What is Digg?68 Comments
- betterth, on 10/12/2007, -7/+51Of course. Let's completely trivialize $2.5 billion dollars because we're cynical *****. Who cares if its software replication? Dollar bills are almost as cheap to replicate by the government as software. It's implied value. The software, while free to give, still saves them $250 or $300 or whatever.
Just because they're Microsoft doesn't mean you need to negatively spin every single bloody thing they do. - e2superman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23I agree. Too many apple fanboys here. We should call them "applebee's" since they swarm around anything apple and digg it without even reading what they are digging.
- apzdsx, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25@neoform
You're comparing Microsoft to a drug dealer?
Get out more. - TomMcBaum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15The average donation per employee reportedly exceeds US$1000.
- dchu, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Gates >>> Buffet
Gates has always said that most if not all his money will be for charity. Thats over 50billlion$. 2ndly he is the one with the foundation, to which he has already donated lots to(time and money) had done good with. And lets not forget Buffet agreed to give most of his money to the foundation. If not for the foundation who knows what happens to Buffet's money, it still might have been donated but we dont know. - Vigo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Who cares if they get anything out of it? Why do people always try and put a negative spin on this kind of thing.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14WEll, Apple has overcharged their customers by far more and you don't see these huge donations coming from them or Steve Jobs.
Hey...I have an idea...Keep spelling MS with a dollar sing. That will PROVE how clever you are. People LOVe that! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14malkir...do us all a favor. Explain to all of us how YOU think that giving to charity SAVBES you tax money. It should be fun, and the whole site will see what a ***** idiot you actually are.
You want FACTS? When you donate to charity, it DEDUCTS taxable income that you have to claim on your tax return. This is true of either individuals or businesses. Donating to chairty ALWAYS makes your actual take home income less.
EXample...well, I will choose YOU as an example. You make $10,000 a year cleaning toilets. You donate $50 to some charity. You are now only taxed on $9950 of income.
Now lets go to a business. Let's say Microsoft made $1 billion last year. They would pay roughly 40% in taxes, or $400 million. Now let's say they doante $100 million to chairty last year. Now they are taxed on only $900 million, so they pay about $360 million in taxes.
But guess what moron! They don't have that $100 million either. So to "save" $40 million in taxes, they "spent" $100 million.
But again...for a nice laugh at your expense, please explain what YOU think happens when people donate money and how that SAVES people money. - JackHallows, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11That's a lot of money. Kinda makes me feel bad when I think about how little I've donated to charities when compared to 2.5bn......... but then makes me feel good that people can donate that much.
- phlll, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14@tvc...
Prove it WAS copies of Bob and you have a point. Otherwise, stop trolling. - devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Please pull your head out of your ass. We're talking about billions of dollars being given to education programs, food for destitute countries, and environmental groups - this is way beyond your petty ***** about Microsoft's ruthless business tactics.
- peacher, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15anyone else have the feeling that if this were Apple, there would be hundreds more diggs, and everyone would be ranting and raving how wonderful Apple is?
I dunno, that's just my opinion - devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Yeah, because when you bought XP, you thought, damn! If I could get that student discount, I'd just give that $100 to World Harvest!
I think you overestimate the generosity of the individual with his or her hard-earned money. That's why it's up to philanthropists and foundations to do the heavy lifting when it comes to charities, barring a monster catastrophe like the tsunami. - Vigo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11What bad has microsoft done that negates the charity work they do? You my friend have a skewed sence of reality
- devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Absolutely, mcatrage. Say what you will about Microsoft as a business or Windows as a platform, Gates is 100% good with me because he is doing things like this - and the Gates Foundation in the future will make this $2.5bn look like peanuts.
As for comparing philanthropists, let's not take sides, and just admire and thank them for what they're doing for the world. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Yes, it did. But are you so stupid as to think that it was "free" Seriously...you need to learn a little more about charitable donations than what you hear on TV shows about rich people. Donating...even by RICH people and rich companies still means LESS money of the person making the donation.
