Bill Gates semi-retiring

[Ctrackstar126]

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow
I read the article, and I say good for him. As popular as it is for the geek community to laugh at Gates, you need to remember that because of him many of you have jobs. As 'cool' as it is to say that only people who kernel edit for Linux and can write their own OS should be allowed to use computers , the fact that Microsoft made software more accessable to the average user that has problems checking email only made for more opportunities. Help desk, in-home support, admining, software engineer, and even sales benefited from the company that he founded; and I'd say that at least half the people here have jobs related directly to what he did for the industry.

As for the inevitable argument that Microsoft stole from Apple... remember that Apple stole the exact same ideas from Xerox, who were going to dump the project anyways and prevent the computer age from ever happening.

I salute Bill Gates and wish him well in his comfortable retirement, and if I could shake his hand I would. His continued work on the charity organization is nothing less than 100% help to society, and the fact that he's continuing on with is is a very generous gesture to the rest of society.

correction, Linux is 100% free as source or as a whole, meaning that people like myself dont have to pay a cent or write a line of code to use or enjoy it...not only that, Gates was the first person to go against the normal custom of freely sharing software, deciding that making proprietary software for sale.

and, I will admit that I applaud him for giving away all the money he does, but when you think about it, the couple hundred million he gives away is like pennies to him - it is no where near as impressive as the guy making 40k a year, supporting a family, paying taxes, and somehow still being able to donate money

...that being said, I believe these "Gates for President 2012" posts are unnecessary, but hey, thats just my opinion

While i believe in the whole open source idea thw question is what wouldv'e happened if he would've made windows open source. Would as many people have adopted it?
Would we first have to choose a distro and then pick wether we wanted a linux or windows kernel?

 

[Ctrackstar126]

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Bill Gates is a good man. Hate Microsoft all you want, but Gates himself is a great person. And anyone who says anything negative about his philanthropic contributions should just kill themselves, because he's a better person than you could ever dream of being.

having money makes him better than us?

Nope, but giving away $30 billion makes him a better person than those of us who walk past the salvation army bell ringers and pretend to be looking at a cell phone or the sky.

if i had an extra 30 billion lying around, I'd give away too

Yea but what thegrandcow was getting at was the fact that giving away 30-70 cents of your own money is the equivelant to him giving away millions. You could do without but people choose to keep that extra .45

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Bill Gates is a good man. Hate Microsoft all you want, but Gates himself is a great person. And anyone who says anything negative about his philanthropic contributions should just kill themselves, because he's a better person than you could ever dream of being.

having money makes him better than us?

Nope, but giving away $30 billion makes him a better person than those of us who walk past the salvation army bell ringers and pretend to be looking at a cell phone or the sky.

if i had an extra 30 billion lying around, I'd give away too

this is the thing: one can say what they want, spout out all rhetoric, and it is meaningless.

The fact is, that he has DONE it, for that he deserves immese respect.

Sure I can say what you said, but it is meaningless.

Greatness is not achieved by bullsh!t. It is achieved by action*


*Technically that too was bullsh!t

 

[thoro86]

I wish i had that much money....

 

[The Batt?sai]

Originally posted by: EKKC
bill gates for president 2012

and just wait, his press conference will crash with the blue screen of death (or whatever color it is by then 😉)

 

[ThaGrandCow]

Originally posted by: quasarsky

Originally posted by: EKKC
bill gates for president 2012

and just wait, his press conference will crash with the blue screen of death (or whatever color it is by then 😉)

As cliche as it is to make fun of the BSOD, I've seen just as many Linux kernel panics and Mac errors as BSOD's. And since Windows XP came out, I have seen maybe 2 BSOD's, both resulting from software that was still in development.

EDIT: Although I still do get a smile out of that video 🙂

 

[waggy]

I hate MS but i do have to respect Bill and LInda. they give away lots of money.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Good for him. I honestly don't know why he kept working as long as he did.

Obviously he loves what he does. If I could find something that I truly loved and could make a living doing the I don't think I'd ever quit. I say don't ever stop being productive because if you do then you're just counting the days until you die.

 

[VanTheMan]

Go Bill! Nerd power FTW!

