Gates Gets Government Guards for Gala

Nick Irelan writes "The home of the world's richest man was a 'temporary security zone' when he held a party for members of the National Governors Association. Bill's guests included Newt Gingrich, Tommy Thompson, and Leon Panetta. Gates also put in $150,000 for the governors' meeting held the next day. News.com covered this story very well." If your invitation to Gates' place got "lost in the mail", you can read about a Microsoft intern who got to have dinner with the big cheese.

Comments

In all fairness.....

[BWJones]

From the linked interns blog and speaking of Bill Gates: "His response (verbatim, might I add), "well it was the dumbest thing I've ever read!". I have actually heard him say this very statement with a crass addendum or modifier in response to an engineers rather thoughtful bit of insight into a problem. Perhaps he was having a bad day, but I found this to be more than a little arrogant and perhaps may go part way in explaining why Microsoft has problems with innovation. As to the title, "Gates gets government guards for gala", I would suggest in Bill's defense that the guards are for some of the guests which is not unusual. I've not been to a soiree at the Gates compound, but I have been to plenty of other events with government folks who pack their own "escorts". Gates likely has his own security detail which if they work like other security details, will usually defer to the secret service (or other federal) detail supervising any government officials who may be present.

Re:In all fairness.....

[tazanator]

having done work in that area, it's pretty much a standing rule, the secret sevice takes over all security when present in the US. At the olympics in Ga 1996 they had special badges and ALL security was told to stay out of their way and follow the orders from them above any other orders you may get.

Re:In all fairness.....

[transient]

Well good, I'm glad that worked.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

What the heck is dining governers for? Is he trying to assuade them or influence them? Perhaps bribing? Well I hope Madison's checks and balances are in place... don't feel like government by Bill for Bill...

Re:In all fairness.....

[pete-classic]

That's funny, the stupidest thing I ever heard was, "The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." but I can't remember who said it.

-Peter

Re:In all fairness.....

[SuiteSisterMary]

Apparently, this is how Bill tries to separate the wheat from the chaff; he attacks your idea (and you) and expects you to defend it, if it's worth defending.

I've read accounts where Microsoft has taken massive risks on the basis of a single engineer shooting back at Bill and defending an idea.

Re:In all fairness.....

[tazanator]

umm .. well if you knew the rest of the story you'd shut up. I will say that that one did get the medias attention, but behind the scenes was a totally different world. I don't know whats allowed to be said so I won't say more than "you never say behind the curtain".

Re:In all fairness.....

[transient]

Who cares what went on behind the curtain? The purpose of a security team is to prevent these kinds of things from happening. A bomb went off. Someone died. A lot of people were injured. Unless "behind the scenes" is some magical dimension where these things never happened, security at the Georgia games was not sufficient to stop a bomb from going off.

Re:In all fairness.....

[mav[LAG]]

Oh yeah. Here's an enlightening extract from Accidental Empires by Bob Cringeley:

My secret suspicion is that Microsoft's cult of pesonality hides a deep-down fear on Gates's part that maybe he really doesn't know it all. A few times I've seen him cornered by some techie who is not from Microsoft and is not in awe, a techie who knows more about that subject at hand than Bill Gates ever will. I've seen a flash of fear in Gates's eyes then. Even with you or me topics can range beyond Bill's grasp, and that's when he uses his "I don't know how technical you are" line. ...
To take this particularly degrading weapon out of his hands forever, I propose that should you ever talk with Bill Gates and hear him say "I don't know how technical you are", reply by saying that you don't know how technical he is. It will drive him nuts.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

If I heard the rumors right they averaged one bomb a night thru out the event. One was even strapped to the generator CNN was using.

Re:In all fairness.....

[tazanator]

umm, officially, I know nothing.

Re:In all fairness.....

[demachina]

"...they had special badges..."

What a concept. Lay your hands on a "special badge", by knocking a secret service agent on the head in the john if no other way and you have a blank check to slice your way through security. Might not be so hard to do if there is any truth to this guys report from the DNC in boston that caught pictures of someone drinking in a hotel bar and then driving away in a government car with a Homeland security/Secret Service placard. The guy that wrote this skewered the security in Boston for its incompetence and Homeland Security responded by shutting down the TSCM Yahoo list where he posted it, acquired the names of everyone on the list and everything ever said on on the list instead of fixing all the security holes he highlighted and saying thank you.

I'm increasingly getting the impression all these national security events are an utter joke. They appear to be a massive waste of money, often aren't providing real security, and are severely trampling people's civil liberties, for example allowing random searches of people on Boston mass transit. In Boston, where they hoped the DNC would be an economic boon, it actually hammered the local economy and put them 8 million in the hole instead of up $150 million as they'd hoped, thanks to the massive disruption the Feds created in Boston.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Peter Cooper]

This is a good management technique, and one that's also used by Steve Jobs. If, as a member of staff, you are not prepared to fight for your ideas and principles against management, then your ideas are not worth pursuing. Only people who think they're putting their job on the line for an idea have the balls to be listened to. Admittedly, this means a lot of ideas from the very smart but timid geeks get skipped over, which is a problem, but that doesn't mean the technique is bad.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Kwil]

Actually, it *does* mean the technique is bad.

If you're missing out on a solution that could save your company millions of dollars because you couldn't be bothered to listen carefully the first time and instead cowed the presenter.. that's a bad technique.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

It just means the guys at the top who implement it are assholes.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

It's all a matter of degree. If you tell an enforcement agency, "make sure nobody at the convention gets hurt" with no other parameters, they're going to want to shut down the city and only let known people in. Security in the real world is hard, especially in a public place. If you want to achieve any semblance of it, it is going to disrupt the surrounding areas. I think they're doing an okay job in an impossible circumstance, considering how few major US officials get assassinated.

Compare: Try setting up a server, running windows, IIS, Exchange, and SQL Server. It must be on the Internet, available to the public. Now, try to secure it so that nobody can access or change anything except as designed, or somebody dies. You have government-level authority to do this. What do you do?

As for a badge being proof of authority, that is rather foolish in a security situation.

Re:In all fairness.....

[demachina]

"Try setting up a server, running windows, IIS, Exchange, and SQL Server"

Uh, pretty simple switch to the right tools for the job, BSD or Gentoo and load it up with Snort, SNARE, Tripwire, and setup bots to monitor the logs and send alerts when something suspicious happens etc.

In the case of conventions if they need this level of "security" I think they should consider moving them out of the middle of densely populated urban areas. Sea Island for example was a lot easier to secure for the last G-8 get together. If nothing else build a convention center and hotel complex someplace that can be secured. The main reason these things are in the middle of cities are for the long gone economy boon and prestige. Thanks to the security they don't offer that any more.

Of course this would just further dispell the facade that this is a democracy but that facade is already in tatters, not much democracy around these things anyway thanks to all the storm troopers, check points and cages for protesters.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Gates likely has his own security detail...

He does, and it's probably one of the tightest details I've seen.

If you ever go to Building 34 at Microsoft (where Gates' office is), you'll see a few well-dressed men walking around, and there are quite a few you can't see. That's his personal security detail. Every one of them is ex-military, primarily Green Berets, Rangers, and Navy SEALs. If you try to go onto the floor where Gates' office is, and you don't have an appointment, you will meet one of his security guys. They are armed, and although I can't confirm this, I've heard his guys carry semi-automatic weapons.

His details follows him everywhere. If you ever see Gates driving around in Seattle (I believe he drives around in a Lexus), you'll see at least one or two black Suburbans following him. His security detail is in there, and believe me, they are armed to the teeth.

I've heard Gates has better protection than the President. It wouldn't surprise me...if I was the world's richest person, I'd have my own Secret Service too.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Kwil is right, this is a lousy technique almost by definition. I have seen this exact technique at several companies that I have worked at, albeit unintentionally by management. It develops a culture of "The Loudest One Wins". Selecting your engineering leaders based on loudness is an entirely different from selecting them based on being smart. I have seen firsthand companies killed because of this mistake.

You don't have to really look very hard to find engineers who are loud. Sometimes this intersects with smart but often it doesn't.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

"As to the title," could the author possibly alliterate more? Perhaps tack the phrase "...great googly-moogly!" onto the end?

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, pretty simple switch to the right tools for the job, BSD or Gentoo and load it up with Snort, SNARE, Tripwire, and setup bots to monitor the logs and send alerts when something suspicious happens etc.

That's my point. They don't get to make those decisions. The security force is told "We are having a convention at X location. Secure it." They then have to figure out how far to go. Block off several major streets, or risk a car bomb?, etc.

I would expect that convention centers are located in population centers for infrastructure, and for attendance. In a big city they get an airport, lots of transportation, and lots of people who can drive go to the convention who might not be willing to travel to it. A small island might not be able to support 20k attendees, if that many were willing to pay for the trip.

Of course this would just further dispell the facade that this is a democracy but that facade is already in tatters, not much democracy around these things anyway thanks to all the storm troopers, check points and cages for protesters.

Don't know that it has anything to do with democracy, perse. We still get to vote. It does have a temporary effect on civil liberties in a single location, but that is expected, and I don't think a problem. It's the general case attacks on civil liberties that are a problem (terrorism is everywhere! We need to screen everybody.) And, yes, the impact on the city that isn't involved in the convention is a problem.

In any case, I wouldn't blame the Secret Service for it.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Peter Cooper]

It develops a culture of "The Loudest One Wins". Selecting your engineering leaders based on loudness is an entirely different from selecting them based on being smart. I have seen firsthand companies killed because of this mistake.

I disagree. Replace the word 'loud' with 'passion'. If someone isn't passionate enough about their ideas to hammer them into the bosses' head, is it really a great idea? There are people out there who are willing to put everything on the line for their ideas, and those are the people who usually end up great.

Re:In all fairness.....

[firewood]

If you're missing out on a solution that could save your company millions of dollars...

Solutions are often a dime-a-dozen. What's usually needed is a great solution and a person passionate enough about that solution to carry it through to completion over the bumpy path of reality. The type of leader who uses this technique is immediately looking for both.

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Again, being loud, passionate, whatever, is only a good thing if you're right. If you're not smart enough to be right, at least be quiet.

Unfortunately, there is no shortage of engineers who are more than willing to passionately pitch their bad ideas. They will tell the boss to his face that they should bet the company on this bad idea. In general, the boss is either not smart enough or close enough to the technology to tell if the engineer is right or not. How is this a good thing?

I've seen this happen then seen the passionate engineer leave before his idea proved bogus. By that time, he's already at his next job where his new bosses think he's brilliant because he can passionately defend his ideas.

Re:In all fairness.....

[el cisne]

I remember who said it, and with what certitude they spoke it. This should be modded "+1 Funny" or "+1 Insightful", or "+2 Good Call".

Re:In all fairness.....

[Saint Stephen]

He should have turned to the little girl and said "your father molests collies."

Re:In all fairness.....

[Anonymous Coward]

In that case, shut the fuck up.
These little fucks that think pretending they know something makes them important piss me off.

Movie time?

[Killjoy_NL]

Why does this remind me of the party in the movie Anti-Trust ?? Will something "shocking" happen soon ?

sadly,

[the_unknown_soldier]

The security was deemed useless when the windows controlled survelience system crashed.

The richest?

[yebb]

I thought the owner of IKEA was now worth more than Gates.

Re:The richest?

[complex]

this is true: http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/04/04/ikea.richli st/

Re:The richest?

[Sunspire]

The IKEA owner Ingvar Kamprad did overtake Gates back in April, but since the dollar has strengthened slightly since then it's hard to say who's richer at the moment.

Re:The richest?

[EmagGeek]

He certainly is - and I have a whole house full of glued-together sawdust, woodglue, and undecipherable pictoral instruction manuals to show for it..

Some IKEA furniture is so cheap, the veneer isn't even veneer, but a vinyl sticker stuck to the particleboard! (The lillehammer bed is but one example)

Gates got rich monopolistically. Ingvar Kamprad got rich by gluing together a bunch of sawdust and selling it at a huge profit - and by shoving labor-intensive tasks like assembly to the customer, because we all know that labor is the biggest cost of doing business.

Re:The richest?

[molarmass192]

Much to the chagrin of many a MS fanboy, he is.

Re:The richest?

[Chess_the_cat]

No, it isn't. CNN discredited this story.

Re:The richest?

[pubjames]

Hey, but some Ikea stuff is good. If you want fancy stuff, go somewhere else. But I've been pretty pleased with my purchases from Ikea.

Re:The richest?

[Anonymous Coward]

IKEA is about price, not quality hardware. Kamprad got rich by *gasp* selling a product people like. There are, afaik, no suspicious inter-compatibility issues preventing mixing-and-matchinch of IKEA furniture. And if you buy a house, there are no strange EULAs requiring IKEA-only furniture inside.

Re:The richest?

[tomknight]

I rather like Penner, Ikea's fastest moving item.

Tom.

Re:The richest?

[pizza_milkshake]

No, it isn't. CNN discredited this story.

ok, he may not be richer than gates but his coffee table shaped like a Ying-Yang is to die for.

Re:The richest?

[rd_syringe]

but since the dollar has strengthened slightly since then

Much to the chagrin of lunatic Bush-bashers.

Re:The richest?

[DunbarTheInept]

Only in the alternate universe where the biggest complaint about Bush is the economy. There do exist sane bush-bashers, who bash for other reasons. Maybe you should try living in the real world.

Re:The richest?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the economy usually decides how the fence sitters vote. Clinton is a sleaze. Everyone knew it, even the ones that admit to actually liking him, but he was elected due to the economy.

Re:The richest?

[Eminor]

I thought the owner of IKEA was now worth more than Gates.

Could very well be. Bill Gates is the most POPULAR rich man, not the richest. His riches pale in comparison to the owners of Kraft for example.

Better Title

[bperkins]

Gates Gives Governor's Gala, Gets Government Guards

Re:Better Title

[Anonymous Writer]

Enough "G"s in the title?

Re:Better Title

[nb caffeine]

Hm, maybe the jokes about the /. editor's bad grammar and writing shouldn't be made, when they use something as complicated as alliteration in the title.

Re:Better Title

[Anonymous Coward]

That's an alarming amount of aliteration.

Re:Better Title

[pjt33]

You could even go one better and put that apostrophe in the correct place.

Re:Better Title

[daemon_mf]

g-g-g-g-g G-unit!

Re:Better Title

[neko9]

Gates Gives, Governor's Gala Gets, Government Guards

Re:Better Title

[thebes]

What can he say? It's a G-string...

Re:Better Title

[trentblase]

Alas!

Re:Better Title

[sapgau]

ahh thank you!

My subconscious can let it go now...

Human after all?

[NiceGuyUK]

For all the Microsoft bashing that goes on (and I figure /. readers won't need to look far for examples), the note at the end of the MS intern's blog about Gates' daughter was a nice touch.

As much as people love to hate Bill and his company, he is just one guy after all. We seldom here about this side of him (albeit for security reasons in relation to his kids?). Perhaps a Bill Gates book in the vein of Linus' "Just For Fun" is due?

Re:Human after all?

[Refrag]

Microsoft is no stranger to astroturfing. I wonder how much the intern was paid for that post.

Re:Human after all?

[danheskett]

Depends, how much did SuSe or RedHat pay you to make your post? And how much did SCO pay me to make this post?

Re:Human after all?

