Bill Gates to get knighted

Bill Gates is about to score something money can't buy (and no, it isn't your respect or a back rub from Linus Torvalds): an honorary knighthood. Queen Elizabeth is going to make him a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of his "outstanding contribution to enterprise." You won't have to call him "Sir William" or anything like that (unless that's your thing, that is)—only citizens of Britain and the British Commonwealth get that privilege.

[Mitch Incognito @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Bill's a great guy - I feel he deserves it.

[Boris Sverdlik @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Are you kidding me...... What kind of BS is this.... He should be made to use his horrible products in a dark room....

[semi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

i think windows made computer accessible to masses.

and now he gives so much to charity its amazing.

Sir Gates, welcome to the round table!

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

...and recognize him in the same context as the great Sir Elton John?!? Never!!!

[francisco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Bill looks like he's going to puke on that baby

[jesse @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

http://forbes.com/philanthropy/2004/10/04/cz_ec_1004gates.html

yeah, he's such an asshole.

[blogger @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

To the author of the article...

Not all knights of the British Empire from the British Commonwealth get the designation of "Sir". Canada for one stopped that practice back in the 1930s. Hell, a few years later the parliament enacted a law that doesn't allow Canadian citizens to receive an honour from a foreign govt.

Conrad Black (a Canadian born media magnate) gave up his Canadian citizenship to become a British national, just so he could get a full Knighthood with the designation of "Sir".

[Will @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I'd give up my Canadian citizenship to be with Paris Hilton on a bed of iPods and Korean-only cell phones...hmmm.

[ogun7 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Bill says:
Take that Steve (Jobs)!! Who's the rockstar CEO now!!

[ogun7 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Seriously, Bill Gates does donate BILLIONS of dollars in charity work (eventhough he started after the anti-trust trial). I cannot find a single instance of philanthropy concerning Steve Jobs.

[dpb @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Keep in mind that Bill Gate's philanthropy is typically giving computer equipment to young children or schools. It's the same effect as tobacco companies advertising to children. Hook'em young on Windows and they'll never think to use another OS. His philanthropy is just guerilla marketing...

[mc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

There is no such thing as "citizens" of Britain.

Those folks are properly called "subjects".

[PDubNYC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

#11, No, you're wrong. That would be Microsoft that seems to be rather pathetic about its attempts to give old copies of windows as charity. Bill Gates and his foundation give away billions in actual money to a variety of causes. So, way to go, trying to spread misinformation.

Even if you don't like him, only an asshole would overlook all of the good he has tried to do with his money.

[Gary Scheffen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

"Bill Gates is going to about to score" was this article checked with the grammar checker in MS-Word?

[Paperless @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Not only these titles are stupid and now they are giving it to Bill.. Congrats England for being so stupid again

[dreampc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Hmmm...

It better be the Queen that holds that long,sharp sword to Bill Gates shoulders(near his neck)...

cause I know a few systems admins that would LOVE that opportunity... they tell me it would be a whole new way to HACK!

[gopi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

While Bill Gates may give a lot to charity, that does not make him a nice person. If you look at his business record and his method of dealing with potential competitors, it's quite clear that he is a deceitful and vindictive person whose only goal is to destroy the competition.

Microsoft has, on numerous occasions, announced they were about to ship products that were not even begun merely to frighten other companies away - it's stuff like that that really sets the industry back. Their announcement of Windows for Pen Computing brought down Go Computing - before Microsoft even did any development.

Gates' Microsoft is the modern-day equivalent of a robber baron; he may give away a lot of money, but you can't ignore how he got the money.

[elementalwinds @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I think of it this way, If we all suddenly switched over to Linux or some other OS we would be within a week bombarded with so much spam and viral infections from the various hacker groups that we would fly back to Microsoft. Think about it, Who uses Linux and other OS's more then the LEET hacker people. Do you think they don't know how to fucking up Linux. And I've learned that most of the problems with Windows deal with backwards compatibility issues with old software and when a software programmer doesn't do proper bug tests. By the way, who would pick up the slack and make updates for Linux, it would be like getting a virus and waiting weeks before a solution is developed by some freeware source. I don�t know. Just my thoughts.

