Bill Gates has his say of things
By Ryan Block 
posted March 16th 2006 9:05AM
posted March 16th 2006 9:05AM
Being that he may or may not be reading this
post, and in the interest of open discourse, we ask you Bill, what's going
on? Yesterday at Microsoft's Government Leaders Forum, in front of 300 leader figures from Canada, Latin America and
the US, you apparently outlined a future where one's cellphone will becomes their "digital wallet," and you'll be able to do things like scan business cards? We might have looked past the fact that you
basically described what standard-issue Asian cellphones have been doing for years, but you had to go on to publicly
disparage the OLPC? We hear you said, "The last thing you
want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk ... and with a tiny little screen,"
and went on to slap it on using a crank as a power source where there's no electricity. Look, we're not gonna do a
point-for-point here, and we understand you may be a peeved that Negroponte and his crew shut Microsoft down on putting Windows
on the OLPC (they wanted to keep it open source, after all), but c'mon, as a leader yourself, the last thing you should
be caught doing is publicly speaking ill of one of the most important technology projects of our time for the developing
world -- learn from Craig Barrett's
mistake. The rest of you reading this may now resume your usual posing as Bill G in the comments.Love, Engadget
Read - OLPC comments
Read - cellphone comments
In other news, Bill Gates today announced he will be buying the website Engadget (w/ all affiliates) and immediately firing all current employees.
Bill is loosing it!
Bill if you are reading this just give up now. Take your money and run. I don't see your company being around that much longer. One think I have to say is I do like your ethics but I hate your company.
There is nothing wrong with Bill Gates and few should ever question his very important role in providing grants and support for humantarian and development work. Thanks Bill!
Microsoft is on the other hand Soviet in its ambitions, the dark side of the force, so damned filthy rich and monopolistic that as a company they could never conceive of a world with benevolence, competition or variety. The only thing that will save Microsoft is that they begin to offer some amount of free software.
By the way the OLPC is a shortsighted and rather silly idea. We will all be obliged to contribute to that one because it is getting high profile, not because it is a good project.
Nice to see we're all on top of it. Whatever next - perhaps a cellphone thats kinda like a bit flexible, but not - imagine a cell phone that could connect to differnet networks as you moved around, one day on voda***e the next on spr*nt as you travel. how amazing will the future be ?
What do you mean "posting as Bill G in the comments"? Who'd do something as childish as that?
Bill has pretty deep knowledge of the developing/underdeveloped world -- the guy does more and spends more philanthropically through his foundation to fight diseases and provide vaccinations and basic human services in Africa than the US Government. Than all 1st-world governments combined, I think is actually the case. He actively made a choice early on with his foundation to NOT pursue technology for 3rd-world development, to instead pursue basic human services -- after he researched it he determined that spending big on basic human services and disease prevention was the best way to help people in need. So when he's not bullish on this project I give him the benefit of the doubt that he's coming at it from this perspective and not from the "Microsoft" perspective or being pissed about not winning the OS "contract."
The only thing that will save Microsoft is that they begin to offer some amount of free software.
AHH but MS do offer free software - like Calculator and Hearts- its free when you buy windows !
Posing Bill, POSING. Can i have a million dollars?
If you want to know how many people pretend to be Bill Gates in the comments, you should read the comments from the post about Bill Gates reading Engadget.
Will you marry me Bill?
MS just is not the company they used to be. I remember how cool it was to see Windows 3.1 for the first time. Sure Apple was there first, but while Windows lined the racks at EggHead, Apple only has a shelf. It was kind of a no brainer....
Now, it just seems like others (mostly Google) are improving on things MS used to own - e.g. gmail, google maps, etc. etc. The lack of consumer based inovation has been frustrating to watch, and as a MS stock holder, Microsoft is making it harder to justifiy keeping it in my portfolio....
Africa needs basic human resources and stuff like that right now. We shouldn't be making them crappy cheap laptops, we should be getting them power where they need it, along with everything else.
