Gates Pledges $750M to Vaccinate Children 1251
chriskzoo5 writes "The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is pledging $750M to vaccinate children worldwide over the next 10 years. Much maligned for his business practices, is this proof that sometimes the ends justify the means? Let's see if the Linux community can match his generosity."
viruses (Score:4, Funny)
Microsoft, not Bill (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:3, Insightful)
The Linux community is all about charity, every line of code written, every time someone gets an OS for free, is generosity itself.
On the other hand, this continuous generosity means that they do not have zillions of dollars to publicly give away from time to time.
But you must admit that what Bill Gates gives to charity is indeed a good thing, and he has made many donations. Maybe a small thing for the richest man, but it's still a significant thing.
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:4, Insightful)
This topic ("Well, as a percentage of his total wealth this is nothing") always comes up when Gates charity is discussed. First of all, he can't give away everything he owns at once, much of it (I presume) is tied up in stocks, selling all at once would cause companies and whole markets plummeting.
Besides, if you look at the total over time, as these people have done [sympatico.ca], you will see that it does in fact add up to quite a lot over the years. (Assuming, like I have, that the source is reliable).
* $1 billion over 20 years to establish the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program, which will support promising minority students through college and some kinds of graduate school.
* $750 million over five years to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, which includes the World Health Organization, the Rockefeller Foundation, Unicef, pharmaceutical companies and the World Bank.
* $350 million over three years to teachers, administrators, school districts and schools to improve America's K-12 education, starting in Washington State.
* $200 million to the Gates Library Program, which is wiring public libraries in America's poorest communities in an effort to close the "digital divide."
* $100 million to the Gates Children's Vaccine Program, which will accelerate delivery of lifesaving vaccines to children in the poorest countries of the world.
* $50 million to the Maternal Mortality Reduction Program, run by the Columbia University School of Public Health.
* $50 million to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, to conduct research on promising candidates for a malaria vaccine.
* $50 million to an international group called the Alliance for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer.
* $50 million to a fund for global polio eradication, led by the World Health Organization, Unicef, Rotary International and the U.N. Foundation.
* $40 million to the International Vaccine Institute, a research program based in Seoul, South Korea.
* $28 million to Unicef for the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus.
* $25 million to the Sequella Global Tuberculosis Foundation.
* $25 million to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, which is creating coalitions of research scientists, pharmaceutical companies and governments in developing countries to look for a safe, effective, widely accessible vaccine against AIDS.
Oops, that article was from year 2000. According to the BBC [bbc.co.uk], he has now given away $7.1 billion since 1994.
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, these people became super-rich because they know how to give their money to useful causes. Check out books like "The Richest Man in Babylon" [google.com] by George S. Clason or just about any book by Napoleon Hill [google.com] (Deepak Chopra [google.com] is another good one, but some people get turned off because he's not as "western" of a writer).
You gotta give it to
Re:Microsoft, not Bill (Score:5, Insightful)
This is great. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:This is great. (Score:3, Interesting)
2. There is a precedent where the industrialised countries pooled all of their resources through the WHO and eradicated a disease. Smallpox. The money involved if conver
Flamebait (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it possible to mod a news article as flamebait?
Re:Flamebait (Score:5, Insightful)
Bill Gates has been very successful, and he wants to spread it around to good causes. Nothing wrong with that. It's almost expected from someone in his position. It's really silly to somehow pit his generosity against the linux/open-source/free-software community. The two have nothing to do with each other.
One could easily argue that the value to society of open-source and free-software exceed $750M by several times, perhaps more. Saying that Bill Gates is more generous than the open-source/free-software community is misguided and pointless. The two situations are incomparable.
I think it is great that Bill Gates is doing this. But is this article flamebait? Most certainly, if only for the line mentioned above.
Re:Flamebait (Score:5, Informative)
You, sir, are a true hater.
Re:Flamebait (Score:3, Insightful)
I've never thought Gates was a saint-- but giving $750m to charity is good for everyone.
Matching the generosity? (Score:2, Insightful)
How can we? We don't sell anything.