[agurkan]

With all due respect, he brought this onto himself. He is the founder and possibly one of the most influential persons of a convicted software monopoly. His company produces crap, sells it at a high price using illegal practices. Microsoft makes my life harder. Microsoft makes other people's lifes harder. They know his, he knows this and they continue what they are doing with no concern.
He has been criticised more mildly when this all started. If you are aggressive and ambitious you risk hatred. If you live in a glass house ...
Microsoft and by association Bill Gates deserves the bashing. They (ie. the top staff) are in this for money and seemingly everything else is less important. Yes, he is a human, but a harmful one. I prefer to judge a person with what distinguishes him from others. A lot of people have kids, but most are not as harmful as MS execs.

Re:Human after all?

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a very sad individual. You just can't help parroting what you think might get you karma, can you?

(and the most sad part - you really believe it is Insightful.

Re:Human after all?

[Anonymous Coward]

And how much did SCO pay me to make this post?

At least $699, I hope.

Re:Human after all?

[Binestar]

Depends, how much did SuSe or RedHat pay you to make your post? And how much did SCO pay me to make this post?

probably 3 times as much as the intern was paid to post the article about Bill Gates.

There ya go, proof that RedHat is willing to pay 3x the amount that Microsoft pays for word of mouth advertising!

Re:Human after all?

[CODiNE]

Hitler was human too... does that earn him extra points too? Hey at least he has a pulse! Not everyone does ya know. ;-)

Re:Human after all?

[Anonymous Coward]

You are quite disillusioned to think that microsoft makes your life harder. If you think about it, you are just complaining about their business practices, when they have actually helped you and the world more than you will admit. Seriously, think about it, if all they did was make peoples lives harder, they wouldn't be the best selling software company, they wouldn't own the most popular OS on earth, and they wouldn't be in business! They aren't forcing anything on you, you have to make a choice in order for them to profit. If you have a problem with their practices, try to talk to higher-ups in their business, or get involved in law have the law changed, or use another OS, or just altogether stop buying MS products! The simple truth is, they aren't making money pissing you off, so you're point is unfounded.

You're judging mechanism is the same one used by slave owners and nazis, not to say that you are either, however.

Re:Human after all?

[holt]

I had the opportunity to speak with him (among a group of probably 20 other people) after Mr. Gates spoke at the University of Illinois last semester. He seemed like a very pleasant man and I was very impressed. Kind of expecting an arrogant and rude man (especially after the security crew basically told us that he told them to get us the hell out of there), he was very friendly and was willing to answer some questions and take some photos. He probably spoke with us for 5-10 minutes before his security people ushered him away.

One of the guys in our Mac user group at Illinois was smart enough to bring a camera. (I, unfortunately, forgot mine that night. Oh well...) A picture can be found here. I was standing about 2 feet to the left of the field of view, so I'm not in it. Also, there are about 20 uniformed and plainclothed police in the general area.

Re:Human after all?

[YrWrstNtmr]

I wonder how much the intern was paid for that post.

I think the invitation to the party would be payment enough.

Re:Human after all?

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Yeah, no shit. "Poor Don Corleone, all he wanted was to give his kid a nice wedding ..." Yeah, well, life's rough, huh?

Re:Human after all?

[Planesdragon]

Probably nothing.

Astrotufing sounds and feels like an internet-myth. Got a real, proven case of it?

Re:Human after all?

[Bull999999]

I agree. If you are interning at a company that you want to work for, would you post the good things about the "big boss" or the bad things?

Re:Human after all?

[lubricated]

> And how much did SCO pay me to make this post?

They gave you a license to run linux.

Re:Human after all?

[Minna Kirai]

Astrotufing sounds and feels like an internet-myth. Got a real, proven case of it?

Sure. There are many confessed ex-astroturfers. There's a continum from traditional product-sponsorship to non-celebrity product placement (college hotties paid to show off their new camera phones in the top clubs) down through to anonymous, non-copywritten advocacy. To them, it's all just marketing, and there are no qualms to spilling the beans once the contract is over (unless the contract went further, of course)

More interesting to you might be the proven case of Microsoft astroturfing, which was back in 1998, just when they needed the appearance of grateful computer-users to help them out at the Supreme Court. They sponsored the creation of the Freedom to Innovate Network, which back then was not hosted on microsoft.com, nor labelled as professional. That same crew plugged their site on BBSes like this. They were caught doing it then... it's easy to assume that they've continued, but are now too skilled to be easily caught.

Also, this website records falsehoods that were widely considered akin to astroturfing.

Re:Human after all?

[Anonymous Coward]

strange, how you geeks behave as if the whole world is linux savvy.

there are a whole lot of ppl who love windows for it's simplicity.

stop behaving as if the world is yours. maybe you will then have a normal life with dates.

Re:Human after all?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Gates has a daughter?!?!?!?
But that would mean he had sex!!

BTW:
We seldom here about this side of him

"hear".

Re:Human after all?

[Refrag]

It was part of my settlement with Red Hat. They're dropping their charges against me for pirating linux.

Re:Human after all?

[Refrag]

Are you saying he was an embedded reporter?

Re:Human after all?

[YrWrstNtmr]

Not at all. A junior employee at MS, who was also a regular blogger, would OF COURSE do a little write up about the party. No extra incentive pay needed.

Having read the blob . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

I now want a geek TV cribs.

I've always seen him as a good man

[poohsuntzu]

Gates that is. Remember, since he isn't CEO anymore the primary fsck-ups (SCO anyone?) are not something he agreed the company should have ever touched in the first place, when instead the new CEO said "yay! Lets GO DO THIS!".

The journal of the intern is not the only one I've seen where people who meet and spend time with Gates end up with a surprisingly pleasent experience. Geek + Dad + Down to Earth. Of course, people here will continue to flame Gates as if he is CEO, continue to say what a greeding person he is and ignore the intern's journal, or say that the intern is a Microsoft employee.

I hope people can eventually look beyond the company and see the man behind what started it. He's not half bad if you give him a chance.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

actually i have always respected Bill Gates as a person. Some of his business dealings, well i take issue with.

but he is a pretty good - to excellent person, even including some of those not so great business stuff.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[poohsuntzu]

We still have to wonder was it actually Gates that had his hand over every final say? Don't get me wrong, I agree that MS has done some shady deals in the past, but we would need to eventually draw the lines between it having been Bill's call or the new CEO's call.

Sure, bad dealings were still done, but at least then we could get the names right. Right now, Bill == Microsoft in the eyes of not only the general public, but geeks as well. That needs to change, or someone needs to start reminding/showing people who made what call and when.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[poohsuntzu]

I hate it when you reply to the wrong post...

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[poohsuntzu]

So if that's the case, all criminals should be put to death because they won't ever find a change possible due to your logic.

In fact, once a teenager's attitude, always a teenager's attitude, right? I'm sure none of us have ever changed from how we acted in the 8th grade.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[pubjames]

I've always seen him as a good man

Most people who are really really rich got that way by being selfish. Gates included.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[BK425]

Why hope "people can eventually..." it's not a surprise that people are concerned with the actions of the largest (most impact, best known) employer in our industry... yes he holds his daughters hand but that does not effect the Gross Domestic Product.
When people comment on the business practices of MS they're not indicting Gates as a man, that doesn't really enter into it. Certainly wether he holds his daughters hand does not.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[danheskett]

Bill Gates has created one of the best places in the world to work, this is from a blog I read:

I need to thank Microsoft for several things: our benefits, our technology, and the people with whom I work. Three months ago, my oldest daughter, Jenna, age 9, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was a normal, healthy kid one day and being rushed in for emergency brain surgery the next. She's now recovering from her second surgery, during which they were able to get 90 percent of the tumor out. Her treatment plan will take many more months, but she's come a long way and continues to make progress daily. When you and your family are healthy, you might tend to take our benefits for granted. I certainly will never do that again. We have the best benefits of any company. Everything has been covered--surgeries, hospital stays, chemotherapy, prescriptions, home nursing and equipment, physical and speech therapy, follow-up visits, and consultations. The medical bills are very large, but everything is covered. We were provided with a case manager who oversees the entire process and helps us deal with the paperwork, organization, and approval processes. In short, they've been phenomenal to deal with. Our technology was also a godsend during this ordeal. A friend and coworker set up a Web site for Jenna the day after her first surgery (http://www.caringbridge.org/sc/jennawit). We have used this site to keep family and friends updated on Jenna's condition and progress. There was no network or wireless access in the hospital, so I used my Smartphone and my laptop to dial in and keep the Web site up to date. I also was able to help other families get their Web sites set up for their children who were in the hospital. Jenna's Web site has had more than 97,000 hits to date, and thousands of well wishes have been posted by friends, family, coworkers, and even complete strangers. If you ever doubted that our technology has had an impact on the world, just take a look at the guestbook on Jenna's site, and you'll see how technology has helped to bring people closer together. Lastly, I must comment on the wonderful people with whom I work. The support has been incredible from day one of Jenna's illness. I was able to take family leave with no questions asked. My team stepped in and took care of my job while my manager worked out a replacement for me, and I was able to just walk away and focus on my family for three months. Also, hundreds of Microsoft folks have offered to help me and my family in any way that they can. We can't thank you all enough for everything that you've done. Thank you, Microsoft, for our benefits, and thank you, employees of Microsoft. The work you do has truly made a difference in my family's life.

(This is the original post)

The benefits at Microsoft are second to-none, anywhere in the country, and probably the world. Paid family leave. The best medical care money can buy. Supportive work environment.

The top execs at Microsoft could gut the benefits and give the employees basic HMO coverage for probably 1/50th the per employee cost, and in the process reap another couple of hundred million a year for themselves.

They wouldn't be the first place to go that route. But did they?

No. Not at all.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

We slashbots dont like him, anymore that is.

Only a meager decade or so ago, we adored him, and Microsoft, because they screwed over the Worst Company in the World (tm), IBM.

Of course, IBM is now exploitin^H^H^H using open source, which makes them the Greatest Company in the World (tm).

It's all such silly stupid bullshit. Not a year ago everyone here got hard for SCO. They sold linux. Hooray SCO! Now we hate them. In a year or so we'll hate IBM again.

Corporations act like corporations, and in a very predictable way if you sit back and look at it, without trying to demonize or canonize them as if they were humans. They're neither evil nor benevolant. Yesterday we found that even our beloved Apple has no problem whipping out the DMCA to prevent real competition.

For all of what Microsoft has done in the past, none of it should really reflect on Gates. They didn't run it like Enron, he ran it honestly albeit aggressively. Sure, you can argue Windows is a monopoly now. But the route they took to get it there, was frankly, brilliant.

Ah fuck it. This is slashdot, home of 13-year-olds who type "emerge -u world", and think that sitting there watching text scroll by for hours makes them a unix guru.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[GoofyBoy]

>When people comment on the business practices of MS they're not indicting Gates as a man,

So what is with the "Gates in the Borg suit" for?

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[ZorinLynx]

And the only reason they can afford to provide all these benefits is by raping the rest of the computer industry.

I'm sorry, but abusing monopoly power to make tons of money is wrong, no matter what you do with the money.

-Z

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Dutchmaan]

"The journal of the intern is not the only one I've seen where people who meet and spend time with Gates end up with a surprisingly pleasent experience. Geek + Dad + Down to Earth. Of course, people here will continue to flame Gates as if he is CEO, continue to say what a greeding person he is and ignore the intern's journal, or say that the intern is a Microsoft employee."

With all due respect to your opinion, the same thing has been said about Hitler and members of his Nazi party. Just because a person is nice to his family and friends does not necessarily equate to a good person. A man is not judged by how he treats his friends and equals, but how he treats his "inferiors".

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

I know I shouldn't reply to this flamebait, but damn it I just can't help myself :)

"he ran it honestly albeit aggressively."

'honestly'? Do you consider everyone that's been convicted of illegal business practices as honest?

"Sure, you can argue Windows is a monopoly now. But the route they took to get it there, was frankly, brilliant"

'brilliant'? Do you also consider school-playground bullying tactics as 'brilliant'?
Man, what planet do you come from? I'm damn glad I don't know you, you scare me!

And finally....

"13-year-olds who type "emerge -u world"..."

Man, the day Gentoo is simple enough for the average 13 year old is the day MS really will have something to worry about ;)

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Microsoft is a good place to work like the upper reaches of the Soviet bureaucracy were a good place to work. Yes, they take care of you. They also own your life. It's classic company-town stuff, updated with a high-tech gloss.

I'm not selling this short. Some people are very happy with such an arrangement. But, after almost ten years in the service, I'm happy to be working for a small company that doesn't have that attitude -- independence has its risks, but greater rewards.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

However, there are also a lot of selfish people who aren't rich. Being selfish is one of many viable ways of surviving in this world.

If must hate the guy, hate him for overtly destructive things like insideous marketing, anti-competitive business practices, and lying.

Don't hate him for being selfish, or you might find you'll have to start hating other selfish people you don't really want to hate.

Selfishness is not incompatible with being a good person.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[chadm1967]

Are you kidding?!?!?!? You're crazy if you think Gates isn't the one running MS and making most of the poor decisions.

Ballmer is just a "yes" man, plain and simple.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Lumpy]

The top execs at Microsoft could gut the benefits and give the employees basic HMO coverage for probably 1/50th the per employee cost, and in the process reap another couple of hundred million a year for themselves.

but they cant. when you are a company that large you can pretty much dictate to insurance companies the rates. WE do it here, we have outstanding coverage and rates have not gone up a bit. a few bean-counters 2 years ago tried to show they can save about $180.00 per employee per quarter by using a major cut rate insurance carrier (I.E. worthless benefits) and getting rid of lots of the "programs" that were available to employees.

after looking at the savings versus the cost of changing they told the bean counters that nothing was changing... In fact they simply used it to strong arm the insurance carrier we currently had into sigining a contract ot not raise any rates for 5 years.

Needless to say, as big as the company I work for, we would devastate any insurance company if we left... and I am sure microsoft can do the same to a company.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[kahei]

Thank the good lord there are people other than me who remember what the IBM-dominated world was like and how MS and the microcomputer revolution freed everyone -- and how nice it would be _not_ to go back there.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Minna Kirai]

Only a meager decade or so ago, we adored him, and Microsoft

The self-professed technical-elite began to harbor widespread Microsoft-hatred in 1987, and it was cemented in their culture by 1994, long before Slashdot ever came online.

Not a year ago everyone here got hard for SCO

SCO was never adored, only tolerated- it was viewed as a company prehaps trying to do the right thing, but too incompetent to amount to much.

beloved Apple has no problem whipping out the DMCA to prevent real competition.

Anyone who thought Apple was pro-competition simply hasn't been paying attention, especially to their old experiment in clone-licensing.

They didn't run it like Enron, he ran it honestly albeit aggressively.

The numerous falsehoods that have supported Microsoft through the years are well known and documented. The very terms "vaporware" and "FUD" were invented to make it simpler to talk about how Microsoft works.

But the route they took to get it there, was frankly, brilliant.

Brilliance is not virtue. There is nothing contradictory about the concept of an "evil genuis" (or an amoral genius) (or a repetentant, evil genius, who dispurses ill-gotten treasure to the world's indigents)

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[DunbarTheInept]

In the alternate universe in which companies never ever change, then your implied accsations of hypocracy might have actually made some sense. But here in the real world where the rest of us live - we recognize that companies actually change.

And Bill always was an ass, by the way - even back in the days of Altair Basic. All that has changed is that he got into a position where his behavior affected others instead of being something ignorable.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[demachina]

"Only a meager decade or so ago, we adored him,"

Not true. In the early days most hackers were doing open source because it was a community and sharing helped everyone. It was Gate's famous letter that was at the fore front of trying to putting an end to hacking and open source, so he could make a business out of it. He was a borderline rip off artist in his early days, with both Basic and DOS. No, I don't think Gates has ever really been liked by the hacker community.