Microsoft does NOT have bad eithcs.... they are just big and all big companies are like that. They are trying to make the consumer happy and still make money. Microsoft will be around for a long time to come.
Greed is a powerful opiate.
How many people would like to have everything they would ever earn in their lifetime, right now... one lump sum...
...how many of those same people would be out of money in a year.
Greed.
So Bill Gates gives to charities publicly, because.... he's really a good guy? Bill Gates gives publicly because he wants to be remembered. He wants to be patted on the back and told he's a good boy. He should grow some, let em drop, and give as if he believed in charities [what did he give away, .001% of his holdings? something he just earned back in the time it took me to type this?] and do it discreetly. Let the focus be on the charities, not the short man trying to save his persona from a personal h3ll.
Computers can be a valuable tool in education and many other ventures, but the OLPC is a misdirected effort. Most developing nations have bigger problems like running water, vaccines, food and suitable housing for their children. A glorified Speak and Spell isnt going to solve any of that. Any place that cant provide the power and needs the hand crank isnt going to see a whole lot of benefit. Just because a project is altruisic shouldnt make it immune from critisism.
Bill funding huge philanthropic projects -- while incredibly altruistic -- is one thing. This, however, is quite another. Bill did not discuss why he thought money that may be spent on OLPCs should go toward health care, disease prevention, and attacking poverty and famine. Bill discussed why the OLPC is apparently not a worthwhile computer. Can you see the difference, here? What's more, the poorest countries in the world probably won't be getting OLPCs, it is meant for developing nations like China and Brazil (who've supposedly placed orders).
Best, Ryan
Fair enough, Ryan. Taking techical potshots is sort of cheap, especially since its whole goal is to be barebones, lowcost, yet still usefull. Point taken.
I'm not sure if we can say that Bill is greedy. I don't think he is only because he donates more money then most of us will ever make and this is the only reason I like him. As for M$ the company in as a whole is greedy. Bill if you are reading this, and you fell like you want to help a good cause or anyone else for that matter. check this site out. http://eliasfund.org/
OLPCs are stupid, why are we trying to get the world educated on technology when they don't even have enough food/shelter? why don't they fix the core problems first like poverty, starvation, etc...whats the point of educating people about computers if they might just pass away in a couple of weeks
Bill doesn't really care... YES he does donate... Its all for tax write-off purposes and PR. He's killing two birds with one stone by spending donation money vs. advertising money.
With the amount of money he makes, he better be donating. He's got so much money, it would just rot.
I agree with JC and slap the writer, Ryan Block, of the article on the hand. 'Bad bad bad' The day has come and past when Engadget was no longer in the 'blog' class of internet starships. Engadget is big enough, and making enough money themselves I might add, that there should be a policy in force where you have to disclaim your article as the thoughts of the author alone.
I can think of several reasons why Bill would be upset about the OLPC. One has been stated already, misdirection of much needed attention in the form of lil tinker-putes(OLPCs) instead of organized education and communication in those nations.
Another would be, who is going to provide support for the tinker-putes?
Bill, you just keep doing your thing. Most of what you do and what MS does is beyond the understanding of what seems like a lot of people. All they see is green and the need to rise above that level and actually see how MS has contributed to the development of the world in general by providing a foundation on which much of the progress is done.
Cheers for Bill!
Cheers for Microsoft!
Jeers for Apple, I hope a worm gets ya!
Gee, I've just realized, Negrophonte did what I should have done 20 years ago hadn t I been so greedy.
It really bugs me when people say MS are greedy/trying to take over the world! They are a business and the vast majority of businesses only exsist to make money.
Just because one does it better than all the rest does not make them evil.
MS have done more than any other company in the world to help get PCs into the home and make them useable for even the most hairbrained of users.
Its a joke that people come on here as well and question the money he gives to charity. Who cares why he does it. Does 1 of his money buy less things than 1 of any of our money even though we give it to be nice?! No!
Get over it...the guy is good at what he does and thats why he is the richest man in the world...not because he's evil/robbing from the poor or any other consiparicies.
