiration to others who have this kind of money and clout.
But it isn't Microsoft that's doing this, that's just where he made his money. One does not equal the other. Having said that, I wish other tech millionaires (like say...Steve Jobs) would make a commitment similar to this. They certainly couldn't match his money, but any significant contribution is most likely going to be well spent. - inactive, on 06/27/2008, -7/+18I'm close to someone in the malaria research field, and I know its not very popular to say, but out of all the diseases that a multibillionaire could be throwing money at, AIDS and malaria should be at the bottom of the list. They're already extremely well funded, and the slow progress in each case can be blamed at least partially on the medical research cliche of wanting to be "the guy that cured it". Because of this, data is not shared across research facilities and it's a competition rather than a cooperation.
Bill Gate's money does not address this at all, and unfortunately goes a long way to make it worse. - wTheOnew, on 06/27/2008, -2/+12Are you listening Steve?
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -2/+12While you are at it, look at Apple's anti trust cases in Europe, AT&Ts anti trust convictions, etc. etc. etc. The truth is that Microsoft started out as a small two man operation and grew in to it's current market leading position by being more competitive, not less, than other companies. They were sued by a company with a browser that they couldn't give away and later abandoned. Netscape was a piece of crap and that's why it was failing, but if you go over any large corporations books with a fine tooth comb and grill their executives for years you will find enough dirt to convict them on anti trust grounds. Apple is finding that out in Europe right now. Business is competitive and company A will always try to out do company B. If you are going to study history don't just focus on Microsoft. Study every company in the world that ever succeeded and you will find they have done it through ruthless competition.
- bradleyland, on 06/27/2008, -1/+11Give a man the opportunity to earn in excess and he will give freely. Burden him with government ordained financial responsibility and he will grow to resent the commitment.
Freedom is always the right choice. - Darkx1337, on 06/27/2008, -4/+14OK
- AMSRay, on 06/27/2008, -1/+10I will be forever grateful to Microsoft for making software affordable. How can you say they use monopoly pricing? IBM used to charge more for DOS 2.1 than Windows Vista costs now and that is dollar for dollar with no inflation adjustment. WordPerfect used to cost $495 for just the word processor. Microsoft introduced MS Word and later MS office for much less. They priced there operating systems (DOS and Windows) much less than their competitors. Programmers do not get cheaper with advancing technology the way computer hardware has done. Yet Microsoft software generally cost about the same or less than they did years ago. Yeah, they play business hardball. And they also made it affordable for individual consumers to buy software, and by embracing and supporting manufacturers other than IBM when "PC compatible" computers started being developed, they also helped make computers affordable for home users.
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -5/+14Yep.
Bill's lack of ethics in his business dealings (starting way back with QDOS) is nothing to be proud of. Nor is Microsoft's conduct over the years.
To cheer for Bill now is to give him carte blanc for years of being a dishonest prick and building an empire that stifles innovation.
Yeah, you are damn right he needs to be doing something to make up for it.
Besides, I've worked with some Gates Foundation pcs. They were locked down to a ridiculous level, with the users not being allowed the admin password on the boxes. They were worth more when we formatted them and just used the hardware. - tsunamisteve, on 06/27/2008, -1/+10Seriously, not everything that happens has to be "the only" or "best" or "greatest". We are only cheapening those things that really are special. These days someone picks apart every article, makes an outlandish claim (Wired.com cough cough) and profits. Let's calm down.
- isaactwito, on 06/27/2008, -1/+9Why does digg still think all rich people are evil?
- Myonosken, on 06/27/2008, -0/+8How have Apple done anything near to Bill Gate's charity work?
Oh you mean the RED thing? Ahahaha. - cdigioia, on 06/27/2008, -0/+8What the hell, do you think tax write-offs are a money maker? Do you know how write-offs work?
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -0/+8Well, for starters, Bill could use his money to start a research collective for both diseases, putting into place a structure that mightily rewards collaboration and data sharing between research facilities, both public and private. It would be very expensive and a mountain of work to do it, but he appears to have more money and time than most.
- DrDigg, on 06/27/2008, -0/+7Not as good as Dr. Anil Ram - Gastroenterologist. How would you like to get your colonoscopy from a guy with that name.0
http://www.citrusmh.com/ram.htm - FutureGuy, on 06/27/2008, -4/+11I for one don't think MS's products are crappy, or that it follows shady business practises but like with everything for a company of the size of MS there are always a few exceptions. Another intresting read.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2321826,00.as ... - cdigioia, on 06/27/2008, -1/+8That's OK - he's just like a runner trains for an Olympic Gold - I don't care his motivation, just what results.
- tiuk, on 06/27/2008, -0/+6Any time someone mentions Bill Gates being filthy rich I bring up the foundation. So far not one person that I've talked to about it has known about it before I mentioned it to them. I know it's anecdotal evidence, but the fact that -not one person- that I've talked to was aware that the richest man in the world (or one of the richest now, I guess) is such a philanthropist suggests to me that he isn't "flaunting" it.
- klulukasz, on 06/27/2008, -6/+12Great man. He changed the World forever.
- lhughey, on 06/27/2008, -3/+9Gates is a good person. But I dont agree for tax breaks for the wealthy over the middle and lower class. Offer breaks to the ones who need them first, then help the ones can retire today and have money for 10 generations of offspring.
- MacParrot, on 06/27/2008, -2/+8Forget the Microsoft part of it. Let it go. He's no longer running the company. Just be glad he's taking a large chunk of the money he made and trying to do something good with instead of just buying 6 luxury yachts and sitting on it screaming, "MINE! MINE!"
- MWeather, on 06/27/2008, -0/+6If you're a monopoly already, I don't think ethical behavior is going to harm you much.
- Ajajadude, on 06/27/2008, -4/+10Someone forget to take their Ritalin?
- strictnein, on 06/27/2008, -0/+6He's giving away 90-95% of his fortune for a tax write off? Amazing.
Note to you: most of us are over the 1990's "Bill Gates is teh super gehy!!!" mentality. Grow up. - roarus, on 06/27/2008, -0/+51995 called, it wants its rant back
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -1/+6Good for him. Nice to be able to reach for a goal like that.
- skipdog172, on 06/27/2008, -0/+5Definitely. At nearly all of the libraries in Nebraska the Bill/Melinda Foundation has donated multiple PCs along with lots of free learning/productivity software. I do work for 30+ Libraries and it really helps them out considering the budgets of Libraries in these small towns of
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