"It's all such silly stupid bullshit. Not a year ago everyone here got hard for SCO. They sold linux. Hooray SCO! Now we hate them. In a year or so we'll hate IBM again"

SCO/Caldera was a completely different company when they were really supporting Linux. It was Ransom Love not Darl McBride calling the shots when then, he left as they transitioned to the new detestable business model. Ransom is a pretty decent guy. Corporations don't act, the people that run them do. Caldera under Ransom was a decent company, SCO under McBride is simply detestable by any measure.

Everything Microsoft has done and is doing SHOULD reflect on Gates even. Gates gave up the CEO title most probably to simplify his life but he is most assuredly still calling the shots anytime he feels like it. He owns a huge percentage of the stock so all of Microsoft's officers serve at his discretion.

The fact is companies change, as do the people that run them. If you are to dumb to judge them by their current management and behavior might I suggest you rush out and put all your money in the stock market using your obvious business acumen as a guide.

"he ran it honestly albeit aggressively"

That is simply not true. He and his company are convicted monopolists. They've engaged in illegal tactics that have driven relatively honest companies trying to innovate in to bankruptcy or various other forms of oblivion. The reason he throws these little bashes and pumps money in to the pockets of these politicians is to ensure he has political cover for any future underhanded behavior he should choose to undertake. For example he could count on the Bush administration to gut the antitrust judgement against his company.

At this point I guess I'd have to say you are either stupid or a pretty obvious troll.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually it makes sense for people, geek or not, to base their view of a company, or even a person, on what is most consistent in their recent behavior. I'm not sure what you think your point is. Apple has done many questionable things, but overall, they've been pretty nice about putting out money and effort to support open source software, including contributions to gcc and bash, and providing the core of their operating system as open source.

No company is going to do everything as I like. If overall a company does what I feel is a good job I, like anybody else, will focus in on the good. If overall a company does what I feel is a bad job I will focus in on the bad. This might not be fair, but is not peculiar to geeks---it's typical of most people, I would say.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

Very, very few companies the size of Microsoft out-source anything more than the administrative fees to an insurance company. The actual insurance is "self-funded," which means the premiums you pay and claims you make are done in a subsection of the company's accounting books and makes a direct impact on the bottomline.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

Um no... MS offere's blue cross and blue shield insurance and HMO as one of the 5 options.

it's a flat fee, the accountants like it better that way. the number does not change from month to month .

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

Or you can do emerge -uD world, to get a 'deep' update.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[danheskett]

They also own your life.
What is this, "The Firm" for you? They don't own your life. Get involved with real people who work at Microsoft. It is rare that developers or testers out there work long-work weeks, weekends, etc. Around ship time, yes, days get a few hours longer and you may lose a weekend.

And if you think that's not how it is in the rest of the computer industry, or virtually any industry, than you are dead wrong.

As far as "company-town" stuff, I'd like to see you back that absurd notion up. This isn't the 1800's.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[danheskett]

but they cant. when you are a company that large you can pretty much dictate to insurance companies the rates.
Unless it just recently changed, Microsoft *is* the insurance company. Large companies are often self-insured.

The point is, they don't even have to offer insurance. That's an expense, as are the dozens of other best-of-breed benefits they provide.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Daniel Dvorkin]

What I say about working conditions at Microsoft is based on the experiences of a couple of friends of mine who were both recruited by them right out of college. They got much bigger salaries than any of the other offers they received, as well as the legendary Microsoft benefits package, and full relocation expenses paid -- naturally they were thrilled and jumped at the offer. A few years later, at different times, both of them quit, burned out. (One of them left programming entirely, he says, as a result of the experience.) This was early-to-mid-Nineties, BTW; take that for what it's worth.

It wasn't just the long hours, which are, as you say, no worse than a lot of other companies. It was the way they were expected to live in Microsoft-approved neighborhoods, spend all their off-hours socializing with other Microsoft employees (often at Microsoft events) and, most of all, never ever ever talk to anyone outside Microsoft about their jobs. I don't just mean not revealing trade secrets. I mean not saying things like "I'm working on the next version of Windows," or "I do bug fixes for Excel." Basically all they were supposed to say was, "I'm a software developer at Microsoft, and if I told you any more, I'd have to kill you."

Okay, no, it's not company-town in the sense of only being able to shop at the company store with company scrip until you're so in debt to the company that you're effectively a serf. But it's pretty over the top.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent is the best single post ever posted on slashdot.

Amen !

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, people here will continue to flame Gates as if he is CEO, continue to say what a greeding person he is and ignore the intern's journal, or say that the intern is a Microsoft employee.

Well, the intern IS an employee of Microsoft. But hey, don't let facts stand in the way of your Bill worship.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[Anonymous Coward]

The numerous falsehoods that have supported Microsoft through the years are well known and documented. The very terms "vaporware" and "FUD" were invented to make it simpler to talk about how Microsoft works.

Strictly speaking, FUD is the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM sales people instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [Amdahl] products.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[WuphonsReach]

Not a year ago everyone here got hard for SCO.

This feels like a troll duplicate from a year or two ago.

One year ago, SCO had already filed their anti-linux suits and were being widely reviled for it here on Slashdot. In fact, I'm pretty sure it started in April 2003.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[criscooil]

Corporations act like corporations, ... They're neither evil nor benevolant.

I have to take issue with the second part of your statement. Evil, of course, is highly subjective. Some people, for example, think that ignorance is evil. As for corporations, however, there is a growing number of people who believe that corporations are psychopathic. Thats evil enough for me.

Re:I've always seen him as a good man

[iammaxus]

Excellent post. Next time try it with some real facts. It's great that you can give us specific dates for when the "technical-elite" began hating MS without any proof (Regardless of it being more than difficult to put a date on such a thing). You just put some smart-sounding words behind the usual baseless /. rhetoric. The idea of an evil genius is ridiculous. As the parent said, companies just try to make money, there is no higher moral to it.

My favorite part....

[Wun Hung Lo]

was the dancing monkey they had for entertainment. It looked kind of familiar for some reason.

don't miss the tiny joke I threw in there

[poohsuntzu]

Before I get hit with "troll", yes the Microsoft Employee joke was actually a joke, and not a RTFA

Re:*smacks micheal*

[Egonis]

Family Guy Quote:

Michael: "Wow, the people look like ants from up here."
Bill Gates: "They are ants, Michael. They ARE Ants!"

The coolest part

[PIPBoy3000]

It is a sad statement on human nature that when a person becomes so wealthy and powerful, they no longer get to enjoy the simpler things in peace. I suspect there are many days when he and his family wishes they could drive to Disneyland and go on the rides like everyone else. Most public places are probably off limits due to the complexity of managing security. Kidnapping is an endless concern.

I may not agree with all that Microsoft does as an entity, but I sometimes wish our world would let the man talk about his kids.

Re:The coolest part

[Threni]

> I suspect there are many days when he and his family wishes they could drive to
> Disneyland and go on the rides like everyone else

There are days when I wish I could just hire the whole bloody place for a day and be the only person there.

> I sometimes wish our world would let the man talk about his kids.

I'm sorry - what's stopping him from doing that?

Re:The coolest part

[GoofyBoy]

>what's stopping him from doing that?

Its security through obscurity and I'm not making a joke.

Re:The coolest part

[Anonymous Coward]

At least with security, he wouldn't have to worry about Disney Abductions. Disney started the rumour of psycho child-snatchers and then got it labeled as a hoax as part of their cover story. The real story is that Disney Abductions are done by Disney themselves to recruit slaves for their underground complex. (Not unlike Microsoft's mole-man army.)

Some they just brainwash and release, like Cory Doctorow. Sad.

Re:The coolest part

[TheDredd]

Those children will grow up not knowing any better. Sad maybe but then again, they (and many generations thereafter) will NEVER have to work again. They will wake up thinking, "What will I do today?"

I suspect there are many days when he and his family wishes they could drive to Disneyland and go on the rides like everyone else
They can build their own Microsoftland

Re:The coolest part

[Anonymous Coward]

But why is it so strange to find out he has kids? I mean, when you take the household average, chances are he has about 3.11 kids :P

Re:The coolest part

[tyrantnine]

While unfortunate, I think it's a far sadder commentary about our current society that one single man holds such incredibly excessive wealth in a world where hundreds of millions struggle to simply survive.

Not to mention that this will more than likely just be passed on generation to generation for some time to come, producing William Gates VII the incredibly rich Senator from Washington, etc, who'll be shining beacons of the ever widening gap between the rich and poor. While we may ignore the sins of the fathers, it's very interesting children ARE entitled to their enduring economic power, which in the case of the super-rich in our society, is basically a train with no stop.

Anyway, attempting to evoke empathy about the rough spots encountered by being the richest man on the planet is really distrubing. When spending moments reflecting on the tribulations of your fellow humans, I think there are probably at least 3 or 4 billion people that are far more worthy of your consideration than Bill Gates.

Re:The coolest part

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a sad statement on human nature that one person can become so wealthy and powerful that no longer can anyone else get to enjoy the simpler things in peace. I suspect there are many days when people like me wish they could start up FireFox and go on the internet like everyone else. Most websites are probably off limits due to the complexity of managing the non-standards-compliance of Internet Explorer. Proprietry lock-in is an endless concern.

You may not agree with all that Microsoft does as an entity, but I sometimes wish Microsoft would let the rest of us use Linux

Re:The coolest part

[RazzleFrog]

I am no big Gates or Microsoft fan but he does far more than anybody on that Forbes 500. His foundation gave the most grants in the US - $1.2 billion mostly to Global Health and Education (to contrast - Larry Ellison's (#5 on Forbes) Foundation gave $33 million mostly for aging and infectious disease - prevention I assume). There is really only so much that money can do, though. Think of a country like Sudan. $100 billion is not going to save that country's problems.

I am not saying that we should put Gates on a pedastal or build a monument to him but we should respect was he does try to do.

PS - He is not even close to being the richest man on the planet. If you think that the wealth of all of those Saudi oil Princes is even close to what Forbes reports you are looney.

Re:The coolest part

[donutello]

How do you know they don't already do that? (apart from Disneyland being too far to drive, that is). I have seen Bill & Melinda at a local restaurant and my wife has seen them at a local movie theater in the crowd just like everyone else. Bill really does look quite ordinary in person.

I have no idea what any of his kids look like - or what Melinda looks like and I'm sure most of you don't either. They could very well be at Disneyland right now and hardly anyone would be any wiser for it.

Re:The coolest part

[ifwm]

"I think it's a far sadder commentary about our current society that one single man holds such incredibly excessive wealth in a world where hundreds of millions struggle to simply survive."

Why? Since when is it reasonable to expect people to NOT acquire wealth? Why is it sad that the man made a fortune and has set his family up for life? Why is it his job to help people who can't (or won't) help themselves? You seem to assume that acquiring wealth is somehow immoral.

As for the last part, I agree with you here. While it may be difficult sometimes being Gates, I doubt his problems compare to starving to death in a desert.

However, it's still not Gates' job to fix that just because he happens to have money.

Re:The coolest part

[Notrace]

Think again: How about these ...

• Philanthropist or Opportunist?
• BILL GATES': KILLING AFRICANS FOR PROFIT AND PR. MR. BUSH'S BOGUS AIDS OFFER
• India Rebuffs Bill Gates in AIDS Row

Also, try google for TRIPS AIDS Gates, and you'll find more.
There is unfortunately a different side to this story ....

Notrace

Re:The coolest part

[some guy I know]

I have seen Bill & Melinda at a local restaurant [...] I have no idea what [...] Melinda looks like

So does he have one of those Men In Black gadgets or does she wear a veil or what?

Re:The coolest part

[RazzleFrog]

First, your first two links are to the same article. Second, your last link actually paints India in a bad light - not Gates. They would rather deny and hide the fact that AIDS is spreading in their country. Not sure how that reflects poorly on Gates.

I am not even sure where to start with the TRIPS stuff. He says that TRIPS locks in Gates computer monopoly (which must come as a surprise to the millions of Linux and Apple users) but gives no evidence to support the claim (and searching for TRIPS and gates turns up this same article 15,000 times). Then he makes the connection between that and the pharmaceutical companies by some great leap of faith. Finally, he says that we he gives is just pittance but it is more than anybody else gives and is actually closer to 14% of Gates net worth.

Re:The coolest part

[ksheff]

Gates was born rich. He could have frittered away his life doing nothing but going to parties, playing golf, etc. The fact that he decided to start a company is one of the few redeeming qualities of the man.

What is wrong with children inheriting whatever their parents have managed to build during their lives?

Re:The coolest part

[tyrantnine]

"Why? Since when is it reasonable to expect people to NOT acquire wealth?"

There could be a long answer to this question, but I'll save it for another day. You might remember native american societies who found the notion of owning land to be unthinkable. I am not going to get into a debate about capitalism or economics other than to say, I find the notion of one person controlling as much money as Bill Gates does absurd.

"Why is it sad that the man made a fortune and has set his family up for life? Why is it his job to help people who can't (or won't) help themselves?"

You miss the point completely, then add more confusion by arguing "Its not his job to help people who can't (or won't)" help themselves". It makes it seem like your refuting me, when I didn't say anything about "helping people", Bill Gates responsibility to do so, or anything of the sort. Very "insightful".

Anyway, if you feel Bill Gates contributions to the world justify a governmental and economic system which allows him to control such a ridiculous fortune, which 200 years from now following the status quo, will likely be an even vaster fortune controlled by relatives who just happen to be named Gates, my sympathies. IMO, this is just one more item on the list of why the super-technologically advanced aliens who're checking us out have absolutely zero interest in establishing relations with us :).

Re:The coolest part

[trentblase]

They can build their own Microsoftland

Yeah, apparently "the most advanced theater system in the world" and the "trampoline room" aren't enough. I wonder if his kids play Segway polo.

Re:The coolest part

[ifwm]

"You miss the point completely...."

No, I don't beleieve I did. You don't like acquisition of wealth, you find it distasteful, and presumably feel it is not an appropriate way to live one's life.

Did I get it?

Now, on to my point, which you sidestepped. the wealthy are NO MORE responsible for righting the ills of the world than anyone else. Wealth does not come with an addendum that requires charity. It's ok to be miserly, you're a dick if you are, but it's ok to be a dick too.

Now, here is the part where you are being disingenuous. You may not have stated that it was Gates' responsibility, but you implied it, and if questioned, I guarantee you would admit to believing it. The fact that I refuted you before you could say it just means I skipped a step. Sorry about that.

Now, why on earth would you think I would want your sympathy? I like the system that made Gates' rich. It means that people like you can't take what I work hard for. Wealth distribution is anathema to me, and if I believed in hell, I think that would be the economic policy there.

Re:The coolest part

[tyrantnine]

"Did I get it?"

No.

"Now, on to my point, which you sidestepped. the wealthy are NO MORE responsible for righting the ills of the world than anyone else. Wealth does not come with an addendum that requires charity"

What exactly did a sidestep - you're inventing arguments and asking me to defend them. See below.

"Now, here is the part where you are being disingenuous. You may not have stated that it was Gates' responsibility, but you implied it, and if questioned, I guarantee you would admit to believing it. The fact that I refuted you before you could say it just means I skipped a step. Sorry about that."

Once again, you're confused. As I originally said, I think the existance of such an absurdly wealthy individual human is a sad commentary on our society. I said nothing about Bill Gates the person, nor what I think his moral obligations are. You didn't skip a step - you skipped my point.

"Now, why on earth would you think I would want your sympathy? I like the system that made Gates' rich. It means that people like you can't take what I work hard for. Wealth distribution is anathema to me, and if I believed in hell, I think that would be the economic policy there."