These comments from the guy who said in the middle of the ninetees that Internet was of no interest to Microsoft future technologies just seems... well, coherent!
OLPC isn't hurting microsoft, bill gates, and isn't taking money away from vaccines, food, etc.
it's an idea to help educate poor kids. so what would a multi-billionaire philanthropist have against that? shame on you bill gates, and shame on those who are against any effort to help others when its not hurting you. you can still have your opinions but you're just adding to the problem, not the solution
thank you, CullerClassik, for saying exactly what i have been thinking for a while now.
I own Microsoft
So I am really getting a kick out of most of these replies.
Some of you guys are very good at making it sound like you know what you are talking about.
But trust me.... You don't.
I think you just want to make yourself sound smart, when in reality you dont know what you are talking about.
This is how bad info gets passed around.
If you dont know about the topic....don't make yourself sound like you do.
Because most Engadgeters believe everything that they hear
Bill Gates is a hard working entrepreneur who deserves all the money he has. The fact that he and his wife give to charities and run some charities shows they have a moral conscience.
As far as Microsoft being an evil corporation, I read an article about the highest paid CEOs last year. Most of us would think that the Microsoft CEO, not Bill Gates, would have been in the top ten. But he wasn't. He was in the Bottom 10 out of 100! How many of you invest in some of those companies that showed little profit yet paid their CEO over $100 million last year?
I remember reading an article several years ago about Bill Gates when he was still the CEO at Microsoft. It was said in the article that you could sometimes find Bill in the Coach section during an evening flight with a blanket over his head working on his laptop.
How many of you if you had billions of $$$ to your name would fly Coach? I think we all need a piece of Humble Pie.
As far as the OLPC goes, hes right. That POS is just going to piss off the users of developing countries. Its really just a publicity stunt to get people on the Open Source bandwagon. The OLPC isnt going to help developing countries develop. They need Real World machines with Real World software. Sending them OLPCs is just going to keep them in the dark ages.
Besides, Open Source advocates are just going to love his statements. Love, in the fact that they love to hate Bill Gates and all things Microsoft. This will give them more things to bitch and moan about. I find Open Source advocates tend to do too much complaining and too little cooperative collaboration.
Just my $0.02.
I remember reading an article several years ago about Bill Gates when he was still the CEO at Microsoft. It was said in the article that you could sometimes find Bill in the Coach section during an evening fligh with a blanket over his head working on his laptop.
How many of you if you had Billions of $$$ to your name would fly Coach? I think we all need a piece of Humble Pie.
Sorry about the duplicate paragraphs in my privious comments.
@dreampc
And just what is YOUR definition of "greed"? When someone makes or has more money than YOU? When someone makes or has more money than YOU think they should have?
Dammned anti-capitalist bedwetters...
To #6: If MS/Bill couldn't get reptuation, news, or tax cuts from the donations, I 100% guarentee you, that he wouldn't do it. Of course he wants publicity and tax cuts. You spend money to show everybody you're helping, they trust you, and you take off from your taxes. It's like cheaper advertising! Except you get good publicity in the fact that you're helping others out (whether in good intentions or not).
I agree will Bill Gates. I've thought OLPC looks like a waist of time and money. Not to mention it still costs $100. I think very little will come from the OLPC. Maybe its just too soon. In a couple of years they could probably do this thing right. I mean come on, how useful will this thing be?
Good intensions don't always bring about good results. And though the naysayers seem bad for saying bad things about someone elses good intensions, sometimes the naysayers are right.
Dear Engadget,
I have to agree with Mr. Gates on this one. Would the average US house hold put up with a small screen computer with out a hard drive? So why would that be what the rest of the world wants? Secondly Weather the geeks of the world want to admit it or not Windows is the dominate os on the planet. Microsoft offered a free version to the OLP project and was turned down. So the OLP project is going to sell a system with out the world standard OS, with a small screen and no hard drive. Most of us look at it and see a very cool toy but that is about it. It seems like a half attempt to bring computers around the world. There is something to be said for doing something right the first time.
