Read the commentaries to this 'news' article" about Bill Gates...

[Deja Q]

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9589_22-5594659.html

The article? "Queen taps Gates for knighthood".

Bill Gates knighted. I too would have mentioned Ken Lay and others deserving such a now-devalued noble title except someone got there before me.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

1. Um, Bill Gates donated more money to charity this year than anyone.

$3 BILLION, I believe.

Yes, exactly like Kenneth Lay. :eyes:

[Pachamama]

3. Ken Lay took more money from his hardworking employees & investors

Not to mention the people in California and the NW who were screwed and taken by Enron's schemes and price gouging and market manipulation...

Where are the similarities between Gates and Ken Lay? :eyes:

MS Software might crash and have its security flaws, and many who worked at their competitors might not have liked them, but where did they screw the consumers? Ask Enron employees and investors of Enron what they think of Ken Lay and then ask Microsoft employees and investors what they think of Gates....no comparison or similarities...

[cheezus]

16. he should, he HAS more money than anyone

kinda like how that 15 Million seems like a lot of tsunami aid until you compared it to our GDP

[Pachamama]

2. Sounds like you don't like Bill Gates...that's your right, but equating

him with Bernie Ebbers and Ken Lay is not fair and totally inaccurate.

[yebrent]

4. Bill Gates has stated on many occasions...

that he will only give his children about $10 million each of the billions he is worth. The rest will be given away though out his and his wife's lifetime.

Bill Gates has been one of the strongest supporters of the inheritance tax:

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/inheritance.html

Bill Gates makes most of his money off of rich people (Companies and individuals who buy Computers) and gives it away to do things like vaccinate millions of children in Africa.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

5. Yup.

People who are anti-Gates, quite frankly, baffle the shite out of me.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. I've got no problem with Gates

but not a day goes by that I'm not infuriated by having to use MSWord on the job. If there was ever a suckier word processor...

[Demit]

9. individuals who buy computers, rich?

Not after they're done paying for all their software upgrades, they're not.

I'll never forget when Bill Gates, when asked about his bloated-code, memory-hogging programs, blew it off with "well, people can always buy more RAM!" He also boasted of releasing software before bugs are worked out, because users will act as his beta testers and they're paying for the privilege besides!

I'm glad he gives a lot of money away, but a lot of it came from gouging people in the first place.

[yebrent]

11. Relatively rich people!!

The percent of people who own Computers globally, is very small. Most are more concerned about things like food, shelter, housing, etc.

Plus, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has given away thousands of computers to low income families and communities.

[DenverDem]

6. Microsoft's predatory business practices have destroyed many

small companies.

Gates NEEDS to give away that money to burn the karma he has built up.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. And He Is

I was not a fan of his business practices, or his promotion of inferior products because of what the "Market" would bear.

But, whether he is undoing the karma, or it's guilt, he is giving the money away. So, no matter the reason, ultimately he's doing some very good things. I think much more highly of him than i used to.
The Professor

[DenverDem]

10. Having suffered the loss of a company at the hands of Microsoft

I find it hard to see past the reprehensible evil Gates represents.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Completely Understandable

Completely different point of view, that i couldn't share, since that didn't happen to me. I'm just an outsider, looking from a distance.
The Professor

[yebrent]

14. Yes, but most of those Companies were bought.

And nobody is starving because of it. It was all a big game to Gates. So some very rich people didn't get richer because Bill was around. He is now helping people far far worse off then anyone he affected by his business practices.

[DenverDem]

17. My company was put out of business.

It cost me my savings and my IRA. I'm still paying off the credit card debt after three years of struggling to get another company started. This year we will finally make a profit. It will take me a while to get out of the $100k hole Microsoft dug for me, however.

Microsoft stole a huge government streaming media contract by coming in at the last minute and doing it far below cost. We had been negotiating for 9 months to get the deal.

You don't know what you are talking about.

[elehhhhna]

7. So he's British? Whoda thunk it?

[yebrent]

12. I remember when Larry Ellison used to be Gate's biggest hater.

He is 10 times more evil than Bill Gates ever was.