I'm sorry, I sometimes misuse the word sympathy in place of pity. Anyway, I think its pretty amusing that "people like me" are grasping for your wealth. I suspect you don't work hard, and stastically, chances are very high you're in a lower tax bracket than I am. All hail Teddy Roosevelt -- it sounds like if you believed in heaven, it'd be a run by a bunch of chimps beating the crap out of each other to establish power.

Re:The coolest part

[Anonymous Coward]

And they won't get any until their 25th birthday. He has also stated they will NOT have any part of Microsoft. I have to give him creds forone thing he is at least giving away is money... I don't see Larry Ellison or Steve Jobs doing like wise.

Still it would be nice to have enough money to go to any college or university in the world without having to decide if I should have the Mac and Cheese or the Raman for dinner.

Re:The coolest part

[ed1park]

Why? Because the way he acquired his wealth was immoral. Go ask the DOJ.

Re:The coolest part

[Anonymous Coward]

I suspect there are many days when he and his family wishes they could drive to Disneyland and go on the rides like everyone else.

Having worked at a Theme Park in Orlando, I can tell you with definity that much larger celebrities go all the time.

Hell, Michael Jackson takes his kid all the time. Shaq O'Neil brings his kids, and he's hated in Orlando. Kobe Bryant... hell, I've even seen Ron Jeremy in the park.

I can understand your sympathy, but trust me. There are plenty of famous people who go to theme parks.

Re:The coolest part

[IronChef]

this looks pretty normal to me.

Re:The coolest part

[ifwm]

That wasn't the point of any of this, and the DOJ has nothing to do with morality, but legality. Legal is not the same as moral.

Re:The coolest part

[ifwm]

I'll address one and only one point of your ridiculous post.

I am a teacher. I teach children, all of whom have been removed from their homes and placed in a residential treatment facility, normally for abuse or neglect. My students have assaulted me more times than I can count, curse at me on a regular basis, and have some of the most difficult behaviors you can imagine.

My job is harder than any other job I know of. I KNOW it's harder than your job. Don't you DARE tell me that I don't work hard.

Re:The coolest part

[Carewolf]

Think of a country like Sudan. $100 billion is not going to save that country's problems.

Actually, that is enough to save several poor african countries. The political problems involed in saving one country over another, and making sure the money gets spend right without destroying the local economy, or loosing them to corruption, just makes such a thinh impractically for philantropes that are only looking for good publicity.

How to Win at Lawmaking

[diagnosis]

While this whole thing may reek of money politics, it sounds like this whole thing is at least coming down 'on the right side' of some issues, encouraging the extension of the moratorium on 'net sales taxes, and loose regulation of VoIP. Of course, there is still that minor 'monopoly' issue.

Politics can be pretty distateful, especially when it involves things like shutting down public roads so that rich people can talk to politicians in private.

Anyway, it sounds like Microsoft is lobbying the National Governors Association (NGA) to have more forward-thinking opinions on the things they have influence over: The 'Net sales tax moratorium, VoIP regulations, etc. While I doubt many people agree with MS's thoughts about their monopoly, it is nice to have someone 'legitimate' pushing the NGA in a more Libertarian direction, at least a little bit.

----------------------
Freedom or Evil: Freevil.net
G. W. Bush says, "You decide!"

Public Money Privately Spent

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the interesting observation here is the expenditure of taxpayer dollars enabling a private meeting for the sole purpose of furthering the development of a given companies business.

Can't blame Mr. Gates, this is just the system apparently.

Re:Potential

[NiceGuyUK]

Might be an idea to re-read the article, viz-a-viz his guestlist. Lot of top government types at that party...

You wouldn't want anything to *happen* to your elected officials now would you?

This is news?

[prisoner-of-enigma]

OK, other than the class warfare angle that plays so well to anti-capitalist-types on Slashdot, exactly why is this news? Bill Gates threw a ball for a bunch of current and ex-government types. He paid for it with his own cash. If he got "government" guards, it's because government guests were present. Duh! The Slashdot "article" on this reads like a bit of Bill-Gates-is-rich-and-evil propaganda.

Look, I don't like the guy and I don't like Windows, but what he does with his own time and his own money is his business. You don't see a Slashdot article about "John Kerry and John Edwards host celebrity-laden post-convention gala with celebrity personal security" do you?

I mean, I know Slashdot is heavily biased, but you ought to go back to at least trying to hide it.

Re:This is news?

[xbrownx]

I think that regardless of what company he worked for, most readers here would be fascinated with an internal description of the estate of the richest man in the world.

I wish the story had even more details on his house - Bill should do Cribs

Re:This is news?

[adam mcmaster]

I agree that the security is not important news, but I am bothered by the party itself. It seems that since Gates is rich, he is able to buy the support of politicians using fancy parties. That doesn't seem fair to me.

Re:This is news?

[fermion]

Class warfare plays well to capitalist types as well. Look at the Republican commercials over the years. The are laden with class demagoguery.

Of course, since the courts of the land has deemed MS to a monopoly, there is little relation between MS and the free market. Unless, of course, you don't believe in law and order. In which case I must assume you are a democrat or a socialist or a communist. Just joking.

But seriously, the issue is that a few people with a bunch of money is not free market or capitalism or democracy. People must have money to buy stuff for a free market consumer economy to function. Extending easy credit just goes so far. At some point sacrifices have to be made at the top to insure that everyone can buy stuff. After all, the a single wealthy can only buy so much stuff. A million poor people allowed to earn a few extra dollars is going to buy quite a bit more stuff. This might mean that the weathly can no longer own people, but that went out of style years ago.

Re:This is news?

[YrWrstNtmr]

Have you taken note of all the million dollar parties at the Democratic Convention this week? DO you think the companies and organizations paying for these parties are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts? HA. Buying access and influence.

As it always has been.

Re:This is news?

[GoofyBoy]

>It seems that since Gates is rich, he is able to buy the support of politicians using fancy parties.

You get as much support as Gates does by getting involved with politics just like Gates.

You can write/talk to them for FREE.
You can join political groups.
Most importantly, you get to choose who next year Gates want to be talking to.

Re:This is news?

[adam mcmaster]

I never said Gates is unique, they're all just as bad.

Re:This is news?

[adam mcmaster]

Do you seriously believe that you as an individual have as much power as those individuals with millions (or billions) of dollars? I certainly don't.

Re:This is news?

[prisoner-of-enigma]

Of course, since the courts of the land has deemed MS to a monopoly, there is little relation between MS and the free market.

Umm, sorry, but I have to call BS. Find me a court decision where Microsoft was decreed to be a "monopoly." You'll fail, because no such thing ever happened. The DOJ is investigating MS for unfair competition, not being a monopoly. The two are not equal.

In fact, Microsoft can't be a monopoly, and you yourself prove it. A monopoly requires the absence of competition, yet last I checked, Linux and Apple are selling well. Last I checked, Netcraft said the vast majority of web servers out there aren't IIS, they're Apache. You have alternatives to Microsoft, ergo Microsoft cannot be a monopoly. It can be an 800 pound gorilla, a force to be reckoned with, but it is not a monopoly. So you're either misinformed, exaggerating, or outright lying. I hope it's the first case.

But seriously, the issue is that a few people with a bunch of money is not free market or capitalism or democracy.

You're wrong on both counts. First, and simplest, the U.S. is not a Democracy despite our public education systems's intense indoctrination program to convince us otherwise. We are a representative Republic. The Founding Fathers specifically did not want a Democracy because they recognized it for what it is: mob rule. In a true Democracy, women would never have been allowed to vote because the majority was against it. Blacks would never have overcome segregation because the majority was against it. Democracy is dangerous.

But to the other point, a free market system inevitably leads to a small number of companies or individuals running the whole show. It happens because of the competitive nature of the free market: he (or she) who can do the best job wins. The company that can produce the best product for the best price with the best profit margin wins in the long run. In essense it is no different than nature, where the most adaptable, aggressive, intelligent, ferocious animal dominates the local environment. Aside from man, lions don't really have any predators. There's a reason for that, and it's the same reason Gates has become as successful as he has: he's good at it.

Re:This is news?

[alecks]

Why? Because all the geeks in the world love to hear how the richest, most powerful, geek in the world lives like. Fusk you. Get off my browser.

Re:This is news?

[DunbarTheInept]

If the American people had any freakin' backbone, we *would* have that kind of power. What is needed is the backbone to tell the two major parties to go stuff it, and vote for whom we *want* to instead of always trying for the lesser of two evils. Would it have an effect right away? No. But KEEP DOING it year after year and it will as the numbers of dissenters rise higher and higher.

Re:This is news?

[DunbarTheInept]

This "party" is a regularly occurring thing. This meeting of governors happens often. And each time it's held somewhere different. This year it happened to be held at Gates' place. Next time it will be somewhere else. This isn't so much Gates saying "I think I'll start a party and invite governors" as it is Gates saying "I think I'll invite those governors who are already having a party anyway, to come have it here this time."

There are plenty of *real* reasons to hate Gates. This isn't one of them.

Re:This is news?

[DunbarTheInept]

Where you even alive a few years ago? At all? The old Netscape vs Microsoft ruling *did* find Microsoft to be a monopoly. Absolutely. It's just that being a monopoly is not a crime by itself. It opens up the possibiilty for types of crimes that would otherwise be impossible, but it is still possible to be a monopoly and not get in trouble for it if you watch your behaviour carefully. And no, 100% marketshare is not the definition of a monopoly.

So, to put it in your own words, "you're either misinformed, exaggerating, or outright lying. I hope it's the first case."


The company that can produce the best product for the best price with the best profit margin wins in the long run.

What does "best" mean here? It doesn't mean "best for the consumer".

Re:This is news?

[voidptr]

Come election day, you and Bill Gates both have the same number of votes.

Re:This is news?

[Anonymous Coward]

Find me a court decision where Microsoft was decreed to be a "monopoly."
Microsoft enjoys monopoly power in the relevant market. Note that this was a finding of fact, not a finding of law.

Re:This is news?

[adam mcmaster]

Yes, but I don't have the option of also influencing the policy makers with money.

Re:This is news?

[prisoner-of-enigma]

Where you even alive a few years ago? At all? The old Netscape vs Microsoft ruling *did* find Microsoft to be a monopoly. Absolutely.

Prove it. Put up a link to the court document that specifically calls Microsoft a monopoly. Do it and I'll post a retraction and an apology. If you can't do it, you owe me a retraction and an apology.

And no, 100% marketshare is not the definition of a monopoly.

Main Entry: monopoly
Pronunciation: m&-'nä-p(&-)lE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -lies
Etymology: Latin monopolium, from Greek monopOlion, from mon- + pOlein to sell
1 : exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2 : exclusive possession or control
3 : a commodity controlled by one party
4 : one that has a monopoly

Oops! What's that I find? You're wrong again, it seems. So sad. Please post your retraction and apology and I'll feel a little less guilty about pointing out your deficiency.

So, to put it in your own words, "you're either misinformed, exaggerating, or outright lying. I hope it's the first case."

Since you've been unable to post anything remotely resembling evidence to back up your assertion, it is you that fits this question. So far, the answer seems to be option number three, but please feel free to prove me wrong.

What does "best" mean here? It doesn't mean "best for the consumer".

Exactly! "Best" is a nebulous term that can mean anything, but in this case, "best" means whatever product the consumers decided to adopt. Microsoft Office is "best" in the category of being the most successful product suite in the history of computing. Is that "best" for consumers? Well, they're buying it in droves...what do you think? It's either the "best" in its class or there is no viable competitor. Since competition exists in the form of things like Wordperfect suite, or OpenOffice, or StarOffice, or all the others, clearly consumers have chosen Office as the "best" of the pack. Whether it's "best" for you is irrelevant to the discussion; you representing an insignificant fraction of buying power. The majority has chosen Office as the "best" by numbers alone. Everything else is secondary.

Re:This is news?

[DunbarTheInept]

Okay, I'll call your bluff. I don't believe for a moment that you are truly ignorant of these things. You're just hoping I wouldn't bother taking the time to dig up a URL to a five year old document. But
here is a place where the whole thing is posted verbatim.

Here's a relevant excerpt since I doubt you have the integrety to back up your bluster with actual action and take the time to read the thing:

33. Microsoft enjoys so much power in the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems that if it wished to exercise this power solely in terms of price, it could charge a price for Windows substantially above that which could be charged in a competitive market. Moreover, it could do so for a significant period of time without losing an unacceptable amount of business to competitors. In other words, Microsoft enjoys monopoly power in the relevant market.

34. Viewed together, three main facts indicate that Microsoft enjoys monopoly power. First, Microsoft's share of the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems is extremely large and stable. Second, Microsoft's dominant market share is protected by a high barrier to entry. Third, and largely as a result of that barrier, Microsoft's customers lack a commercially viable alternative to Windows.

These are the words of the judge in his findings of fact statement.


2 : exclusive possession or control

Now learn what "or control" means. It means having *enough* of a majority that you can exert exclusive control - and that does not require 100%

By your misinterpretation of the definition there never could be a monopoly ever. All it would take would the exisitence of one single copy of one single product that is simliar to the one in question and there would be no monopoly. By your interpretation, Standard Oil would not have been a monopoly, and that company was the test case that the whole friggin anti-trust law system was designed for.


"best" means whatever product the consumers decided

When you can't buy product A without buying product B, and product A is the one you really want, you haven't "decided" to pick product B - you're getting it along for the ride. This is precisely how Microsoft won the OS market. People wanted cheap PC-compatables. MS-DOS was what was required to come with them.

Re:This is news?

[DunbarTheInept]

Damn slashdot ate my html. Here it is in plain text since the HREF markup got eaten:

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.ht m

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/lo ng term/microsoft/documents/fof1.htm

(Both contain the same text - just from different servers)

Re:This is news?

[prisoner-of-enigma]

Here's a relevant excerpt since I doubt you have the integrety to back up your bluster with actual action and take the time to read the thing:

Actually, I have read it, or at least the relevant portions of it. You quote it correctly, but you misunderstand exactly what a "finding of fact" is. It is not a verdict, and if you'll check this article commenting on the finding of fact, you'll realize that.

I took the liberty of actually calling the Judge's office on this matter (his Chambers phone number is listed). His office confirmed that this is not a legal verdict and has no weight, it is merely a finding of fact that can be used to determine a verdict.

So, legally, Microsoft has still never been determined to be a monopoly. Judge Jackson's FoF letter is evidence, but it is not a ruling. So, while you've made an interesting literary diversion for me, you still have not found a verdict or ruling calling Microsoft a monopoly. Please try again, this is starting to get interesting.

Re:This is news?

[prisoner-of-enigma]

Awww...I see you haven't responded. I can only assume you've realized the futility of your argument and are quitting while you're behind. Prudent move on your part. Perhaps when we next meet you'll be better prepared and better informed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and gloat over my next victim.

Intern?

[Anonymous Coward]

What's an intern doing over there? And he's blogging? I'd say it's a PR stunt (inviting the intern, that is)...

The whole Microsoft employees blogging thing is also a PR stunt, to show the softer, gentler Microsoft. (Yeah, right!)

What's the big deal here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Influence peddling?

Special treatment of Gates?

Taxpayer money wasted on a private party?

Personally, I don't see something to be hugely concerned about here.

Re:What's the big deal here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Parent AC here - I wasn't trying to be funny.

Gates apparently payed for the party. I don't think he was given special security treatment. The gaurds and security zone were for the dignitaries.

Maybe you could make an argument about influence peddling, but honestly, there are slicker ways to pull it off.

This is just typical bullshit /. microsoft bashing from that dipwad Michael.

"well it was the dumbest thing I've ever read!"