However, we can provide these children with a free open-source operating
system that runs will on older machines, and comes with thousands of applications,
tutorials and how-to's.
Re:Matching the generosity? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Matching the generosity? (Score:5, Informative)
Because if the child's not vaccinated, there's a good chance they'll be one of the 10 million who die every year before the age of 5 (source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews /TPStory/LAC/20050125/VACCINE25/TPInternational/Eu rope).
Re:Matching the generosity? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Well honey, we don't have any medicine, food or safe drinking water. But good news, you can now browse the internet without any risk of your personal information being stolen thanks to a great man named linus and his band of merry men!"
"But mommy, we don't have a computer, or electricity."
"Don't worry sweety. I'm sure as soon as we can safely browse the world wide web, all your troubles will go away."
Re:Matching the generosity? (Score:4, Insightful)
Except THAT ISN'T WHAT THEY NEED OR WANT.
They need food water and vaccines, how fucking Stallman-compliant your operating system is way down the list of priorities.
Re:Matching the generosity? (Score:3, Insightful)
They need medicine, food and shelter to keep them healthy.
They need education to empower them, and help them lead productive lives.
They need community and family support systems to keep them emotionally stable in the face of tragedy and poverty.
They need economic aid to give them the boost needed to apply their skills and education.
And, if all these things work the way we'd idealistically hope, they'll eventually be living lives of higher quality,
Bahh (Score:2, Insightful)
Someone mod this -1 Troll...
Matching generosity (Score:2, Insightful)
Just think, to amass this much 'generosity' how much the world must have already paid to him (including developing countries).
Money fades, Linux stays forever. Of course, if everyone who uses Linux were to donate the cost of a winXP home license to a needy cause, that would be sensational.
Good pulicity for them though. In other news SCO donate free 'SCOnix' (?) licenses to hungry children.
Number of users (Score:2)
"...Let's see if the Linux community can match his generosity."
But as there aren't quite as many Linux users as there are Windows users out there, it'd only be fair to expect us to raise an amount proportional to the $750M raised by the Windows users.
This is part of his plan (Score:2, Funny)
Much of the work... (Score:3, Insightful)
...done by free software developers is charity, anyway. It might not be vaccinating kids, but at least they'll be able to afford a free OS when they don't die of whatever would have killed them before Mr Gates came along.
The Linux Community? (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference? One of them is someone who can afford to make such a generous donation, while the other is still making his software available for free over the Internet. That makes that last remark pretty insensitive and gratuitous, IMHO.
I know which one I admire the most. But, heck, that's a personal view.
I can match Gates' genorosity. (Score:4, Insightful)
In general I find the kind of people likely to give their money away, are not the kind of people likely to have any money to give.
(No offence meant to Mr. Gates, as he has given a lot more of his money to charitable causes than a lot of people, and even more importantly he seems to really care about them. No matter what you think about his business practices, the Bill and Melinda gates foundation has the largest endowment of any chairitible organization created in recent memory and will be doing positive things for the world long after the man has taken his blue screen of death to the black screen of death. Plus the B&M tend to be focused on practical things [gatesfoundation.org], and are pretty good about how they deal out grants.)
Re:The Linux Community? (Score:3, Informative)
In a word, no. If a person has millions sitting in the bank, he's already paid taxes on it (as income). While it's sitting there, he's earning interest on it, and pays taxes on that, too.
When some of that money is taken out of the picture, and used to fund a foundation (like the Gates Foundation), it's money that has already been taxed. There are times when money that's donated into something charitable includes a tax deduction... but not for the am
Re:The Linux Community? (Score:3, Informative)
Hope you never get audited! That's simply not true. Only donations to 501(c)(3) and similarly chartered entities are deductable. That's why you can't just donate to a local kid's club and assume that it's deductable. Otherwise, any two people could get together, call themselves a charity, take your money (which you would write off as a deduction), and they'd have income that would be outside of the 501 review process. There's a reason charities have to be reg
Re:The Linux Community? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think this is fine, and we don't need to belittle them for not having grossly wrenched as much money as possible from people's hands which they can now "generously" give back to causes supporting the poor in the third world.