- dave2010, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10It's not just MS that gives out the cash. Bill and Melinda have been doing "good work" for years. I may not like MS's business practices but how can you hate the man himself for not only donating money (which any mil/Bill ionaire can) but for Thinking about the world's problems and trying his best to solve one or two using his enormous wealth?
I see it's a bit OTT but hey... Hate the game, not the player. - fugrank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I wonder how many fewer comments would be negative if the headline was "Apple: $2.5 billion given to charity"
- ysmsr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11They do mention employee contributions - which is money going out of employees pocket to any US recognized charity organization. And as with other companies, employee contributions are usually matched if not more by the company. Just my 2 cents.
- flag564, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Someone needs to flash a story about the ipod. That will get rid of them.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7And this doesn't even include Bill Gate's personal charity donations (which are much larger than the entire company donations)
- ElectricGrandpa, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7"Doesn't matter how ruthless they are or how ***** their software is they will be seen as this great company because of this."
And it's that how it should be. Gates keeps his foundation distanced from Microsoft for a reason. Don't you think that helping poor people is way more important than fixing a couple of security holes? - tvc15, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@phlll
My point was that malkir probably would have like to have the information from _this_ link instead of the article provided...
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/sep06/09-21CharitableDonationsPR.mspx
"According to Raikes, in 2005 Microsoft employees donated and the company matched $68.2 million in cash and software. In addition, Microsoft directed more than $40 million in cash to nonprofits through Unlimited Potential, a global program designed to help broaden digital inclusion and aid global work-force development by providing technology skills through community technology centers."
Here, we have much more meaningful detail of how the corporate giving was conducted. - adiggtion, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6(raises hand). I have purchased copies of Windows 95, 98, 2000 Professional, and "bought" a license for Windows XP Pro when I bought a refurbed system from Dell. I'm no freeloader in that respect.
Each new version was at least 1.5 more times as costly as the previous one - one can judge for themselves whether such increases are of merit based on the feature set included with each Windows upgrade, or not. Frankly, not many of clients at my current place of work seem to think so. We still have tons of clients running Windows 98, ME, NT 4.0 (!), and 2000, all of which are essentially considered to be "obsolete" according to MS. - gormly, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6this place is overrun with cynical *****.
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Seriously. If it were Apple donating this much they'd be calling them saints and getting ready to kiss some ass.
- sk545, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3well, at least they give money, something thats not easy to do no matter how rich you are. Probably the only good thing that came out of MS (besides AJAX).
- dioscaido, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Microsoft matches all my donations, dollar for dollar. So when I give 500 to a local charity, they actually get a grand. Also, when I volunteer somewhere, Microsoft gives them ~$20 for every hour I'm there. Just one of the many reasons why it's a great place to work.
- jblade, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Well, currently Warren Buffet has that spot ;)
- adiggtion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You make a good point re: giving. Unfortunately some corruption and "administrative waste" do exist in some of the larger charities. Probably far better to donate your money in a concrete way to a local organization that needs it (or individual) rather than one of these Big Charities.
- Botrax, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Don't forget the eugenics programs funded by Microsoft through the organizations they give to. All big corporations have to contribute the globalist prison planet.....Microsoft doesn't escape that either.
- williamjones, on 09/23/2008, -0/+2Hi ,You may think money is not the only way to give to charity,there are other various options where providing daily need things can help better than giving money only.
For that in this season you can visit dollar wholesale online shop.Where you will find various products which you can donate in charity there products are at very less price and higher quality.i.e. http://www.dollardays.com - cquinnd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Pointing out that someone is of Jewish descent or heritage when it has nothing to do with the topic at hand is a bigoted thing to do, if not outright anti-semetic.
- person, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't really think it's entirely fair to call microsoft the one that does all evil. They've done a lot of great things, and without Microsoft, the Information Age wouldn't be where it is today. Yes, Microsoft does do some shady practices like DRM, but they also do a lot of good. Congrats, Microsoft. Hopefully you won't have to donate another 80 billion before people recognize that you're a good company.
- vaxguru, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3My hat off to you, MS, and Mr Gates.
For once, can people stop the anti-MS bs?