I agree this is a good project, I just dont buy in that the OLP is the best we can do. I definitely think it was foolish to turn down Microsofts offer.
I think it's perhaps a bit too early to call the OLPC "one of the most important technology projects of our time for the developing world". Wait a few years and see if it actually works perhaps
To #26: I think they turned it down because Windows couldn't run a $100 PC. Look at Dells', they barely can run properly on those, but that's because of what Dell puts on it. :D
This is a joke, not a serious comment.
Ok now the OLPC is supposed to replace books people. It doesn't need a hdd and the screen only needs to be book sized and have enough room for ebooks. Is it perhaps to dreamy to be practical? Maybe, but it does make sense.
The OLPC is rubbish. It's tantamount to the people who send missionaires used tea bags. If you wouldn't use it yourself, why should anyone else. I agree with helping people on many different levels. I've spent the last year volunteering in China, and I'm blown away by what people 'throw to the dogs'. The people in developing nations who we're trying to help are just like you and me, and just as valuable, and just as deserving of nothing less than an Apple MacBook Pro as you & I are. Start there and work back. Peace.
James,
If I was in possession of billions of dollars, and had the opportunity to change the lives of thousands of people for the better - are you telling me that the only reason I would be doing so would be for the publicity?
Even if this is the case, who cares? Not the people in developing nations who still have parents, brothers and sisters thanks to the money.
The people you should be taking aim at are the greedy scum who are in power in Africa - dragging their own people and nations down into poverty and misery in order that they can buy guns and missiles to kill people instead of medicine and food to help people.
Show me an African leader and I'll show you a self-serving, lying cheating stealing POS.
I am reading a lot of these posts about people who say that all donations are about tax savings and has no altruistic intent. Who of you knows anything about tax write-offs? Gates puts that stuff in a trust so that when he dies a huge chunk of it won't be taken by the IRS. He wants it to benefit people directly.
Plus there are no tax implications of holding stock, only selling it. Yeah he is a very rich man but he doesn't have to donate at all. All I am saying is every once in a while cynacism isn't the correct answer.
"Its all for tax write-off purposes and PR. He's killing two birds with one stone by spending donation money vs. advertising money."
He donates more in a year than he could write-off in a lifetime. And these things carry over.
So no, tax has nothing to do with this.
PR? Maybe, but why? Why would he even care?
i think bill is doing good at what he is doing. hes a business man, they need to make money to survive. once he can make sure that he can survive, thats when he starts lending hands to others, and thats what hes doing. i dont see anything wrong with what bill is doing. and he actually did donate, no matter if you guys say that he did it for publicity or not. I bet you that some of the guys up there that kept saying how bill had no good intention for his donation, have never donate a penny themselves.
This just came up to my mind, how come when it comes to OS, people start b!tchin about how Apple is better that Microsoft suks. And when it comes to charity, nobody ever talk about Apple. Because they never donate a dime? I find it very funny when Bill helped the poors more than anyone else and still get criticized, and Apple never did anything and they get away with it.
I would not call Bill evil, rather I called Steve evil. He trying to take over the world with his iPod.
Sorry i'm just venting.
Gates' last discussion of "the digital wallet" was his announcement that the Pocket PC would become "the digital wallet". Gates also is under the impression that we all want a Tablet PC running Windows Media Center Edition. When you listen to Gates talks everything sounds like it makes so much sense, but most of the predictions he has been touting throughout the COMDEXes of the 90s up through today, simply have not come to pass. How many of you are wearing Smart Watches? Smart Phones?
As for the OLPC, Gates wants you to buy the new (but not available yet) UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC), which is yet another stupid design from Microsoft like the Smart Watch and Talking Barney.
Let's be clear. The day the intelligent guys get to win the most money is not coming near. The smart guys keep getting the dough, and they are the ones, like Bill G, who just know how to stand on the thin border between being thought of as crooks or as good guys. The ones who make it like they're so nice giving so much tax-deductible money. Come on, if this guy was really good heartet, he would give most of his money to create sustainable non-profit organisations (while keeping enough for him and family to live large), and would have left Microsoft long ago to concentrate on doing good to the people of our planet, and not flying coach and playing xbox360 for christmas... Nor saying stupid stuff in public and saying afterwards people misinterpreted. Bill, if you read this. If you want to make it good for the planet, don't hesitate, do it big while you can.