Belittle? Who's belittling anyone? Stating that free software isn't some grand altruistic venture isn't belittling. "grossly wrenched as much money as possible?" This is software, not food or medicine. While Microsoft has a lot of highly questionable anti-competitive products, they're hardly pharmaceutical companies trying to enforce patents in 3rd world countries for AIDS drugs. (An example of an industry with little morals and high greed).
As far as Gate's generosity, he could easily have horded all his money like most billionaires do. No one is forcing him to give it all away. Heard any stories about Richard Bramson of Virgin giving away billions of dollars? How about Larry Ellison of Oracle? I sure haven't.
Re:The Linux Community? (Score:3, Insightful)
The Linux community is ALREADY contributing to the good of society and doesn't have the means to do it twice over.
It doesn't have anything to do with this discussion, but I'm really tired of this attitude. How does your average Joe benefit from linux? Maybe some lower costs to web hosting? A bit more secure servers? Less vendor lock in? Big deal.. Walmart saves consumers mon
My box (Score:4, Funny)
Will someone please think of the computers?
Oh wait, that should beWill someone please think of the children?
Bill Gates does lots of good (Score:5, Interesting)
Many may disagree with Microsoft's practices but Bill Gates is extremely committed to the world.
Re:Bill Gates does lots of good (Score:3, Informative)
Consider this:
Bill's a smart guy and therefore knows that the US government is going to take half of his net worth when he dies. So if he is worth $50B at death, the government gets ~$25B. Realizing this, Bill decides that he'd rather give that money to someone else (ie: the le
Re:Bill Gates does lots of good (Score:3, Insightful)
So he doesn't have to give any
Re:Bill Gates does lots of good (Score:3, Insightful)
And that would leave ~25B for his family.
> for example, that he ends up giving 80% of his net worth to charity. That's $40B given the assumption above, leaving $5B for the government and $5B for his family.
So he does it one way his family gets ~25B, he does it the other way they get ~5B. How does this justify his foundation?
> especially since he is dictating where his money goes, not the government.
Thats called being smart, its calle
Re:Bill Gates does lots of good (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bill Gates does lots of good (Score:3, Insightful)
We did (Score:2)
We did, we made an operating system that doesn't result in you taking an angle grinder to your computer.
Let's see if the Linux community, etc. (Score:5, Insightful)
Vaccinating children worldwide can only be a good thing. Indeed, Microsoft pumps a lot of money into various charitable causes --- again, only a good thing.
But what does this have to do with the Linux community? Microsoft's raison d'etre is profit, and given the amount it makes, it has a social obligation. In this way, it fulfils it. The Linux community is driven by the product itself, not sales figures. "Let's see if the Linux community can match his generosity" is not only irrelevant, it verges on being not very nice.
Re:Let's see if the Linux community, etc. (Score:3, Insightful)
Strictly speaking--in this case at least--the money is being donated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, not by Microsoft. To be fair, Microsoft does make charitable contributions to buy goodwill and strategic advertising placement (oops, slipped into bitter cynicism there) but this isn't one of those occasions.
The Gates Foundation exists to assuage any guilt Bill has about pillaging the marketplac
Re:Let's see if the Linux community, etc. (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, this has nothing to do with Microsoft. This has to do with Bill Gates. RTFA.
When I'm worth 30 billion... (Score:2)
Dammit I will donate 20 billion. I know I will only have 10 billion to keep me in food and shelter, but that is the kind of generous guy I would be...
Also I won't even claim my tax perks from it...
Rubbish (Score:5, Insightful)
If a gangster throws a block party for his neighbors, it doesn't justify all the people he killed in his work. It's still a nice party, and he's still a gangster.
Re:Rubbish (Score:3, Interesting)
Sure, it's called the court system of the United States. That's where Judge Jackson found Microsoft to be an illegal monopoly. This got appealed, and in the appeal process Judge Jackson's remedies got thrown out, but the Findings of Facts that proved Microsoft was an illegal monopoly was upheld in the appeal. Thus two courts reviewed the matter, and they both found Microsoft guilty of ill
The ends never justify the means (Score:2, Flamebait)
So he's spending his monopoly money for the children. Thank God someone's finally thinking of the children.