[Morgan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

To elementalwinds:

Apparently you don't know anything at all about Linux and viruses. There are two well-known (in the Linux community) antivirus programs available for Linux and other *nixes. F-Prot, available at www.f-prot.com and ClamAV, available at www.clamav.net. Both projects are actively maintained and new virus definitions are made available to the public as soon as they are found.

As for all of the "LEET hacker people" you are so afraid of? Well, contrary to popular opinion, most hackers are not evil, virus-writing deviants. You have the word "hacker" confused with script-kiddies, phreaks/crackers and other ilk. A true hacker would be offended by being called "LEET". The real, white-hat hackers are the ones constantly updating and improving on the Linux kernel to prevent such attacks. No one would have to "pick up the slack" because there is no slack to pick up. Visit kerneltrap.org to see just how frequently the Linux kernel is updated.

[M. N. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Offtopic as this is, I think you should really re-examine the way things are, #18. Look at Apache vs. IIS. Look at the prestige a major Linux, BSD, or OS X worm would bring for an attacker, and then realize that hardly any minor worms, much less major ones, exist.

Home users will always be poor administrators, no matter what they use. At the local university, I personally administer a large group of Linux machines on the public internet which are constantly under attack from random Korean netblocks, but which stand up much better than the Windows machines on the same subnets. If I had to give a complete noob a machine to use, knowing I couldn't help him/her out, I know which OS I'd pick -- and it's certainly not Windows.

Bug reports? The OSS approach *encourages* bug reporting. Slack? Major distributors and mid-sized companies will sell you their services and keep your Linux machines secure and well-working. Thousands of 3rd party IT guys do it for Windows now; there's no reason to believe it couldn't be done, and better, with Linux.

Congrats to Bill, also.

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Sir Nerd!

[iank @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Bill is a swell guy who blows his stock helping folks the rest of you wouldn't be caught dead near. Billions to fight aids, poverty and boost education and healthcare in the crappiest parts of the world. And all you bashers can whine about is the roadkill he makes out of the incompetent competition. Business is war, people, not some feel-good love in where you all stand around and hug trees. Whaaaaaa? Your crappy spyware and spamware media player product with a clumsy UI won't sell...don't make it better! Sue! Complain to commies in the EU! That's the way! Loosers.

[Kevin O' @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Bill the overlord of Microsoft has been a weaselly conniving bastard. A somewhat brilliant one though.

Microsoft sucks and all that, and if Visio 2003 ran on Linux without the VMWare exta slow button I would never run it again.

But the man has shelled out 37 Billion dollars to fight diseases that don't hurt us because we are rich. Sure he is still worth another 40-70 Billion but as the article says if you add up the charitible contributions of the next 5 richest men in America they aren't even a tip on Bills 37 Billion.

Deal with it.

[Jack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Even though I don't like Microsoft and even though I prefer OSX over Windows any day, I have to admit that I'd rather see Bill Gates get knighted than his competitor Steve Jobs, who isn't exactly known for his philantrophy.

Of course there are a lot of problems with Windows, but Bill Gates is not Windows...

All the bugs, bluescreens and crashes aside, he achieved and did a lot. Not only for those poor children in Africa, but also for all of us to be able to purchase and use computers so naturally - every day. I wouldn't call him a great guy, but he definitely deserves it.

[pootie @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/

This isn't about OSes, or just giving money. Bill has done what he thinks is charatable, and most of the world agrees. It is legitimate to find fault with the foundation; however, one must know something of the foundation before one criticizes it.

#4--Bill is starting to look like Elton. Scary!

Bill is not getting knighted for Windows, or even Microsoft. He is getting this recognition for what he has done with the money he made from those ventures.

Whether he deserves the money he got is a different story, and worthy of discussion, once all the uneducated masses are silent. So, there will never be a worthy discussion of it :)

[Chris Lemcke @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Hopefuly he will get a trojan horse.

[Ian Frick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Sir William, the Rich! Huzzah!

I hope the blade slips, anyone with me? Purely because he's so rich, not his operating system or whatever. I mean, who doesn't like to see some super rich guy get screwed over?

