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F Bill Gates

Old news and what do you expect, he believes 3rd world countries have $600 to shell out on a worthless computer (his UMPC thing).
 
Originally posted by: goku
Old news and what do you expect, he believes 3rd world countries have $600 to shell out on a worthless computer (his UMPC thing).
Click to expand...

He also believes in donating significant portions of his wealth to those "3rd world" countries in need of AIDS relief.

What an ass! :roll:
 
Not to sound callous, but what exactly do people in third world countries need with computers? Is there even a telecommunications infrastructure in most of those places?
 
Hey, I make fun of it too. A vaporware $100 laptop with no drive, no software, and no real advantage over an already in production $100 PDA or calculator.

That said, Gates should shut up.
 
Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Not to sound callous, but what exactly do people in third world countries need with computers? Is there even a telecommunications infrastructure in most of those places?
Click to expand...

You can do plenty w/o internet, anyways it'd still be a fine device because they can add wifi spots in schools or at least in some places and that would be the source of their internet connection...
 
There was the stat I was looking for: Bill Gates gave 53% of his income to charity. The Walton Family (of walmart and 5 of the 10 richest people in the country) have given less than 2%.

Some would say I am blatantly anti-business, but I don't think Gates is a bad guy, even though some of microsofts practices could be considered suspect.
 
Oh great! Like we need a generation of 3rd world country kids yelling "BOOM Headhot! O Rly? Ya rly! No wai, OMGWTFBBQ! LOL!"

Owning a laptop is the last thing a 3rd world country person is going to be worried about.
$100 dollars is close to some people's yearly salary.
 
I somewhat tend to agree with him though.

One of the reasons is actual real world use.

How many people went on from High School to a real job that used an Apple II or antiquated Mac.

Learn all you want on those computers we had in school, it was all pretty pointless in the long run.

Also, being involved in a very large software project right now makes it easy to realize that once you scale up to a big project like this, planning, support, software, services, etc., cost WAY more than the hardware.
 
What those people need are food, clothing, and shelter foremost. AFTER that's taken care of, then we can start talking about laptops and other superfluous items.

 
Originally posted by: DPmaster
What those people need are food, clothing, and shelter foremost. AFTER that's taken care of, then we can start talking about laptops and other superfluous items.
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I don't think the laptops were intended for places where it was that bad, the makers were talking about places like cambodia etc, developing nations where basic needs are met but children could use these to supplement their school education.
 
The real reason he doesn't like, charity donations not withstanding, is it runs on LINUX.

Furthermore, after hearing the segment on NPR last week about it, the one REAL reason it's getting such attention is it's access to English text that anyone entering the global economy will need to be able to read and communicate in. At least that was one aspect of the various advantages mentioned in the segment.
 
Originally posted by: AlienCraft
The real reason he doesn't like, charity donations not withstanding, is it runs on LINUX.

Furthermore, after hearing the segment on NPR last week about it, the one REAL reason it's getting such attention is it's access to English text that anyone entering the global economy will need to be able to read and communicate in. At least that was one aspect of the various advantages mentioned in the segment.
Click to expand...

Yeah since it is putting his competitors into new markets is one of the reasons he has a problem. But all in all Gates is a very generous man.

And maybe the laptop should teach Mandarin to developing countries as well, it might be as useful as English in the emerging world economy 🙂
 
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: goku
Old news and what do you expect, he believes 3rd world countries have $600 to shell out on a worthless computer (his UMPC thing).
Click to expand...

He also believes in donating significant portions of his wealth to those "3rd world" countries in need of AIDS relief.

What an ass! :roll:
Click to expand...

only an amount that will get him a tax writeoff and good PR, but still a good thing.
 
Can't you all just agree that none of you have even the slightest idea for the motivation behind his dismissal? Maybe he just thinks the entire concept is silly.

Quit reading into it. He gave his reasons for dismissing it, and that's simply his opinion. Had he just said, "I think it sucks" and moved on we could argue intention here, but he gave his reasons.
 
Originally posted by: DaShen
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: goku
Old news and what do you expect, he believes 3rd world countries have $600 to shell out on a worthless computer (his UMPC thing).
Click to expand...

He also believes in donating significant portions of his wealth to those "3rd world" countries in need of AIDS relief.

What an ass! :roll:
Click to expand...

only an amount that will get him a tax writeoff and good PR, but still a good thing.
Click to expand...

Incorrect, sorry.
 
Originally posted by: DaShen
Originally posted by: cKGunslinger
Originally posted by: goku
Old news and what do you expect, he believes 3rd world countries have $600 to shell out on a worthless computer (his UMPC thing).
Click to expand...

He also believes in donating significant portions of his wealth to those "3rd world" countries in need of AIDS relief.

What an ass! :roll:
Click to expand...

only an amount that will get him a tax writeoff and good PR, but still a good thing.
Click to expand...



Do you honestly think a billionaire needs to use charity as a tax shelter?

Like I said before

Gates:53%
The Entire Walton Family: 2%

The guy is very generous.
 
Originally posted by: Descartes
Can't you all just agree that none of you have even the slightest idea for the motivation behind his dismissal? Maybe he just thinks the entire concept is silly.

Quit reading into it. He gave his reasons for dismissing it, and that's simply his opinion. Had he just said, "I think it sucks" and moved on we could argue intention here, but he gave his reasons.
Click to expand...

QFT!
If you didn't know about the project and someone posted a picture of the laptop on ATOT, the first things people would say is "IT SUCKS" or "That thing is ugly"...basically the same thing Bill said.

Anti Bill people just needed an excuse to criticize him.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: PHiuR
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/03/16/gates.100.laptop.reut/index.html

For making fun of this laptop.
Click to expand...

"your mom was an Apple IIe and your dad was a 486...without a turbo button!"

that kind of making fun?
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ROFL! My 486 had a Turbo button! That thing was sweet! Ahh...those were the days. 😀

Perhaps Bill is dissing it because Google is backing it? Perhaps the lime-green color? I'm guessing some of the quotes were taken out of context as he was merely comparing it to today's top-end machines versus a practical standpoint of view. (as in the person overheard Gates' comments) That being the case, it sounds more like a plausable explanation.
 
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