The ends justify the means only if you have a corrupt morality. If you commit a crime, but use the proceeds in some "altruistic" way, is the crime then excusable?
The Robber Barons of old used charity to improve their image. Rockefeller, for instance, handing out shiny new dimes to children.
No, of course not (Score:2)
Bill Gates is a capitalist. He's also a philanthropist. They're not mutually exclusive; in fact, some claim it's the "rich man's burden" to help society when they can. But they're also not inextricably entertwined, either. Why do people persist in judging one by the other?
hmm (Score:2)
1) he feels bad for ripping of so many people and forcing thousands of people out of work
2) he wants tax breaks
3) he wants people to like him, and he can spare 750m for that cause (like when mr burns does in the simpsons, except mr burns throws pennies off a bridge)
4) he's a good man, except in business
personally, i wouldn't go for 4
Fish (Score:2)
Handing out fish is a commendable act.
penguinistas, get your machetes out (Score:2)
me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that...But
you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is
necessary to those who do not know what horror means.
Horror. Horror has a face...And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and
moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces...Se
The Linux community has ALREADY "matched this...." (Score:2, Flamebait)
Free software is also going to help the third world develop more quickly than it would under a purely proprietary model, so there's an extra ki
A simple test... (Score:2)
A bit of research on the subject of vaccination is pretty eye opening actually. Turns out, vaccination != immunisation. A lot of the 'scientific' evidence that supports the "vaccination == immunisation" myth gives wonderful stats that show disease rates dropping dramatically at approx the same time as vaccination was introduced, but completely ignores other data, like the general improvement of public hyge
I used to contribute to Unicef (Score:2, Insightful)
Code value (Score:2)
chriskzoo5 (Score:5, Interesting)
credit where credit is due (Score:3, Insightful)
For all you using this to bash Gates... (Score:5, Insightful)
If you need a Free Software example to follow, turn to that of the author of Vim who has used his work to entreat users to donate to the needy in Uganda. But don't piss on a $750 million donation to some of the worst off on this planet; that's really low class and unless you've solved the problem already don't disparage the people who are taking a crack at it.
Re:For all you using this to bash Gates... (Score:3, Insightful)
$750M saving lives > $750M Free software (by a couple of orders of magnitude, I'd imagine).
Re:For all you using this to bash Gates... (Score:3, Insightful)
You see, the kids who benefit from these vaccines aren't going to give a shit about your pissy little gripes about Gates' business practices. They are going to be grateful; a sentiment I think a lot of Slashbots are incapable of.
So why not, for once, set aside your consipracy theories about ulterior motives, and acknowledge that Gates did a Good Thing(tm) here?
Re:For all you using this to bash Gates... (Score:3, Insightful)
From a long line of generous businessmen... (Score:3, Funny)
From http://www.btinternet.com/~dreklind/valentine.htm
Flame-Bait, Pure and Simple. (Score:4, Insightful)
Slashdot makes me laugh (Score:5, Insightful)
"it's only loose change to him, I'm not impressed" oh come on, how many of you have honestly donated %1.5 of your assets?
and
"the linux community is providing free software for the people in deprived countries, I know which I prefer" yeah, and I'm sure they'll be greatful for the free sopftware when they have terminal illnesses.
some people really need to grow up. Whatever your feelings on Bill Gates as head of the evil empire, I do not see how you can possibly castigate him for his acts of charity.
Bullshit Article (Score:5, Insightful)
First, the Borg icon - this is the Gates Foundation, not Microsoft. As much as I despise Gates, his Foundation is doing a lot of good things.
Second, the business practice hit. Again, this is not Microsoft donating anything to anyone, it's the Gates Foundation. While Bill's money is largely M$ stuff, the shot is just cheap and unwarranted.