[op00to]

"well it was the dumbest thing I've ever read!"

... so, he's not half bad, but he says terribly crass and unthoughtful things like this. Right.

Re:"well it was the dumbest thing I've ever read!"

[poohsuntzu]

So he answered honestly. So maybe he was having a bad day. Never been short or honest in your answers before?

You are trying to compare an entire man's persona based upon ONE sentance, versus the rest of the article/journal?

Re:"well it was the dumbest thing I've ever read!"

[op00to]

People were honestly interested in this guy's opinion of the article. He answered in the typical alpha-geek, offish manner. This is the exact same reason why the IT staff at many companies are also hated.

Yes, sometimes we get pissed off. But as responsible adults, we deal with our emotions. If he wants to punch a hole in a wall when he is alone, that's great. But to write off someone else's wowrk as "dumb" shows that this guy really ignores everyone else's ideas except his own. Sounds like he's acting more like a 4 year old than an adult to me.

Re:I wouldn't dine with gates

[easter1916]

If the list is endless, that must mean that it includes everyone on the planet, and then some more (aliens?). Don't you ever tire of eating alone?

Re:I wouldn't dine with gates

[Anonymous Coward]

Not even if we sent you in packing heat?

Awesome Alliteration Aggravates Anti-MS Attitudes.

[Randolpho]

Seriously, I love good alliteration. Big kudos for a cool title.

Re:Bill and Newt together..???!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, John Kerry and John Edwards were just together in the same room a barely a day ago. You missed your chance there, too!

Disclaimer: Author neither want to imply nor inspire persons of dubious honor to stalk either of above characters with a "shoulder mounted" cruise, although it would be kinda gratifying if someone did.

I've argued at length with Bill Gates, He's sharp!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've argued at length with Bill Gates, He's sharp!

It was a little over 10 years ago, and the man and i argued about computer technologies and programming.

He had a variety of perfect angles at defending his position, and was fully up to date on all the latest trends and tools. This should not have been but was. Perhaps it was his hobby.

Mevertheless the guy was packed with info and loved a heated loud debate with a non-employee.

I will always respect that man's brain, even if I hate every microsoft product except some early mac products of theirs.

By the way he had NO SECURITY DETAIL of any kind at this San Jose party. (This was before his pie in the face attack in Belgium, but after Bill Joy (?) abduction).

Bill Gates is a super geek giant, and truly knows it all.

Re:Potential

[meganthom]

I am (and was) aware that the guestlist included some extremely well-known government players. However, it sounds as though the party was not extremely large (especially considering that Gates' garage has space for around 30 cars), and, more importantly, it was a private party. I don't think homeland security intervention was at all justified. The article says nothing about how many of these guests actually attended--if you read carefully, you see the article just mentions some of the key figures who attended the NGA conference--or even how many were invited. It may be stretching it, but the potential to abuse such a system is still there. Think of all the actors who are friends with important political figures...

Why should I be outraged?

[Erwos]

So, basically, Gates throws a party, invites a bunch of rather important people, and then the government _dares_ to protect them for the night? This hardly seems wasteful - for once, the government is doing their job, and protecting people who really need to be protected. Keep in mind that Bill and friends face a much larger security threat than does the average /.'er.

I mean, come on, guys. Save the outrage for the outrageous. Would you be happier if Bill hired a private army equipped with military weapons to do the protection?

-Erwos

Nah....

[JohnTheFisherman]

Feature Forwarded For Fanning Fanatical Flames.

organs intact, still feeling/acting heartless?

[Anonymous Coward]

consult with/trust in yOUR creators.... keeping things flowing 'smoothly' since/until forever. see you there?

tell 'em robbIE? or knot?

aaaaaaah

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry but I can't stand all this being nice to Bill stuff, This is /. for god's sake.

Microsoft has reached and held on to the current position it occupies by destroying competitors in the most appalling and brutal way possible. They did it to Lotus making sure that 123 couldn't work on each new release of Windows, they did it to handwriting pioneers Go, they did it to Netscape (trying to destroy the reputations of a number of genuine innovators like Tim Bray who was subject to a vicious, deeply personal extended attack by Microsoft in which they tried to destroy his career and took lethal action against a small struggling company because his wife worked there, all because he'd signed a consulting engagement with Netscape), they more or less did it to Apple and they're having a damn good go at Sun, and they will do it to Linux if they can work out how to. Now if Gates, as the starry-eyed intern suggests, actually believed passionately in software and computing (as I do) he wouldn't work for a company that sets out to kill anything interesting or innovative that he comes across. Perhaps its all Ballmer's fault, but I doubt it.

Re:aaaaaaah

[Anonymous Coward]

Loser whine.

Hey competition is tough. Don't blame these guys for playing the game well.

You sound like a girl.

Re:aaaaaaah

[Anonymous Coward]

But Gates has a small problem. Regardless of how he feels about how the company is currently being run, he still owns 30% of the stock. If he were to quit tomorrow, the stock would plummet. Likewise, if he put his shares up for sale, the stock would plummet. Like it or not, he must remain where he is and pretend he loves everything M$ is doing; to do otherwise would wipe out much of his assets. And it is very difficult to be a philanthropist with no money!

the house (continued)

[Anonymous Coward]

Once into the home you are greeted by a magnificient grand staircase that, in stark comparison to nearly all notable estates, descended for quite a distance.
Further and further you descend, past what seems to be an annex library; then as the heat and the smell of brimstone increases, the estate workers, all wearing red and carrying pitch forks, greet you.

gates is cool

[gotpaint32]

This may be flamebait but who cares. Theres too many idiots on slashdot who just need a clue. Some slashdot people hate Bill Gates because he is the man behind Windows, ooh the evil microsoft company that attacks cool noble things like Linux. Jeez, give me a break. Open source zealotry has its place, but comparing the "good" the linux movement did versus what Bill is accomplishing now; I think Bills the clear winner.

And despite all the useless mud that open source fanboys sling at Gates, I say Gate's effort in donating and founding organizations to promote education; world health as well as civic and arts organizations in perhaps the neediest regions of the globe makes him #1 in my book.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Five years ago, in a story on Bill Gates' philanthropy, Salon asked the question, "Is Bill Gates a Closet Liberal?" At the time, Gates had not yet really opened the floodgates of his charitable giving, but a close look at the causes he had supported indicated he was interested in reproductive health and family planning issues, and fighting the spread of infectious diseases, with a focus on the Third World. Since then, Gates has publicly promised to give away 95 percent of his wealth -- $43 billion as of September 2002 -- and he appears to be living up to his words.

In "Health, Wealth, and Bill Gates," a new installment of "NOW With Bill Moyers" airing Friday night on PBS, Gates talks at length about his involvement in global health issues. The interview is a fascinating, detailed look at how and why Gates is giving away his billions. And while it doesn't definitively answer the question of whether Gates is a liberal -- saving dying children is not the province of a particular ideology -- one thing emerges: Gates may go down in history as the single individual who did more to help the world's neediest people than anyone who has ever lived. In the interview, Gates comes off as knowledgeable, sincere and determined to use his wealth to effect massive change. Whatever you think of his business practices, when it comes to global health he is one righteous dude.

Source:
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/ 05/09/gates /index_np.html
>>>>>>>>>>>

Re:gates is cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Well said.

One of the big problems that the socialist idiots on /. have is that they don't realize the massive good tremendous wealth creation can have on society.

Gates didn't steal that money from anyone. He created it. And now he is giving this money away, money that would never be there if he hadn't created it, to help the neediest segments of society.

Re:gates is cool

[SlipJig]

The wife of a coworker of mine works for the CDC, and she travels all over the place doing field studies. She remarked of a recent trip to Haiti that people practically worship the Gates family for their support of health clinics. In fact I remember one story she told of an occasion when Bill and Melinda visited there, and some locals were dropping their pants to show them that they were healed of whatever diseases were affecting their genital regions. Needless to say, Melinda was pretty embarrassed ;-) Apparently people aren't very shy in Haiti compared to the U.S.

Re:gates is cool

[Zebbers]

He's helping people via money he gets by maintaining a monopoly.

It's unimpressive....it's all about relative wealth and disposable income. The money he gives is a drop in a tiny tiny tiny bucket for him. While it is admirable that he is doing good things with extra money compared to others, it's not really out of his way.

What irks me is that he, and microsoft, have so much cash and such a profit margin that they could retool their whole image and whole process and become a benevolent company. Instead they choose not to, and continue doing things like pushing around smaller companies and bankrolling sco.

It just amazes me. It would be so easy for them to do a 180 and start becoming better in the publics eyes. And I'm not talking geeks. The majority of regular people are frustrated with the lackluster quality of the software even if they don't realize the monopoly or the practices.

But, the reason Gate's got to where he is is his "never enough" mentality. While it may have made him one of the richest people in the world, and may have allowed him to do some good...the harm his company does by maintaining a monopoly and stifling innovation outweighs those benefits. It's called pulling a fast one people. Look, look I'm giving these people free cookies! Look! (Please don't look at the other people whom I'm beating down with my corporate moneystick.)

Re:gates is cool

[sql*kitten]

Gates may go down in history as the single individual who did more to help the world's neediest people than anyone who has ever lived.

You are exactly right. Compare that to Eric "it's mine mine mine and no-one else is getting a cent" Raymond's attitude.

Re:gates is cool

[gotpaint32]

Just take a look at who exactly is being beaten by the corporate moneystick... Well some rich investors for one, some programmers here and there, some execs, some lawyers, oh and the few ppl who whon't be able to go to acapulco for summer break because the company they invested in got beat by the MS$ stick. Now compare that with the good he's doing around the world. Helping ppl that would have never been helped otherwise. You tell those sick, needy ppl that saving their life from the ravages of disease and malnutrition is outwieghed by the need to have a slightly less buggy internet explorer. If you honestly believe this, you should be placed right next to Darl, because that is obtuse logic by anyones standards. Yes he has run a brutal campaign against competitors (the market says the competitors will only try harder = more innovation), Yes he has a lot of money, but No, you're still dead wrong. PS I find it hard to believe that gate's 95% of 45 billion he pledged to give to charity is just a drop in the bucket.

Re:gates is cool

[runderwo]

You tell those sick, needy ppl that saving their life from the ravages of disease and malnutrition is outwieghed by the need to have a slightly less buggy internet explorer. If you honestly believe this, you should be placed right next to Darl, because that is obtuse logic by anyones standards.

Interesting. Do you also think Microsoft's competitors should be outlawed in order to provide more income to the benevolent Mr. Gates? Is sending money to needy people in other countries which are too backwards to help themselves, more important than fostering a competitive environment in one of the world's leading technology nations? I think the idea that the ends justify the means here is rather shortsighted, but I'm not a sniveling Gates worshipper either.

Re:gates is cool

[Rostin]

It's unimpressive....it's all about relative wealth and disposable income. The money he gives is a drop in a tiny tiny tiny bucket for him. While it is admirable that he is doing good things with extra money compared to others, it's not really out of his way.

Call me when your net worth is tens of billions of dollars and you're giving away 95% of it. I really suspect the basis of this comment is a mistaken belief in your own decency, viz, "If I had billions of dollars, I'd give it all away except a couple of million to live on." Everyone SAYS that. I suspect it's much harder than it sounds. I might be way off the mark here, but if you are a working geek, chances are you have disposable income. What are you doing with it? It's a fair question because if it really is just about relative wealth and disposable income, some dirt farmer or kid going through the garbage in a third world country could justifiably look at you and say, "Wow! If I had that guy's cash, I'd be giving it away like mad!" And then he would wonder, unless I miss my guess, why you aren't.

While it may have made him one of the richest people in the world, and may have allowed him to do some good...the harm his company does by maintaining a monopoly and stifling innovation outweighs those benefits.

I could buy the argument that the ends don't justify the means. But to argue that the harm MS has done really outweighs the good Gates has done with his personal wealth is mindboggling. So some relatively affluent people have been put out of work (in a country where the government would take care of them, worse case scenario), and your favorite software isn't as popular as maybe it might otherwise be. A lot of the money he is shoveling out is going more or less directly to save people's lives. Do you really think the two compare?

Re:gates is cool

[Trelane]

Yep. Look at those poor people in rags fighting over that last scrap of bread! How pathetic! They should really share more with each other and make do with the tenth-slice they'd each get if they would just be nice to each other!

Why can't those poor people be more like that rich man, who never fails to instruct his butler to give a dollar to every homeless person he sees as he drives by in his Rolls Royce of the Day?!

Proportionality, friend. Yes, people should be nice to each other and share, but those who live high on the hog are burndened all the more, and seldom live up to that burden as well. They just have all the more freedom to share resources, since they have no need of them.

It sounds callous, but call me when Bill Gates is living in a 3- or 4-bedroom home and has two cars because he's giving the excess to charity. Then I'll have full respect for the man.

Re:gates is cool

[Trelane]

Please note that I am a hypocrite; I do not give nearly enough to charity. That said, I'm working hard on improving myself in this respect. That, and by my own measure, I don't fully respect myself either. :/

Full disclosure.

Re:gates is cool

[gotpaint32]

For your first question, obviously not - microsoft can take care of itself; as for the second yes I certainly do. I don't understand why you are whining about helping out the poor guys (software industry that cannot fight ms) and at the same time frown on helping some "backward nation" (FYI that term is often considered derogatory) Why don't we foster some competition in the global marketplace, I hear it's better... On another note, I may be a sniveling gates worshipper but rest assured, with your level of compassion for your fellow man, noone will ever worship you.

Re:gates is cool

[ath0mic]

Great comment dude! (Don't worry, a lot of people know this, despite the constant bombardment of /. MS FUD).

Re:gates is cool

[sql*kitten]

Proportionality, friend.

Even on proportionality Gates beats ESR hands down, since ESR said he would give NOTHING away. Gates is on track to give away the vast majority of his wealth before he dies.

Re:gates is cool

[Trelane]

If so, then I applaud him. However, a 30-car garage and a huge mansion is not indicitave of it. His foundation is one thing (and, incidentally, isn't entirely his money, from what I understand).

A good question, though, is how much benefit or cost the world would have if Microsoft didn't have a monopoly in their various areas while BillG didn't have as much money free to give away.

Do you have more info on that "on track to give away the vast majority of his wealth" bit? I have a vague recollection now that you mention it, but I don't have a solid lead.

Re:gates is cool

[Trelane]

Actually, while I'm on the subject, I found that really the coolest part of Anti-Trust (ok, aside from the GNOME screens ;): the whole question they set up of Big Monopoly Problems versus Wealth Created being Redistributed to the Needs of the World.

Very thought-provoking and probably an excellent coffee house discussion if you're ever in Iowa. ;)

Re:gates is cool

[DunbarTheInept]

Just take a look at who exactly is being beaten by the corporate moneystick... Well some rich investors for one, some programmers here and there, some execs, some lawyers, oh and the few ppl who whon't be able to go to acapulco for summer break because the company they invested in got beat by the MS$ stick.

And billions of people, from future generations, that will lack the benefits of technology because his company retarded its progress. Gag orders via DRM and DMCA are very damaging to the future of humanity. I don't give a damn about speculative investors getting screwed. I do give a damn about making knowlege illegal.

Re:gates is cool

[Anonymous Coward]

"in a country where the government would take care of them, worse case scenario"

Which country is that? Do you mean the good old U.S. of A? Have you ever tried to get this "care" you say exists? Have you ever been to a homeless shelter and seen how many are turned away? Oh, but they are lazy people... they could get jobs if they tried. I have volunteered at homeless shelters. Most of the people I have seen are no different from people I have worked with. They are smart and are willing to work... but try to get employed when you don't have an address or phone number... Homeless is homeless whether it is in Africa or your own back yard.