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Originally posted by: ndruw

if i had an extra 30 billion lying around, I'd give away too

And I assure you, everybody here (and elsewhere) would be singing your praises along with Good Ol' Bill🙂

Originally posted by: ndruw
I wish i had that much money....

I wish I had just 0.1% of his money!

I think Bill best epitomized that old Victorian saying: And the geek shall inherit the earth! A lot of people have obscene amounts of money these days but few can boast of a Bill Gates-like persona: that of a dignified, humble, charitable, business-leader who is a role-model for everyone from a 50-year-old CEO to an 8-year-old child. No sleaze or tabloid scandals, his personal life isn't on your front page and Heads of State feel genuinely honored to meet him. What you will hear, is him talk about education, healthcare and the betterment of this world.

He sure ain't no Donald Trump😉

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: MisterJackson

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow
I read the article, and I say good for him. As popular as it is for the geek community to laugh at Gates, you need to remember that because of him many of you have jobs. As 'cool' as it is to say that only people who kernel edit for Linux and can write their own OS should be allowed to use computers, the fact that Microsoft made software more accessable to the average user that has problems checking email only made for more opportunities. Help desk, in-home support, admining, software engineer, and even sales benefited from the company that he founded; and I'd say that at least half the people here have jobs related directly to what he did for the industry.

As for the inevitable argument that Microsoft stole from Apple... remember that Apple stole the exact same ideas from Xerox, who were going to dump the project anyways and prevent the computer age from ever happening.

I salute Bill Gates and wish him well in his comfortable retirement, and if I could shake his hand I would. His continued work on the charity organization is nothing less than 100% help to society, and the fact that he's continuing on with is is a very generous gesture to the rest of society.

you sir are a grand cow indeed. A kind and noble cow. I didn't know the bit about Xerox. Though I doubt them "dumping it" would have PREVENTED the computer age I'm sure it would have slowed it down a good bit.

rent triumph of the nerds from netflix or something🙂
http://www.pbs.org/nerds/

and yes he's giving his money away, not much to his kids. he and his father believe in the estate tax(death tax for u republikans) and giving back. and not creating the next generation of paris hilton like aristocratic trash.

 

[Excelsior]

This is not news to me.

Those of you hating on him, should stop.

Those of you who have a crush on him, should stop.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow

Originally posted by: ndruw

Originally posted by: mwtgg
Bill Gates is a good man. Hate Microsoft all you want, but Gates himself is a great person. And anyone who says anything negative about his philanthropic contributions should just kill themselves, because he's a better person than you could ever dream of being.

having money makes him better than us?

Nope, but giving away $30 billion makes him a better person than those of us who walk past the salvation army bell ringers and pretend to be looking at a cell phone or the sky.

if i had an extra 30 billion lying around, I'd give away too

You say that now, but if you had all that money, would you... Would you really? You don't really know whether or not you would because it's mere speculation.

His fortune does not make him better than you or anyone else, what he's done with it does. He could have horde it, but instead he's given vast shares of it away.

of course I would give it away - there is no way anyone could spend 30bil in a lifetime - much less 50bil

Actually, it would be very easy to blow that much money..or even more.

Buy an island...build a superyacht w/ your own crew...you get the idea. 😉

 

[junkerman123]

Originally posted by: ThaGrandCow
I read the article, and I say good for him. As popular as it is for the geek community to laugh at Gates, you need to remember that because of him many of you have jobs. As 'cool' as it is to say that only people who kernel edit for Linux and can write their own OS should be allowed to use computers, the fact that Microsoft made software more accessable to the average user that has problems checking email only made for more opportunities. Help desk, in-home support, admining, software engineer, and even sales benefited from the company that he founded; and I'd say that at least half the people here have jobs related directly to what he did for the industry.

As for the inevitable argument that Microsoft stole from Apple... remember that Apple stole the exact same ideas from Xerox, who were going to dump the project anyways and prevent the computer age from ever happening.

I salute Bill Gates and wish him well in his comfortable retirement, and if I could shake his hand I would. His continued work on the charity organization is nothing less than 100% help to society, and the fact that he's continuing on with is is a very generous gesture to the rest of society.