Three, the dig at the Open Source community. I'm sure if the community had as much money as Gates, we'd be matching his donation before the day is up, just to show it. But we don't. You can't compare the rich man's $1000 donation to the poor man's $100 donation. No matter how you compare it, in one way or the other it won't be fair.
Finally, the article as a whole - what the f*ck has this to do with "news for nerds" ??? And if it's "stuff that matters", how come we don't read about any similar donations made by other people or foundations?
Both the article author and the editor who let this through should be ashamed of themselves. I'm sure at least 20 more worthy articles were left out today.
Unbelievable (Score:5, Insightful)
1) You can only give so much to a single cause. Its not necessarily possible to even handle huge donations even if you spread them around to a bunch of groups because there just aren't enough people to use the funds.
2) Gates has donated billions in the past and will donate many billions in the future. This is just one single donation. Whats the big fuss? Its like arguing that dropping a dollar in a Salvation Army kettle makes you cheap despite the fact that you donate to lots of other charities throughout the year.
You have to dig pretty deep... (Score:3, Insightful)
Bill is the wealthiest man in the world. But what many people forget is that Bill comes from money, OLD MONEY. His family are the kind of people who sit on boards of directors and have dinner with US Senators kind of money. The kind who drop out of Harvard and not some state school. And they are also the kind of people who don't just phone it in to Jerry Lewis every year or give to the office United Way campaign to get that warm-and-fuzzy feeling, but who create friggin' foundations. Bill provided some serious seed money to create the foundation's endowment, which was then invested and grown and is gradually being given away to worthy causes. Its not like Bill's personal signature is at the bottom of each check the Gates Foundation hands out (at least, I wouldn't think that he is that hands on).
Yes, Microsoft is the evil empire blah blah blah ...
And the Gates Foundation does good things in the world. Only a drooling idiot would argue that providing funding to fight AIDS or vaccinate children against common (and some not so common) diseases is somehow bad. Go take your dumb ass and your tinfoil hat and crawl back inside your parent's basement. If only more of the truly wealthy people in this country felt a similar responsibility to give something back to their communities, the nation, and the world instead of just buying another Ferrari or vacation home...maybe the world would be just a slightly better place...maybe.
Drugs, IP and Bill Gates (Score:3, Insightful)
1. The money Bill Gates is giving away are ill-gotten gains derived from monopolistic practices. if we had a government with balls, they would have confiscated most of Microsoft (and Bill Gates) money. Why should he have the right to decide how to spend stolen money? Maybe society as a whole has different priorities.
2. Bill Gates recently called people who oppose his view of "intellectual property" communists! Well if it makes me a communist to believe that drugs should not be developed for corporate profit then so be it. [N.B. Please: before you start flaming me about how all "innovation" happens because of greed and how without copyright and patent monopilies life would be nasty, brutish and short, pick up a book on the history of science or the history of art or the history of music or the hostoty of philosophy or the history of any human artistic and/or intellectual endeavor].
If Bill Gates would support the restraint of insanely restrictive copyright and patent laws, we could eradicate many diseases around the world without him having to give a $750 million donation. In terms of benefit to the world, it would be far preferable if he used his money and clout to fight ridiculous IP laws, than give this money away on vaccinations. Far more lives could and would be saved. But precisely because he uses his money and clout to oppose such modifications, he is partially responsible for many people dying, and his $750 million gift cannot compensate for that.
3. The article is pure flame bait. But since it was posted as "news" it is our right and duty to respond to its huge BS factor.
"Steals from the rich" (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, "Robin Hood" is no compliment at all... (Score:3, Insightful)
"What man?"
"Robin Hood."
Rearden looked at him blankly, not understanding.
"He was the man who robbed the rich and gave to the poor. Well, I'm the man who robs the poor and gives to the rich-or, to be exact, the man who robs the thieving poor and gives back to the productive rich."
"What in blazes do you mean?"
"If you remember
I don't think it's that philanthropic... (Score:3, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:3, Interesting)
Yea, what a lame statement. As far as I'm concerned, the Linux community's generosity is unsurpassed in it's offering of a free, robust, and safe O/S.