Re:gates is cool

[Peter Cooper]

He's helping people via money he gets by maintaining a monopoly.

True, but this still makes him better than the "Government" which maintains an unearned monopoly on country governance and only helps people who've been pushed into the gutter by the government's own actions.

Re:gates is cool

[Peter Cooper]

"If I had billions of dollars, I'd give it all away except a couple of million to live on." Everyone SAYS that. I suspect it's much harder than it sounds. I might be way off the mark here, but if you are a working geek, chances are you have disposable income. What are you doing with it? It's a fair question because if it really is just about relative wealth and disposable income, some dirt farmer or kid going through the garbage in a third world country could justifiably look at you and say, "Wow! If I had that guy's cash, I'd be giving it away like mad!" And then he would wonder, unless I miss my guess, why you aren't.

Because there is a certain floor level of money with which it's possible to live 'comfortably' (not over extravagantly) in the West. A billionaire can give away 95% of his wealth and still live comfortably. A guy on $20k per year couldn't give away $19k and live on $1k a year, it's just not possible. Your whole argument falls flat on this principle.

Re:gates is cool

[runderwo]

I don't understand why you are whining about helping out the poor guys (software industry that cannot fight ms)

Where did I whine about that? Gates broke the law to make his billions. Plain and simple fact. Does the law not apply to charitable men?

and at the same time frown on helping some "backward nation" (FYI that term is often considered derogatory)

It's not our fault that their people refuse to overthrow dictatorships or to prevent them from being installed in the first place. It's not like we wouldn't help them if they tried. Why should we prop up a system which is inevitably doomed? Feeding the hungry foreign nationals only ensures that they will be comfortable with their current miserable situation for that much longer instead of organizing a revolt.

On another note, I may be a sniveling gates worshipper but rest assured, with your level of compassion for your fellow man, noone will ever worship you.

You're just whining and promoting a double standard. If I made as much money as Gates, I'd be investing it into wiser things than buying loyalty. My money would go towards research to increase the standard of living, and to education institutions worldwide. His money just buys him boot-lickers, both from people who are in tough situations in other countries, and people like you who assign to them none of the blame for their situation. They're just poor helpless victims! We _owe_ them our support, and the largest Microsoft shareholder is supporting them, ergo we should be proud to give our money to Microsoft. Give me a break.

I'm not cold and heartless. I just expect people to beg for their handouts if they really want them. None of this Robin Hood crap. It just fosters a cycle of dependence which continues into the next generation, instead of motivating people to fix the underlying problems in their societies.

Re:gates is cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently people aren't very shy in Haiti compared to the U.S.

Hence the rampant veneral diseases in Haiti.

Re:gates is cool

[Rostin]

My argument does not "fall flat." I was speaking about disposable income, not suggesting that a person making $20,000 should give away 95% of it. I agree that if he did that, he would shortly lose what income he had because of being unable to groom regularly, dress appropriately for work, make it to work, etc.

It's true that a person on income X who gives away a fraction Y of his disposable income will, as a result, be unable to buy nearly as many nice things as another person who has inccome Z >> X who gives away fraction Y of his disposable income.

But, again, call me when you are a billionaire. What you say about "the West" may apply equally to people taking in 9 or 10 digit incomes. Billionaires may have quite a different idea about what living comfortably is, just as a person we would consider impoverished might find the lifestyle we think is merely "comfortable" to be grotesquely luxurious - even the lifestyle we are able to enjoy after giving self-sacrificially (in our minds as middle class Westerners) to charity.

For example, billionaires may be billionaires in part because of a great love of accumulating wealth, and giving away so much of it may involve a far larger sacrifice psychologically than is experienced by the middle-class man, even if after they both give, they have equal amounts to live on.

I say all this to challenge what seemed to me to be the naive assumption of the parent that the only consideration here in evaluating whether Gate's generosity is noteworthy is the amount of wealth he had left over aftewards. I think it's part of the story, but I also think that giving up 95% of what you own is a really big deal, whether you still have a couple of billion to live on or not.

The analogy isn't perfect (it's an analogy, after all), but I do think it's clarifying a bit. It's hypocritical in a way to judge extremely wealthy people for not giving away more when, relative to the really impoverished, most of us are also very wealthy, and yet buy electronic gadgets and new cars and other things that we don't need by any stretch of the imagination rather than helping them.

Re:gates is cool

[Eminor]

Call me when your net worth is tens of billions of dollars and you're giving away 95% of it.

I hardly think Billy Boy is giving away 95% of his wealth.

chances are you have disposable income. What are you doing with it?

Amnesty International mabey. Because perhaps the Suadi's have a worse human rights record than Iraq.

And I don't think the generosity of one of the founders of Microsoft justifies their gross bussiness practises.

Re:gates is cool

[Rostin]

... Let me guess. You only read every third word or so of my post before replying, right?

Cigar anyone?

[Anonymous Writer]

If your invitation to Gates' place got "lost in the mail", you can read about a Microsoft intern who got to have dinner with the big cheese.

Anyone wonder if this Bill (antitrust guy) gets as close to his interns as the other Bill (impeachment guy)?

Re:Cigar anyone?

[mkeroppi]

Obviously, you have never taken a computer science class or a government and politics class. All I can tell you is that there's a BIG difference. I wouldn't want to even think about it if I were him (the rich Bill).

What did they eat?

[The_Real_Nire]

Did they serve... Pie? Perhaps?

Find the Obligatory Simpsons Quote!

[LittleGuy]

Microsoft is no stranger to astroturfing. I wonder how much the intern was paid for that post.

Gates: Those slashdotters...are they booing me?
Intern: Uh, no, they're saying "Boo-ill Gates! Boo-ill Gates!"
Gates: Are you saying "boo" or "Boo-ill Gates"?
Slashdot: Boo! Boo!
Hans: I was saying "Boo-ill Gates"...

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F31

And he's only a "t-"

[Sergeant Beavis]

Dang, he'll hang with the interns before he'll hang with us contractors.

Oh well, gotta keep humpin' for that blue badge and those great child adoption benefits. (a little personal goal)

Re:And he's only a "t-"

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course he'll hang out with the interns before he'll hang out with contractors. Interns get treated better than any other type of employee except executives. This has been my experience, anyway. And I love it. LOL

Re:Potential

[Anonymous Coward]

dont like it write your congressman that. put in the letter that "I don't think homeland security intervention was at all justified". furterher state that even though "that the guestlist included some extremely well-known government players" that "abuse such a system is ... there".

lets see how long before your put on some watch list to determine if your a threat. no way shape or form will you get anyone to say that congress or the richest man in america wont get some kind of protection albet protect he has hired or the protection written in the law of the land.

Hidden Agenda

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

Excerpts from the meeting:

Dart^C^C Bill Gates:

• "Present and former members of the Senate, Powerbrokers of the free world, if I am elected, I promise to put an end to corruption..."

Newt Gingrich:

• "Now they will elect a new Chancellor - a strong Chancellor. One who will not let our tragedy continue."

The security is actually the clone army in disguise!

Re:Potential

[MikeJ9919]

Tree? Huh? I always love it when people not only clearly have not read the article, but are then modded "Interesting" for having said something "deep." This is despite the fact that aforementioned post is completely without basis in fact.

Re:Potential

[andrew_0812]

I doubt even Gates would be able to command use of government security for personal reasons.

I don't think homeland security intervention was at all justified.

It is justified if high ranking government officials show up. They are there to protect the government officials, Not Gates, or Gates' family, or Gates' property. Gates has his own security team who do that. Any time high ranking government officials go to anything like this, they bring their own security. And their security takes charge over whatever normal security personnel are at the site.

No FUD to see here, move along...

Gates the Dad...

[mainframemouse]

I like the comments about Bill's daughter and I would love to have seen that event. Its easy to forget that he is a father. No matter what your status, our children can make us feel both humbled and rich.

Re:Gates the Dad...

[Anonymous Coward]

children

i would not take a million for mine, but i would not give you a nickel for another one just like him

Happens all the time

[YrWrstNtmr]

Ever tried to drive through a 'gated community'? Ever lose a dispute over a tree to the neighboring rich-kid home owners assn.? Ever watched a city council meeting, whereby a couple of private businesses railroad through a series of "improvements", and 'inadvertantly' cause the loss of someones home?

The House

[SlipJig]

...To the left was a room with a design so powerful that it could only exist in the home of the richest man in the world....

Am I the only one wondering what the hell this room looks like? Thanks for providing so little detail - now I won't be able to sleep for days ;-)

World's richest man? You mean Ingvar Kamprad?

[David Leppik]

The home of the world's richest man was a 'temporary security zone' when he held a party for members of the National Governors Association.

Bill Gates isn't the world's richest man. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of Ikea, is.

Richest Man??

[Xetrov]

I thought Gates lost the title of 'World's Richest Man'

Ellison Entertains Enraged Elephant in Expo

[smackman]

See here for details: http://enragedelephant.com

Re:Awesome Alliteration Aggravates Anti-MS Attitud

[Anonymous Coward]

Your title is assonance and not alliteration, for the record (vowel sounds instead of consonants).

Eyeball Bill's house at cryptome

[alanxyzzy]

Read the Department of Homeland Security's notice of the Security Zone Regulations it enforced for Elliot Bay and Lake Washington, WA.

See aerial photos of his house.

(mirror site) http://cryptome.sabotage.org/gates-eyeball.htm
(main site) http://cryptome.org/gates-eyeball.htm

Re:Eyeball Bill's house at cryptome

[Anonymous Coward]

Another eyeball featuring all known photos of Gates estate is here.

A suggestion

[jandersen]

- which I'm sure will get me modded down in the eyes of various goverments: Why not just drop all this protection of big and important politicians? Yeah, I know why, but just think about it - the average guy in power wuld have to put a bit more effort into not creating enemies, for one thing.

I remember a story about the Russian Czar visiting the king of Denmark; and they went to look at one of the famous landmarks in Copenhagen, the 'Round Tower', which is a church tower with a (at that time) advanced observatory at the top and no staircase inside (another story is that one king used to drive his carriage up there, but I'm not so sure about that). The story goes that the Czar wanted to demonstrate his absolute power over his soldiers as well as their courage, so he ordered a young lieutenant to climb over the balustrade and jump to his death (they were standing at the top of the tower), and the man started doing so, somewhat reluctantly I imagine, but none the less.

The King promptly got this stopped, of course - he didn't want to have that kind of spectacle in his city, but he admitted that he was impressed. 'But I have another kind of power', he said, 'I can go out into the countryside, unarmed, to any farmhouse, rich or poor and stay the night, and the farmer will be my personal guard. When hearing this, the Czar fell silent.

Re:A suggestion

[alanxyzzy]

And look what happened to Anna Lindh - a prominent Swedish politician. Stabbed by a nutter as she was shopping in a department store.

Re:A suggestion

[fuzzybunny]

..and look at what happened to hundreds, if not thousands of Popes, Roman Emperors, Kings, Queens, Presidents, Captains of Industry, Generals, Chieftains and other Potentates throughout history.

If someone tries to whack you, I mean really really really wants to do you in, they're going to, walls and barbed wire and guards or not.

Re:A suggestion

[alanxyzzy]

If someone tries to whack you, I mean really really really wants to do you in, they're going to, walls and barbed wire and guards or not.

If someone wants to steal your corporate secrets, they're going to, passwords and firewalls and anti-virus and IDS systems or not. That isn't an argument for abandoning (relatively) cheap and unintrusive security precautions.

Re:A suggestion

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the dumbest thing I ever heard.

Guess who's most likely to attack a politician?

I'll give you a hint - McVeigh & company.

Who has guns and is willing to kill people with them? The KKK is a lot more likely than the NAACP.

If a politician isn't an outright racist, I can *GUARANTEE* you that there are hate groups out there who would take a shot at him/her in an instant.

Simply put, your naive view of the world should not be listed as insightful - short-sighted, for sure. "Don't make enemies!" How fucking stupid are you not to realize that the enemies are the people we all probably would want protection from.

Or would you like to see politicians so scared because they've no protection that they start espousing Nazi ideals?

Insightful, my left nut.

Re:Potential

[mrwonton]

I'm not sure I follow your logic. Gates' party involved him donating money to the NGA, who's party the following night had about 30 governors in attendance. Its therefor pretty safe to say they had a pretty big list of bigwigs there that they wanted to protect.

Also, perhaps you didn't read the Blog entry. The party-goers were ferried near Gates' estate by coach buses, so I'd say it was a pretty big party.

It was unusual, dumbass.

[twitter]

Let's look at the article again:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a "temporary security zone" earlier this month around Gates' Lake Washington home ... Security zones prevent any person or watercraft from entering the area without explicit government permission. They're normally used to tighten security around military bases and naval facilities, and it's exceedingly rare for them to be erected around a private residence.

The government guests amounted to much less than national security. The National Governors Association in town did not get the same treatment elsewhere. Indeed, only the President of the United States, aka the leader of the free world, merits such attention.

So how did this happen? Must be something with the software used to predict terrorist attacks, eh?

It was also intersting to read the account of the intern with Mist in his eyes. The "Perfect" house and non intrusive guards and all the other fawning was perfectly sickening. It's so overblown that you have to wonder if he did it that way on purpose, knowing how scrubbed his writing would be by mindless PR drones. It did convey some interesting details. I'd never have guessed the overall sense of raving paranoid "security" that exists 24/7 in Gates land. The bit about t-badges was also interesting. What I'd really like, however, is the same story from someone with much less at stake, like a member of the catering crew, "dressed to match the adornment of the tables." Oh, that furniture might talk!

Other things to note are the usual progression of influence peddling. Big fancy meals, money flowing and even use of children. I do hope that the presentation of Gate's daughter was unplanned, but that would go against the sickening control exhibited by everything right down to the grass, "... the grass was groomed. It was groomed in a way that requires handheld scissors to prune daily." Me barfs.

Re:It was unusual, dumbass.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sooner or later you're going to die, you petulant zealot! Is this what you want your life's legacy to be? Your funeral will be attended by few, and the ones who remember you at all will have this conversation:

"At least twitter lived such a long life."

"Yes, well, he never ventured outside so he was never exposed to the dangers of the real world. However he was morbidly obese and spent his days and nights in his parents' basement, masturbating into the open drive bay of his GNU/Linux computer, depositing his semen into his only true friend."

"I know, and his life's only legacy is a long history of paranoid loony rantings about 'Micro$oft' on a defunct web site called Slashdot. Unfortunately, due to its reliance on amateurish computer platforms such as Linux and MySQL, Slashdot crashed horribly in late 2004 and all of twitter's writings were lost."

"He descended into a life of despondency, and for the last few terrible years of his life he was bedridden in his parents' basement. His paranoid ravings that 'Bill is trying to poison my water! I'm too close to the truth! I want to believe!' could be heard emanating from miles away.

"Look now, they're lowering his casket along with his semen-encrusted GNU/Linux box, his only true lover."

Re:It was unusual, dumbass.

[prisoner-of-enigma]

The government guests amounted to much less than national security. The National Governors Association in town did not get the same treatment elsewhere. Indeed, only the President of the United States, aka the leader of the free world, merits such attention.

In this day and age of terrorism, any gathering of a bunch of rich or powerful is cause for extraordinary security, not just the PotUS. The Oscar have no heavy political figures present, but security was tight as a drum. Ditto for the Golden Globes. The recent DNC event in Boston had security so tight they shut down the subway and closed streets for miles around the event, and John Kerry certainly isn't (and hopefully won't be) the President of the United States.



