3 ms·

And I would venture to say that money he donated was the result from ill gotten gains. He is a convicted monopolist. And in all honesty, this money is tainted f

And I would venture to say that money he donated was the result from ill gotten gains. He is a convicted monopolist. And in all honesty, this money is tainted from perpetuating a monopoly. And still this company does what it was charged with. We see that with the 'secure computing' in regards to the locked down boot sequence for up and coming Windows ARM devices. And I bet this "donation" Gates does also encourages Windows as a computing infrastructure. Edit: why the karma backlash? Have I said something false or misleading? Also, we are not discussing US aid.

mintplant 15y ago
You do realize Bill Gates isn't even at Microsoft anymore, right? This isn't about the company, but what he's done independently, after the fact. He could have simply sat on that money, or left it to all to his family. Instead, he chose to make a difference in the world at large, a noble cause in my book.
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  For values of "isn't even at" which include "Chairman of the Board", receiving $968,779 in compensation in 2011: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=MSFT.O&WTmodLOC=C4-Officers-5 http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol... And major shareholder, holding 6.2% of total shares outstanding to an approximate market value of $13.2 billion (521 million shares): http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?symbol=MSFT&Holding=5%25+Ownership http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?symbol=MSFT&Holdin...
  - mintplant 15y ago
    Well, color me misinformed! Still, his philanthropic activities have nothing to do with his corporate ones.
    - TheAmazingIdiot 15y ago
      I already knew of this. Gates may not be the CEO of Microsoft, but he has complete sway on what happens. He went from "King" to kingmaker. I guess the most damning things he has done recently, I have heard through trustworthy sources. The claim is that Gates foundation does indeed do good work, but they also greatly encourage their money to pay software licensing fees (read: MSWindows and MSOffice). Their form of greatly encouraging is very similar to their bulk rates that allow snooping their networks for compliance. Be aware, I have no direct proof. I only have the word from a close friend who does work in 3rd world countries.
    - dredmorbius 15y ago
      There's a strong case of dispute for this as well. The B&MGF have been highly active in education. And computers in education. Guess what OS they favor? My understanding of much of the medical work done by the B&MGF is that there's been a focus on making patented prescription medicines available inexpensively (a social good), but preserving the strong IP protections on the patents themselves (again, an objective which favors Microsoft Corp's own interests in strong IP. There is some confluence of interests. Still, despite my very strong misgivings of Gates, Microsoft, and its business practices, he's made a huge impact on philanthropy and social causes. B&MGF absolutely dominates the field.
throwaway64 15y ago
how much of the governments money is ill gotten?
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jmtame 15y ago
the article is about how philanthropic bill gates has been (along with others), i think the US aid was just a tactic used to help put the amount in reference to something more easily understood than just a number. it seems poor taste to criticize his personal or professional history in light of the positive changes he's trying to affect. i think most people on HN are familiar with his competitive personality and the business practices of microsoft, and those have been discussed at length, but that isn't what this article is about.
MortenK 15y ago
Your nick name is well chosen.

mintplant 15y ago

You do realize Bill Gates isn't even at Microsoft anymore, right? This isn't about the company, but what he's done independently, after the fact. He could have simply sat on that money, or left it to all to his family. Instead, he chose to make a difference in the world at large, a noble cause in my book.

dredmorbius 15y ago
For values of "isn't even at" which include "Chairman of the Board", receiving $968,779 in compensation in 2011: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=MSFT.O&WTmodLOC=C4-Officers-5 http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol... And major shareholder, holding 6.2% of total shares outstanding to an approximate market value of $13.2 billion (521 million shares): http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?symbol=MSFT&Holding=5%25+Ownership http://moneycentral.msn.com/ownership?symbol=MSFT&Holdin...
- mintplant 15y ago
  Well, color me misinformed! Still, his philanthropic activities have nothing to do with his corporate ones.
  - TheAmazingIdiot 15y ago
    I already knew of this. Gates may not be the CEO of Microsoft, but he has complete sway on what happens. He went from "King" to kingmaker. I guess the most damning things he has done recently, I have heard through trustworthy sources. The claim is that Gates foundation does indeed do good work, but they also greatly encourage their money to pay software licensing fees (read: MSWindows and MSOffice). Their form of greatly encouraging is very similar to their bulk rates that allow snooping their networks for compliance. Be aware, I have no direct proof. I only have the word from a close friend who does work in 3rd world countries.
  - dredmorbius 15y ago
    There's a strong case of dispute for this as well. The B&MGF have been highly active in education. And computers in education. Guess what OS they favor? My understanding of much of the medical work done by the B&MGF is that there's been a focus on making patented prescription medicines available inexpensively (a social good), but preserving the strong IP protections on the patents themselves (again, an objective which favors Microsoft Corp's own interests in strong IP. There is some confluence of interests. Still, despite my very strong misgivings of Gates, Microsoft, and its business practices, he's made a huge impact on philanthropy and social causes. B&MGF absolutely dominates the field.

throwaway64 15y ago

how much of the governments money is ill gotten?

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

jmtame 15y ago

the article is about how philanthropic bill gates has been (along with others), i think the US aid was just a tactic used to help put the amount in reference to something more easily understood than just a number. it seems poor taste to criticize his personal or professional history in light of the positive changes he's trying to affect. i think most people on HN are familiar with his competitive personality and the business practices of microsoft, and those have been discussed at length, but that isn't what this article is about.

MortenK 15y ago

Your nick name is well chosen.