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:5, Insightful)
By stating this, you automatically assume that each and every one of those users WILL donate that $100 to whatever charity cause. I guess the numbers that donate will be "a bit" lower.
While I'm not Bill Gates' biggest fan, I still applaude his example. It's easy to say that, because he is so rich, it's easy for him to donate a lot of money. But you still have to do it.
Most people I know would never donate that (or any) amount of money, no matter how rich they were. And to be honest, nor would I.
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:5, Insightful)
Read up on the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. [gatesfoundation.com] You will see that Bill has given $27 Billion of his $50 Billion fortune for the charity to manage. IIRC they are having a really tough time giving it away because it earns more interest than it can donate in a co-ordinated fashion.
What ever you think of the guys software and business practices, it is hard to argue that he is an evil man in the face of his generosity.
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:3, Insightful)
The 'nice' thing about a Charitable Trust, is that you can give your vast sums money to charity, but maintain control over the stock of the company you founded. People said many mean things about Carnegie [pbs.org] in his day (most of it was fair), but he's remembered today mostly for his charitable
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:3, Funny)
And he gave it to them because he had a hard time spending it on himself. God knows he tried.
St. Bill? No. (Score:3, Informative)
Since he is a monopolist, a large portion of that $50 billion was leveraged from the pockets of consumers via using monopoly power to maximize profits.
There is a perminant loss to society when monopoly power is exercised (called dead weight loss, and is the same loss to society from taxiation). One would also expect that the consumers who would not have had to pay billions extra for this product would have also donated it to chariti
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a hard time believing that even someone as mind fuckingly insane as YOU can honestly believe that, because you dislike Microsoft Windows, donating money to VACCINATING CHILDREN is somehow ALSO BAD. Good lord, you are a disgusting caricature.
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:4, Insightful)
He is arguing that there may be an ulterior motive behind what is done with the money.
By all means, praise Gates for donating money...but in doing so, do not forget the golden maxim: "What could he have accomplished by doing this?"
Admittedly, that strays into Tinfoil Hat territory as well. Look at it this way: you argue that the poster was claiming that what Gates did was bad because of one thing (Windows). I argue that you're claiming that what Gates does is good because of one thing (donating to charity).
People enjoy saying "Actions speak louder than words," but that is a logical fallacy. If I were to commit tax fraud for forty years, and then donate half of the money I possessed as a result of it (which would be a considerable sum) to charity, that would be seen as good. If people knew that I had stolen money from the government (regardless of whether the taxes are right, fair, just, et al.) to do so, they would decry me in the streets.
Just because one does something good does not mean that one is a good person. Keep that in mind.
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not going to argue that he doesn't do bad stuff, but that's what capitalism is all about . Do whatever
Easily done (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:3, Informative)
In 1999, the average US charitable donation was around 2400$. Lets say it's around 2800$ now. I've seen an estimate that there are more than 12 million Linux users worldwide, and it was a bit dated; lets say, then, that there are 5 million Linux users in the US. On average, then, we can expect
Re:Linux community already donates (Score:3, Insightful)
People are missing that because of the large amount of money. For someone making say $50K a year this would amount to $90 per year. Don't g
Re:Er (Score:2)
Re:Er (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Er (Score:5, Insightful)
If I had mod points, I'd mod you up.
If we could moderate stories, I would have voted this one down. The act itself is worthy of praise, especially contrasted with Gates' business tactics. The submitter had no reason to insert those last two statements except to provoke negative comments. The "Linux Community" will have a helluva time being able to donate $750 million to people who desperately need some form of necessity, because many (most? almost all?) members of that community don't have anything close to the available cash or equivalents that Gates has at his fingertips.
"Do the ends justify the means?" Fuck no, and shame on the submitter for even turning this into a dicksize contest and inserting controversy where none should be needed. Gates' generosity does not justify his company's monopolistic tactics aimed at wiping out healthy competition (as a believer in the free market might say). I can donate $25 towards the purchase of necessary vaccines, and that in itself is a good act. Does the amount of money involved make the means any more or less justifiable? What is the metric for justifying the means?