Stuff like this has been going on since the dawn of civilation, and it's going to continue to go on long after Gates is in the ground. If you're upset about it, you seem a bit thin-skinned to me, or perhaps hopelessly naive about how things happen in the real world. This is not meant to be cruel, just an observation. People with money and power attract other people with money and power, and they decide on things when they're together. If you want to change how things are, become rich and powerful yourself and hold your own galas instead of begruding others theirs. Read Orwell's "Harrison Bergeron" for a wonderful idea of what society would be like if everyone were required to be equal. You shouldn't want something like that, but it sounds like your envy has gotten the better of your logic.

Re:I've argued at length with Bill Gates, He's sha

[Anonymous Coward]

It was a little over 10 years ago, and the man and i argued about computer technologies and programming. He had a variety of perfect angles at defending his position, and was fully up to date on all the latest trends and tools.

To bad MS has not been up-to-date since then...

you forgot Homeland Security.

[twitter]

How about, "Homeland Security Usually Reserved for President of US and Military Bases extended to Bill Gate's House."

Note that the Government convention itself did not rate such mind numbing paranoia.

God help us if the owner of our worst artificial clerks should perish! Obviously, every frustrated terrorist in the world is targeting Bill Gates. Ali-Babba and his ilk must look up from his blue screen every day and curse old Bill. They got the little sticker, paid their money, registered, submitted and everything and it still crashes! How frustrating.

2 more cents to the pile......

[Anonymous Coward]

If you catch anyone in the right shade of light (so to speak) they can appear to be nice people, you can even be tricked into beleiving George Bush has a brain - but thats another story.

Yes applaud the fact that Bill Gates is a caring father (so are a lot of other males on the planet) and yes he has pursued the American (capitalist) dream to its greatest (clap clap clap) but the fact remains the company he founded and still has a strong controlling interest in has some very bad business practices. Software patents, anti-competitive practices and the list goes on.

Bill Gates as a dad - good for him.
Bill Gates founder of Microsoft - good for him.
Bill Gates a very rich man that can influence government policy - bad for us.

I hope he didn't make the most common mistake

[Chokai]

Well the intern made the single largest mistakes most newbie interns (I hope he's a newbie) make the first time they goto Bill's house. I think he'll learn though. :-)

Either way, I was a MS intern for 5 years, the first year I couldn't go but by my second party I had figured out that you don't talk to Bill for very long least for more than maybe 15 minutes. The reason? Because everyone else from MS, and then some is there, for example Tom Brokaw was at one of my parties because of MSNBC. I would ask you this question? When else in your life are you going to have a chance to talk one on one with a senior VP for MS for 4 hours, yes 4 hours. Or for that matter someone like David Cutler or Michael Kinsley (who was my choice as I am interested in politics) You can either do that or stand in the donut around Bill and ask two or three questions and get short one sentence answers.

I will admit that the house is quite impressive, when I was there I was informed by security that it's really two houses in one. The "conference center" part which is where you spend your time and a more intimate "living" part where the family actually spends thier time. I found the private little bungalow down by the beach with the adjacent boathouse the most interesting though, complete with lazy boys, a chess board and an interesting selection of books scattered around.

Re:Potential

[DavidBrown]

Actually it's the sort of "land of the free" in which the government provides security to a group of government leaders having dinner at a private citizen's house. The secret service would have been involved had the National Governor's Association met at the local IHOP.

And honestly, if Gates had the foot the bill for this, do you really think he wouldn't have done it without batting an eyelash? His home's annual gardening budget is probably more than what the security cost that day.

Gates that is.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, for a second there I thought you meant Adolf Hitler. I'm glad you clarified that, as I certainly can't see any difference.

digital fine artwork sources?

[Anonymous Coward]

Elegantly non-intrusive but screaming geekhood were sparsely placed digital canvases that, ever so often, changed the artwork on the wall.

Where does one find decent (1280x1024 at least) digitized artwork like that? Surely those images are all public domain, but all I can ever find are little tiny images -- suitable for homework, maybe, but not suitable for my wall display.

In Other News

[InfiniteZero]

Google Gives Gates GPL'ed Gmail. Gates Grateful. GNU Gets Giant Grant. Geek Gasps, Grabs Gun, Goes Ganster. Google Gives. Gates' Gmail Gets Grounded. Gates Groans. God Gloats. Gorgeous Girl Grins. Geek Gets Gorgeous Girl.

Re:Potential

[Guppy06]

"when a private citizen can use a department whose purpose is theoretically to protect us to lock down roads?"

When that private citizen has a guest list including 50 chief executives of sovereign republics, people who also happen to be rather high in the chain of command for National Guard units and other state militias.

Dichotomy

[Anonymous Coward]

Without betraying any confidences (especially by not logging in!) I can pass on some secondhand impressions of Bill the human. I live in Seattle (but have never worked for Microsoft) and have friends whose kids are in the same classrooms as the Gates kids. I've never met the guy but these friends say the Gates are a perfectly nice family, the kids are just normal kids, and that playdates at the Gates' house aren't a lot different than with any other schoolmates. BillG may be all the things people say he is as a businessman, but by all accounts he's a good dad, and his foundation work is from the heart as opposed to some cynical or guilty attempt to deflect criticism.

Living in certain parts of Seattle and being plugged into the whole children/school mix you can't help but make the social acquaintance of some very wealthy people. One oughtn't to be in awe of them, the money doesn't make them any different (or happier) than anyone else I know. This is probably because it's mostly new money, having actually earned it themselves they haven't the sense of entitlement and superiority one sees in those with inherited wealth, such as we see in folk like as President Bush.

Re:Dichotomy

[YrWrstNtmr]

...the sense of entitlement and superiority one sees in those with inherited wealth, such as we see in folk like as President Bush.

Or John Kerry and his wife.

Re:Dichotomy

[Anonymous Coward]

Ugghh... good point, but whattaya gonna do? I'd vote Nader if it wasn't the functional equivalent of a vote for Bush. Better my rich kid at the helm than theirs...

About that MICROSOFT internship

[Anonymous Coward]

Haha... No wonder he's working for Microsoft. This kid has worse grammar/spelling than most fourth graders... Just terrible. Perhaps Bill has an "aura of stupidity", similar to Steve Jobs' "Reality Distortion Field". That must be it... Either that or Microsoft just plain sucks (another very realisitic possibility). I don't know whether to tell him to stop talking (to save his personal diginity), or to keep going (to further embarrass himself/Microsoft). Oh well...

"rich" people

[Anonymous Coward]

the richest people on the planet are the scumbag central bankers, who literally create money out of thin air, then "loan" it to various nations then to "the masses" via the "trickle down" theory with mortgages and government paper, etc, and then we are all in their "debt" in perpetuity. Gates is just a mid level normal corporate pirate compared to them.

The Big Cheese

[jpu8086]

How Bill Gates came to be known as the big cheese (story includes the trouble that follows).

Re:The Big Cheese

[ggvaidya]

-----Original Message----- From: Jay Patel Posted At: Friday, July 19, 2002 10:08 AM Posted To: SOC Interns Conversation: Props to the PM at BillGs house Subject: I hugged the big cheese.. As for my bragging rights, I did as I claim below: First and foremost, I asked BillG "...if he could be any kind of cheese, what kind of cheese would he be?" His immediate response was, "Big cheese, , I don't know the the different kind of cheese, by name, " To this quite humorous response, I replied by asking him if I could hug the big cheese? He was quite shocked at this request (he did have a newly opened Fresca in his hand), he looked at me silly. In my mind he was thinking, "OK! Who the heck is this weirdo! What's he doing at my mansion?" Well, he was a good sport anyway, and offered his right hand for a handshake....The rest my friends, is history. So I pose this questions to the interns: how *MANY* of you have hugged the big cheese? Ah ha! Long live the big cheese! Jay Patel Office Foundations - STE Intern Loc: ??/???? Tel: (???) ???-????.

I'm sorry, I really can't resist: are all MS employees built like Windows 98? Or does Bill Gates really 0wn you? </snigger>

choice?

[zogger]

Choice? where is it? for years whenever I walked into any store selling computers they sold boxes with windows installed. For 99% of the people out there, there hasn't been any "choice" beyond this theoretical "if you maybe heard of another operating system and maybe could track it down and maybe get it installed then maybe you had a "choice"". People don't run windows because they comparison shopped, they run windows because that's what came on their computers. I know people who have never even *seen* a macintosh, let alone anything different on the x86 platform.

Don't confuse slashdot readership (that would also inlcude you and me) with the "market" in general. Microsoft got where they are via industry collusion, bribes, threats, kickbacks, etc in some very high places, not from normal consumer "choice" at the computer store. Heck, I've even got an older 1996 IBM computer here I bought severely discounted but still brand new in a sealed box, it didn't have os2 on it, it had NT on it when I bought it.

"Choice" is only relative when it actually exists in enough of a widespread manner that it is available to most consumers where they shop. It is only in the last two years that there has been any significant breakthrough in operating systems choice, and even now it is still mighty thin on the ground. I did a look in my area, there are 6 stores total that sell computers near me, none of them carry anything but XP boxes, nor are there even any alternative OSes on the shelf with the various software for sale. This is NOT "consumer choice selecting the best product".

Re:choice?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's a very good point, but it doesn't nullify everything I wrote, including the part about the author of the parent of my reply having the option of using a different OS. I did get a little carried away with what I said about microsoft getting where it is today. To be fair however, business practices of entities on the level of microsoft should be looked at unilaterally, otherwise the impression may be given that GM and Phillip Morris are business saints. I do disagree with the corporate bullshit that goes on.

P.S. not that it matters, but I actually prefer Windows

As for the intern

[Merk]

We entered the home via what seemed to be the entertainment entrance and, at that, it was quite understated. The entrance organically rose from the hill in distinct pacific northwest style and was elegantly adorned by perfectly oriented halogen lighting that just screamed, "experience like no other."

Yeah, there's nothing like an "understated entrance" that screams.

Too obvious?

[Anonymous Coward]

"This is incredibly rare and nearly unheard of. His kids' names are not even published anymore because of security issues. The opportunity to see one of his children was very rare."

The blogger was wrong, she's not the oldest... That was child number 7 of 9. *hi hat*

Fascism is corporatism

[Doc Ruby]

The modern corporate state isn't new, but its triumph in America is recent. Compare the Bush Republican state with the original model, Italian Fascism, and much strange behavior seems familiar.

Re:Fascism is corporatism

[Doc Ruby]

Ah, an "Interesting Troll":

Starting Score: 1 point
Moderation 0
50% Troll
50% Insightful
Extra 'Troll' Modifier 0 (Edit)
Karma-Bonus Modifier +1 (Edit)
Total Score: 2

Re:Fascism is corporatism

[Anonymous Coward]

and the troll just got meta modded unfair

Run that by Us again, Please

[llywrch]

You first wrote:

> I have seen Bill & Melinda at a local restaurant

then you wrote:

> I have no idea what any of his kids look like - or what Melinda looks like

So just how did you know that it was Billg & his wife, & not just another ``business associate"? I assume you have some idea what Melinda looks like.

And now for something different . . .

The part about keeping the names of Billg's children private is (to quote the man himself) random & stupid. It took me all of 10 minutes & two Google queries to find the names of his 2 daughters & one son -- who isn't named William.

If someone wanted to do harm to his kids, keeping their names out of the limelight would hardly slow their efforts down. IMHO, it would be far more useful to keep the details of their schooling (or pre-schooling) confidential, have a bodyguard or 2 chaffeur them from appointments when mom & dad are busy, &c.

But then pissing off a man with more money than dozens of nations by endangering his kids may not be the wisest thing to do: one could run, but there's not very many places to hide where one could enjoy the payoff. (Fancy spending the rest of your life in some shithole like North Korea?)

Geoff

Not quite.

[Trespass]

Just because they are both totalitarian states with a capitalist ideal does not make them the same thing.

Another Gates-dining intern

[mclove]

I too got to have dinner with Bill a few years ago. (though they didn't hire me full-time, so I can now spill corporate secrets with impunity :-) The basic format was pretty much as Metanoya describes, but here are some more notes:

• The event actually took place over the course of four different nights - they opened it to all Microsoft interns who were graduating the following year, and as Bill's backyard is not all that enormous it would have been difficult to squeeze us all in there at once.
  
• I didn't get a tour of the insides, but from the outside and the staircase/walkway the house looks like a big expensive log cabin - a very sleek and polished-looking one, but nevertheless burdened by the fact that the overall theme the architect was given was "log cabin". Which I suppose makes it a very good metaphor by Microsoft's products :-) I give it high marks for blending in with the overall surroundings/style of the area, but there are dozens of other much less monstrous houses around there that blend in just as well.
  
• The backyard was exquisitely landscaped - there was a little path on one side through some trees and over a little bridge with a waterfall, an impressive-looking (and fenced-off) private playground for the kids, and the sand on his private beach was raked like a Zen garden.
  
• One other interesting house detail: through one of the glass windows you could see an exercise room, but the equipment was so piled up and crowded together that it was pretty clear that no one actually uses it. The indoor/outdoor swimming pool had a couple of pieces of pool equipment floating in it, though, so it appears someone is making use of that at least.
  
• Security was indeed very tight - one intern managed to sneak a camera in past the security guards, but all of us got a pissed-off e-mail about it the next day and that particular intern was never seen or heard from again :-)
  
• Bill and his toroidal structure actually weren't the only attractions - most of the Microsoft brass seems to have made it a point to show up to at least one of these, and I got to have an interesting conversation with Microsoft speech recognition guru and former Apple VP Kai-Fu Lee. I don't think Ballmer showed up to any of them, but if I remember the schedule sheet correctly most of the other VP's like Allchin, Ayala, et al did come to one of them. (plus all the XBox people, in spite of the appalling difficulty of getting a job with that group)
  
• The food was quite good - I was disappointed that it was caterers and not Bill himself out there with a spatula and a "hail to the chef" apron, but still one of the best hamburgers I've had that wasn't cooked on a 30-year-old grill.
  
• I didn't spend much time with Bill but here's one little throwaway comment: some wag asked him where the bathroom was and he said he didn't know. I don't know whether he was reacting to the guy being a smartass or genuinely didn't know where the guest bathroom was, but it seemed funny either way.
  
• Also, according to Bill there are fifty-some copies of Windows running at various locations in his house. (though bear in mind that they use it for eHome demo's too)
  

That's about all I can think of at the moment, it was an interesting experience but I didn't come away as impressed as some people have. If I had that much money to spend on a house I'd have hired a better architect and told him to do something genuinely innovative.

Re:Another Gates-dining intern

[isorox]

Also, according to Bill there are fifty-some copies of Windows running at various locations in his house. (though bear in mind that they use it for eHome demo's too)

Aww man, that's about 1 reboot every 10 minutes isn't it? HOpe he has the bandwidth to get the patches

Re:Another Gates-dining intern

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you last checked how much Buffet charges for a lunch (which you might end up paying for anyway aside from the big cheque upfront for meeting him)? The last one was at $210,000.00 US. At a shitty restaurant, listening to a few minutes of garbage from a man who has nothing better to do at his age. So compared to that, yes, it is a big deal going to the house of the richest man in the world(Bill Gates), hanging out with the most powerful elite in the world, and checking out a 47000 square feet masterpiece with plenty to blow your mind. For free. You'd fuking love it.....you'd kill your dog for that. Are you going to admit it? Of course not. You have an obligation to the slashdot society.

Let's laugh at the intern.

[Merk]

As I read that, I couldn't help but laugh at the silly intern, idolizing Bill Gates and his mansion.

We entered the home via what seemed to be the entertainment entrance and, at that, it was quite understated. The entrance organically rose from the hill in distinct pacific northwest style and was elegantly adorned by perfectly oriented halogen lighting that just screamed, "experience like no other."