Either appreciate what this man and his foundation is doing for the less fortunate, or rack off. There are other articles awaiting your 'intelligent' comments. - flag564, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ive bought copies of Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me, NT.
Granted they were at my local Goodwill for 50 cents. Thats only because Im cheap (One of the reasons I use Linux also.). - flag564, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"Microsoft used dirty tactics (multi-convicted antitrust anyone?) that stifled innovation and took jobs away from people whose only sin was to have a good idea first"
Then dont take their money if you think its so dirty. - Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@laka
you have major anger problems. Just reading them gives me a headache. Either way, businesses use charity for 1) free publicity and 2) lower tax rates. Every major corporation has a charity section, not because of "good will". When you have a public company, you can't waste money, or share holders can sue you. Giving to charity gives more benefits than not.
/currently lives with 2 graduate MBA business students and we talk about this a lot. - neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4good on Microsoft... they're not bad people... just need to be better software developers.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5Yeah...alphabet..you dumb *****! When you knock down your taxable income, you are saving 40% of that income by not paying taxes. Howeve, you are giving up 100% of that in the charitable donation.
Sorry, but you are just as ***** stupid as malkir. MAybe even moreso becuase you think you used facts to back up your silly false point. - Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@lakawak
Tax laws are different for businesses and individuals - jejones, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2"I'm pretty curious as to how much of this was 'software donations'. There are plenty of places that need software, but you can't equate software with actual dollars when it's replication costs approach zero."
Not only that, but it's like giving someone a magazine subscription...eventually it costs them. Worse, it's like giving someone a subscription to a magazine you publish, so that you're giving them the privilege of paying you after the initial interval.
Actually, the best analogy: it's the "charity" that the drug pusher displays when he gives you the first hit free. - spartan777, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3proof capitalism works.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0CLASSIC! You think because you live with fucing STUDENTS that you know more!
I never said that there weren'r secondary benefits, like PR. But the FACT of hte matter is, what you claimed originally...that it costs htem nothing is *****.
Oh...but you have a gay apartment with STUDENTS! They must know what they are talking about! ***** STUDENTS! Seriously...I am repeating that so you can realize how ***** stupid that made you sound. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Thats one reason I like MSFT...Gates gives billions to help the world get better(he`s agnostic) What does Jew-run Apple give to charity and such??? And no...pointing out Jobs is a Jew doesn`t mean you are anti-semetic.It`s a well publicized fact.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0No ***** alphabet...But business tax laws STILL do not allow what you so fucing stupidly think, which is that donating to charity SAVES you money.
Any way you slice it, when you donate money to charity, you wind up with LESS money in your pocket than if you hadn't. All tax breaks do (both business and personal) is to LESSEN the amount that you are out. - Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3Is that the average donation per employee since 1983 or the average donation per employee currently employed?
- dave2010, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1I'd like to call a Poll. How many people who have commented here actually bought a copy of windows?
I'm not talking about the one you got with your PC, how many of you went to a shop/estore and actually paid real money? - notreallyme, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Mod me down Windows fandorks....
Microsoft used dirty tactics (multi-convicted antitrust anyone?) that stifled innovation and took jobs away from people whose only sin was to have a good idea first. And then they give software to libraries and schools to insure that the next generation would be hooked on their crappy software, creating a vicious cycle that dropped unprecedented cash in the bank. Microsoft's next technology innovation will be its first... But they're in the pantheon for making up dirty biz tricks that cross the line but get what you want before you get caught.
Now that prick (and yes I've met him) Gates tries to wipe all that away by giving to charities *he* deems important? Even if I agree with some of the expenditures, and I do, by what twisted logic does this little weasel deserve to pick who lives and dies because he was better at cheating -- and more willing to do it? That don't add up.
No props to Bill Gates. If he'd never existed everyone would be better off, including the charities. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2exactly right. i was impressed but then i saw "software donations" and employee contributions.
1. they should not be claiming credit for employee contributions. it's the emplyee making the donation, not them.
2. software? pfft they will claim a $300 credit on software that people wouldn't have bought anyway. -
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