Re:Er (Score:3, Insightful)
No, this goes some of the way to making up for the means - still positive. But it does not justify the means.
Re:Er (Score:3, Insightful)
Priorities in generosity are wrong. I think health is probably more important than computers.
Once these countries have dealt with disease, food, debt, etc then what OS they have becomes a bit more of an issue.
Plus most third world countries couldn't give two shits about stealing software from another country.
Re:Er (Score:3, Insightful)
If only it was as easy to steal chemical formulas as it is to steal software
Re:Er (Score:4, Insightful)
I always find it humorous when rich people are lauded for giving away their money, and damned for earning it in the first place.
In the process of earning his money, Gates' licensing DOS and it's descendants to all comers created a standard hardware platform for personal computers, thereby forcing hardware vendors to compete on price and innovation. This in turn spurred rapid technical innovation and price reductions, making computers affordable enough that nearly everyone could own one. This in turn facilitated the growth of ancillary hardware, software, and tech support industries, providing thousands, if not millions, of people a living. The propagation of personal computers in turn allowed for the explosive growth of the internet, which in turn created a demand for broadband service, thereby triggering a revolution in the communications industry as well.
And you could go on all day listing the scientific advancements and economic opportunities made possible by the availability of cheap computing power.
Bill Gates may have given $10 million for AIDS awareness in Africa, but for all that, how much of an impact has that made on AIDS? Damn little, as far as I can see.
Ironically, while the wealthy are damned for earning their money and lauded for giving it away, Gates, like most of the filthy rich capitalists, did more for the "Good of Society" and the advancement of humanity in the process of earning his money than he will ever conceivably be able to do by giving it away.
Re:Er (Score:3, Insightful)
There are two issues here.
The first being that Bill Gates is donating a sizeable amount of money to charity and that is wonderful and very kind. Regardless of all the people that hate Bill Gates, donating money to a charity is still a very noble thing to do, you have to at least admit that.
Secondly there's the asinine comment about whether or not the Linux community can match his generosity...I don't think you can even compare the two considering the differences between them. One is a major mul
Re:Er (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Small Percentage (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that there are plenty of weathly people who give nothing to charity, anything Bill gives is better than that - whatever the percentage.
Is this a huge amount for him? It would be like if I had a hundred bucks and I gave the homeless guy on the street a $1.50
Unless you live in your parents basement and own nothing, I very much doubt you are worth only $100.
Your post makes it sound like you don't think that his 750 million is particulary generious. Given that he didn't have to make the donation and could have easily kept the money for himself (benefiting no-one but him), I would say you're wrong.
Re:Small Percentage (Score:5, Insightful)
Second of all, even if it's only 1.5% of his assets, it's a good thing, how many of you have donated 1.5%?
Why don't we all try to donate 1.5% of our assets instead of whining about the poster's flamebait.
Re:Small Percentage (Score:3, Informative)
Let's put it this way. One individual (via a Foundation, granted) donated considerably more to charity than the entire US government committed in aid for the recent tsunami disaster. Also more than the entire US population gave in private donations for that same disaster.
Re:What about Old Europe? (Score:3, Insightful)
Come back when YOU do something good instead of just throwing flamebait around. I honestly dont care which country gave most, but if we look at money divided in number of citizens of each contry, "old" europe is still in the lead. But i think its good we all chipped in to help the victims of the Tsunami. So stop using it as a dickwaving contest.
Re:At the whim of the individual (Score:3, Informative)
So you think .....
This is why the C programming language was created, and ultimately why the Portable Operating Systems Interface Extensions standard was created. Basically, if you write a programme in a properly-supported programming language, it ought to be able to be run o
Re:TORVALDS GAVE the world an OS for free (Score:3, Insightful)
Um, ok. So let's assume for the sake of argument that Bill G decided to do just that - give the world an OS for free.
That OS might just be XP. Are you *SURE* you want that?
Imagine a world where users had a free operating system that actually worked with all of the hardware that the MAINSTREAM users go buy at CompUSA, and did so without needing a freakin' CS degree to configure. Imagine a world where users could actually play the other 99% of the popular gam