Look: corporations are lawfully required to make a much money for stock holders as possible - no matter what the cost. Screw the employees if you must, ship sub-par products if you must, destroy competitors by any means neccessary, etc, etc, etc. Ethics are a second rate priority, as ultimately who is acutally accountable, when everyone just claims "i was just following the law, and trying to make money for the stock holders"?
Poor Bill only has gained his stature under his tireless, unending efforts to make money for his stock holders.
The executive teams of all corporations deserve their high, high pay, for they take many risks. Well, I guess they don't actually, since they are rarely held personally accountable for misdeed's of the corporation.
To the fellow claiming Bill G is not greedy, since he is in the bottom 10 of the top 100 highest paid CEOs..... wake up young fellow... Steve Jobs only takes $1 per year in salary.... tis all about the benefits baby. Stock rises, and trust me CEO and VP's across this land, DO make sure they get paid well, either today or at a set date in the future.
Microsoft, like any corporation, values stock holders more than customers or society at large. The are lawfully olbigated to.
Does Microsoft aim to produce the best product possible? Only if it means immediate shareholder value. Easier to say you are the "best" out there.
ok i think that bill g uses his money to fund these africa help organizations and other world help funds not only because he has money 2 spend, but also because he wants to help, and yah he does get tax breaks from doing it, BUT SO DO ALL OF US when we donate to a fund!
the olpc will not do to well rite now, NOT MANY people want to change there books for electronics. the regular book reader buys the book from a book store and reads it, the others who dont read books buy magazines or read blog websites such as engadget or others in there specific interest of reading. everyone needs to stop pointing fingers.
wasnt this article about what bill said, and not the whole sceme of the ms world!
ms is in a tight spot rite now. they have a new operating system to be put out, they have to sell more 360's, and better plan for the revolution and the ps3 if they are going to be successfull in the gaming world! bill is great at planning the future of his business, if he doesnt beleive in the olpc then i dont think it will do well. if he thinks that the 360 will have no MAJOR problems wit the ps3 and rev, then i beleive him! BELEIVE BILL, HE HAS HIS MONEY NOT JUST BECAUSE OF LUCK IN THE INDUSTRY, BUT ALSO FROM KNOWLEDGE!!!
ty for reading, and ty for engadget for posting this article!
Johnny
Toronto, Ontario, Canada!
I do live in a developing country and as far as I could tell, 99% of computers here run microsoft os. no one (except for the tech inclined people) even heard of other os. MS helped a lot in enriching our nation's academic sector. Countless graduated as MS scholars. Developing countries need education. Yes, proper education is not only obtained inside the 4 walls of a classroom but certainly not from a semi-charmed device. OLPC is a very UTOPIC ceteris paribus (all other things held constant). It will not work. While our government is busy robbing us off our tax money, a geek from an evil empire comes in and give hope to those who have none.
I don't get it.
Once again Mr Gates is correct. The OLPC is a wasted effort. Having been to a war-torn country where famine and disease were rampant, I can tell you that people were NOT interested in computers or the Internet. They were out looking for something to eat and fresh water to drink!!! Try doing that every day of your life and you'll see how much interest you'll have in computers or the Internet.
Oh, and to all the morons bashing Bill Gates for providing clean drinking water to a village or building a school or...
just STFU and go play on your Macs and drink Starbucks coffee!
Engadget, how many times do you have to remind us that Bill Gates might be reading your website? It's old already. We know. Get over it. It's kind of tiring having to read each post that has anything to do with Microsoft at all that there is a possibility that Gates is reading it. We got the point the last six or seven times you've done it.
So Negroponte's project is beyond criticism just because it's charitable?
Sadly, too many technologists think they can solve the world's problems simply by throwing an internet connection at them.