[Jay @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

With all the embarassement and stock failure of the company, Bill Gates HAS to be this all loving and charitable guy!! Wake up people. It's his only recourse for anything good these days!

As for being knighted, PUH-LEASE, I think Im going to throw up. I think the Queen is just bored out of her mind. Anyone near or past 100 years can't be all there!

Knighted??? Sheeesh...shows how much valor in knighthood there is these days!

[Ptrix @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Donated to charity? with the amount of cash Bill Gates is sitting on, not to mention the tens of thousands that is added to his wealth on a daily (hourly?) basis, this guy could afford to pay of the national debt of a good percentage of the African continent, plus have extra left over to fund research to fight AIDS there, or at least provide free medicines for every person suffering, and barely feel it in his pocketbook.

THOSE would be the honourable actions of someone that i'd expect to see with the title of "Knight". until then, as far as i'm concerned, the guy is just another corporate fatcat.

[Sebhelyesfarku @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Bill Gates is a moron who became rich based on the moronity of the masses. He deserves the Lord of the Morons title.

[Alex @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

No. 6, Jesse: you are missing the point.

We know that he is a philanthropist and does a lot of good work. But that is not why he is getting the honour.

I would be perfectly happy for him to get the KBE for his philanthropy, but when you're surrounded by people constantly swearing at their computers, can you argue that his contribution to enterprise is a positive one?

[AD @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Oh Jeysus, this is vile! Not only do we have an insincere tosser as PM, and a royal family who rule by 'the decree of God' who are not allowed to marry Catholics, now they give Bill Gates a knighthood. Apart from the fact this title is a diseased imperial throwback with totally unacceptable racist associations, Tony Blair has done nothing for the British (lack of) software industry.

[Rich @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Just thought I'd correct you on a minor point... Money very much *does* buy you a knighthood -- or any other honour. There's a long (and proud!) history of it in England and the UK!

[Dinesh Jeram @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Imperial crap, we shouldn't even have knighthoods... It was the British Empire that left India in a terrible state and they had the nerve to take precious jewels, which is now the Royal Jewels. Considering Bill Gates has business interests in India this could harm his credibility.

[alowerevil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Filed: 25/01/2004
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/25/ngates25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/01/25/ixnewstop.html

[Mark Allerton @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Funny you should say that an Knighthood is not something money can buy. Sure, no transaction has taken place, but I think if you look at the people who get knighted, probably the biggest common factor is that they have a lot of money.

[Devin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

you people are jealous

[Adwait Ullal @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

Caption:

Now that I have the certificate, can I take over the world officially ?

[AgentChang @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

The buy donated billions of dollars. Yes, he has a lot more. Yes, he can certainly afford these huge donations. But isn't that still a good thing? Must a donation always be financially hurting the donor in order to be worth something or be considered honorable?

[H @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

How much have you all donated lately?
Is it more than 20% of what you earned?
Quit complaining an get off your #sses, start your OS company, give it away for free or if you dare to charge for it donate everything you earn to charity, let's see how long your business model holds up ...

[Gazza @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

give the dude a break, he deserves it. Think for a minute. (there is a song about this somewhere) If Bill got laid in high school would he have started microsoft? Say that some fembot was sent in time by Steve Jobs or whoever, to seduce Bill and turn him into ordinary nerd (not the uber nerd he would have been). No microsoft.
How would that affect us now?

p.s Congrats Bill..you needed something after being knocked off the richest dude in the world mantel by the cheap furniture dude.

[PDubNYC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

#11, No, you're wrong. That would be Microsoft that seems to be rather pathetic about its attempts to give old copies of windows as charity. Bill Gates and his foundation give away billions in actual money to a variety of causes. So, way to go, trying to spread misinformation.

Even if you don't like him, only an asshole would overlook all of the good he has tried to do with his money.

[meerkatt @ Dec 19th 2005 12:11AM]

I don't particularly care for the Microsoft operating systems as I work with them day in and day out as a Systems Admin. The thing I resent is that he is not British therefore should not be given the KBE, this country we live in is ridiculous, we just give everything away. any British honour should be given to someone British, that is why there is British in the name.