Ya gotta love that understated screaming.

Elegantly non-intrusive but screaming geekhood were sparsely placed digital canvases that, ever so often, changed the artwork on the wall.

A lot of things seem to scream (in non-intrusive ways) at this place.

Initially you find an elevator driven only by a single hydraulic column and completely cableless. Are you beginning to feel like you are in Myst (the video game), because I was.

Yeah, your textual description is just so powerful (in an understated way), it screams "Myst, the videogame".

To the left was a room with a design so powerful that it could only exist in the home of the richest man in the world.

Wow. That's a mighty powerful design indeed.

I left the home only to be greeted by a backyard adorned by cocktail tables and a catering staff dressed to match the adornment of the tables...

I hope the adornment of the tables wasn't a floral adornment, otherwise the adornment of the catering staff must have really looked silly.

On a final note, I'll say that the grass was groomed. It was groomed in a way that requires handheld scissors to prune daily.

Wow, that Bill Gates sure is rich! He seems to waste his money, but still, rich!

Instantly there started a massive migration from around the lawn to within four feet of Bill. In ten minutes there was a donut or toroid of geekdom surrounding Bill that was three or four people deep, but after a few minutes I had worked my way to the front and got to spend about two hours standing with him...

Gotta love those 4 geeks thick toroid or donuts of geekdom. This is actually one of the few good descriptions in the blog. I can just picture a spindly little fellow, squeezing his way through 4 layers of geekness so he can gaze at his idol from up close.

His response (verbatim, might I add), "well it was the dumbest thing I've ever read!" Now, one could argue, being that he owns 24% of MSFT stock, that Bill can't possibly answer that question in any other way. This is, of course, true.

So... what you're saying is that his assessment is meaningless?

"Bill, what are your hobbies?" "Medicine and bio-tech." Ok. We all have intellectually stimulating pastimes but am I wrong in saying that most of us don't come home from work and fiddle around with medicine and bio-tech.

Um, buddy, I don't think he means that he has an experimental surgery room in the back. He probably means that he throws a few million at those things for interest, rather than for profit.

I thought, "no way!" Turns out, I was right.

You were right about being wrong?

[His daughter] came up to Bill, held hands with him, and sat down. They talked and interacted.

Ooh, talked and interacted, you say. You mean rich people talk and interact too?? Wow!!

I hope this guy is a better programmer than he is a writer. If you're reading this, here's a hint -- stop drinking the kool-aid at work. Rich people are human too, even the very rich (P.S. Gates isn't the richest person in the world, he's just the richest with a public fortune). And by the way, things that scream aren't understated. Hmm, Maurone... Moran... any relation to this guy?

Re:Let's laugh at the intern.

[Anonymous Coward]

silly intern

Well you seem to be a low life without a penny to your name and nothing intelligent to say......so I see why you have a problem with that *intern*'s description of the place. At 47000 square feet and belonging to the world's absolutely richest man (by far) it must be mind numbing. It's a musemum in many ways........blending amazing periods of the past (art...etc), with the present and giving you something of what the future will look like (which many of us will not get to see of course). See I have no problem with the description of the place. In fact there should be a documentary done on it. I see grabage about Trump's masions all the time. This one tops them all.

Being jealous (or despising someone)just because they are wealthy puts you in the same boat as the person you despise. In fact you are worst. Because you represent all the negative things what a person shouldn't be. So try to be a little optimistic and see things from a positive and constructive point.....Noone gives a $hit about your negative comments

Re:Let's laugh at the intern.

[foote]

Yes. Or, in short, Jeff can not write and will never be able to. Check out his bio. College seniors who write like this don't improve. It's too late. He sounds like every MCSE our IS department has ever hired: an idiot.

Re:Let's laugh at the intern.

[Anonymous Coward]

[His daughter] came up to Bill, held hands with him, and sat down. They talked and interacted.

Ooh, talked and interacted, you say. You mean rich people talk and interact too?? Wow!!

Do rich people have penises too? OMG!

nuts.

[twitter]

Stuff like this has been going on since the dawn of civilation, and it's going to continue to go on long after Gates is in the ground. If you're upset about it, you seem a bit thin-skinned to me, or perhaps hopelessly naive about how things happen in the real world. ... it sounds like your envy has gotten the better of your logic.

I'll ignore the personal insults. I'm used to that kind of thing and worse from M$ apologists. Name calling is integral to enslavement, so those who wish to enslave will always have offensive mouths.

Bill Gates is getting unusual treatment and does not warrent it. Homeland Security itself is novel and repugnant in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Fawning over the "rich and powerful" is unAmerican and servile. It's disgusting enough when whole airports are shut down for Bill Clinton to fetch a hairdresser for himself. Extending the such obnoxious behavior to private citizens is too much. For a short time, Bill Gates owned the lake and the sky itself. The rest of the world had to put up with helicopter, road blocks and guards peering down at them as if they were criminals needing some deadly force. The people who run GE, Exxon and other large companies far more important to the US economy don't feel the need to bother their neighbors like this at their neighbor's expense. Nor, as I pointed out, did the government officials on their own. Bill Gates and the US government have some big screws lose to waste resources like that.

Re:nuts.

[dedazo]

I'll ignore the personal insults. I'm used to that kind of thing and worse from M$ apologists. Name calling is integral to enslavement, so those who wish to enslave will always have offensive mouths.

Seek help. Professional help.

Re:nuts.

[prisoner-of-enigma]

I'll ignore the personal insults. I'm used to that kind of thing and worse from M$ apologists. Name calling is integral to enslavement, so those who wish to enslave will always have offensive mouths.

Coming from someone who started out your original reply with a subject line of "Re:It was unusual, dumbass," this is just rich. It's rare to find someone so oblivious to their own hypocrisy, but you've definitely found a hallowed place in that niche. Apparently you wish to enslave just as badly as those you're accusing of being oppressors and such. Let me guess: you're voting for Kerry or Nader this year, right? You sound like someone who can appreciate talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time. Pot, meet kettle, you two seem to already know each other quite well.

I was going to comment on the rest of your poorly-spelled and grammatically-challenged post, but it just degenerates into the standard the-rich-are-evil-and-are-holding-down-the-common- man class warfare drivel. You're envious, plain and simple. Either that or you're feeling deficient because you are unable to succeed the way others around you have. Why bother with introspection when it's so much easier to just find someone else to blame?

You can reply if you want, but it's not going to get much attention from me unless you stop sounding like some tin-foil-beanie lunatic with a class-warfare chip on the shoulder. Why don't you go polish up your Socialist Party membership card and dream about the days when all companies are abolished and truly classless, "common man" society exists! Ah, Utopia!

Are you really this naive or are you just trying to be entertaining?

Re:nuts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Moderators: Please note that "twitter" is a known fanatical sycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft bashing. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" or "fanboy" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, twitter is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider twitter and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Knoppix or Mepis or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than twitter. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

To get an idea of what I'm talking about, check this post out. This is an article about email disclaimers. The parent of the post is complaining about the ads in the linked page and so on, and twitter actually goes off on a rant to blame it on Microsoft and recommend Lynx, because "is teh free".

Here's another. In this post twitter not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "GNU". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +4) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

Here's that drive-by advocacy and FUD in motion: twitter goes on about some topic and then drops the usual "oh and M$ is teh evil" because "WMP phones home" or some such. Called on his FUD, he then claims that WMP stores every song and movie you've ever played in a file, somewhere. Pressed further, he just sort of slithers out of sight, his FUD-spreading complete. This is not about some Microsoft technology that nobody likes anyway; it's about lying for the sake of lying. Way too many of his posts are exactly like this one.

More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own. Or these two. Or this one. Or this one.

Still not convinced? This is what twitter considers "humour" while going about his daily "M$" routine.

M

Re:nuts.

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF is "M$"???

Re:Awesome Alliteration Aggravates Anti-MS Attitud

[dhakbar]

No, it is alliteration. Both assonance (vowel sounds) and consonance (consonant sounds) are alliteration. They are the two forms. You likewise fail it.

quite

[Doc Ruby]

No, he union of corporate governance with the state makes them the same thing. Read the (typical, but detailed) documentation of fascism that I cite, especially its original Italian form, and see the direct connection. Fascism is a lot more than a totalitarian state with a capitalist ideal, as is corporatism.

Re:I've argued at length with Bill Gates, He's sha

[Peter Cooper]

(This was before his pie in the face attack in Belgium, but after Bill Joy (?) abduction).

Bill Joy was abducted?

Simple Solution

[Vagary]

It's not like anything is forcing him to be wealthy and powerful: if he gave all his money away, no one would bother kidnapping him.

It's like music and movie celebrities who complain about paparazzi: their salary is based on their worship by the masses, but they expect the masses to worship them without idols?

Re:Simple Solution

[trentblase]

It's like music and movie celebrities who complain about paparazzi

The comparison really is not apt because movie stars are not celebrities due to wealth. The paparazzi would follow Cameron Diaz around even if she gave all her money away.

Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[TheHonestTruth]

Parent poster: Republican

Grandparent poster: Democrat (or Green)

;-)

-truth.

Re:Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[trentblase]

True indeed. In my experience, most policy disagreements boil down to a single dogmatic principle. Your average "conservative" does not believe it is her moral obligation to help those in need and your average "liberal" does.

Re:Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[ifwm]

Correction:

Independent. I'm not a big believer in two parties representing a whole society.

Re:Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[ifwm]

I think it may be a bit more complicated. My problem is not with helping those in need, but more in being compelled to do so.

For example, instead of taking my money for welfare, let me donate to United Way or some other such charity. Trust me to do the right thing instead of making me do what someone else thinks is the right thing.

At the core though, I'd say you're pretty well on target.

Re:Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[trentblase]

I see the point you are making. I guess there are two principals here:

1) The moral obligation of the individual to help others (in this case financially)

2) Whether it's right to compell someone to do what you see as their "moral obligation".

Libertarians would probably agree with the first, but not the second.

Re:Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[ifwm]

I'd say you're right, which is why if I HAD to identify with a party, it would be Libertarian.

Re:Going out on a limb here but I'm guessing...

[TheHonestTruth]

Wow. I never thought of it that way. Very interesting point about compelling others to help out the needy.

See, my big beef with pro-lifers is that they are telling women what they can do (all christian "when does life begin" stuff aside). Being pro-choice for me has ALWAYS been about "Do what you want to do, but do NOT tell me (well my wife/gf/so) what to do."

However, I've always felt that everyone (the rich) should help out the everyone (the poor). It just seemed like it should be done and thus I've always leaned to the Democratic side (though I am loathe to affiliate myself with a party, because I don't think along party lines). But what you've said is exactly what I've been doing: The rich should be compelled to help out the poor. And when you put it that way, it doesn't really seem right. Just because I think the super rich should help out the poor doesn't give me the right to tell them what to do with their money.

You just blew my mind.

-truth

More house detail?

[EvilStein]

Come ON, intern dude. Tell us the good stuff.

Was there WiFi in the bathroom? Was there a Tablet PC sitting there for those "extended bathroom trips?"

Give us details! :P

And the Dept. should have been...

[Rick.C]

... from the "Gimme a 'G'" dept.

Newt was there. Of course they need security.

[Animats]

There are people who are somewhat annoyed with Gates, but the Newt has serious enemies.

Gates's house is starting to look like the Obsolete House of the Future, anyway. He wanted big monitors everywhere. But this was before flat screens. So there are access corridors behind the walls for the equipment. This makes for a bulky house.

Could be worse, though. There's Larry Ellison's house in Woodside, which is the size of a mall, has way too much quarried rock, and is too close to the San Andreas Fault. It's something of a joke locally.

blah

[Anonymous Coward]

he's not the worlds richest man...the real richest person in the world is hard at work becoming the worlds first trillionaire

Most guys at the top have to be assholes

[Peter Cooper]

Most people at the top of most large companies are assholes, that's their job. Jobs is widely regarded as an asshole with his 'reality distortion field', but he gets stuff done, and brings the revenues in (we all know what dire straits Apple were in when he wasn't there).

Well of course...

[ForceQuit]

Everyone knows Microsoft isn't good at security.

(ducks)

intern's story

[Anonymous Coward]

my question is, with all the "real case" and "real stories" microsoft and their hired help has published before, who says this one is true? it was a nice story, very touching, even had "bill the dad" in it. awwwww

I am coming

[danila]

Ah-ah-ah-ha! I am cuming, I am cuming! Look, a house! Look, trimmed grass! Look, expensive movie theatre! Look, Bill Gates! What a disgusting example of mercantile Microsoftie porn that blog was. Yeah, I get it, Bill is rich, or, more precisely, filthy rich. And nobody knows the name of his daughter. Big fucking deal.

P.S. As a courtecy for all microsofties, let me give you these valuable bits of information. Bill has pimple. He jerks off to dirty pictures. He constantly makes mistakes that cost billions of dollars. And in the morning his breath smells. Don't get too excited about him. :)

Priceless.

[Merk]

It wouldn't be so damn funny if it weren't so obvious he was trying so damn hard.

One Man, One Vote.

[FFFish]

(Unless, of course, you invite the governors over for a big party, and get to bend their ear directly and with their deferral to your ideas.)

Are you kidding?

[DrCode]

I first used MSDOS in the early 80's, right around the time I learned to use Unix (on a VAX and a 68K-based PC). At the time, I thought DOS was a piece of junk, and didn't even compare favorably to the proprietary Z80 OS that I'd been using up to that point.

I don't ever recall liking anything from MS, and I knew few "techies" that did.

Re:World's richest man? You mean Ingvar Kamprad?

[Long-EZ]

Didn't read the previous posts, did you?

Earlier Post In This Thread

Re:I've argued at length with Bill Gates, He's sha

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to call shenanigans: 10 years ago was 1994, when Bill Gates was in the process of making one of his largest ADMITTED mistakes in Microsoft history -- ignoring the Internet. So I'm suspicions of that "fully up to date on all the latest trends" remark. Maybe he was up to date with Microsoft's trends and tools, but the world nearly left Microsoft behind when Windows 95 had almost zero Internet support out-of-the-box at almost the exact time everybody wanted Internet access. That gave Netscape its opening, forced Microsoft to extend heavily, and ended up in a court case that nearly broke the company into pieces.

FUD comes from IBM's dominance in the early 80's

[Anonymous Coward]

not Microsoft

Re:Potential

[meganthom]

I have actually read all of the articles, and I think most of you are misinterpreting. First, the Blog article doesn't say anything about the dinner being with a bunch of government officials... It sounded like it was a nice thing Gates was doing for the MS interns. Now I looked at the links, and maybe I'm missing something, but I simply didn't see anything about the governor's meeting at that site.

As for the news articles, they explained how many people would be attending the conference, not Gates' party. The tribnet article said about 1100 people were expected to attend the meeting, and the news.com article mentioned that around 30 governors went to the meeting. Neither of these numbers related to the party itself. Furthermore, the article doesn't actually state the that big wigs listed went to the party, just that they were at the conference:

"Among the NGA meeting attendees: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, both former governors, as well as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta."

Though there's the implication that these people also attended the party, we haven't received any information about whether they did and how many total guests there are.

If I knew definitely that Gates' had received RSVPs from 50+ guests, all political figures, before the homeland security zone was granted, I would understand the measure to some degree. On the other hand, there have been large private parties before the introduction of the Homeland Security department that had large numbers of important people as guests. For these reasons, I feel I am justified in being concerned that private citizens can have homeland security zones protecting their lands.

What about YOUR compassion?

[Anonymous Coward]

And you surely have far more money than "hundreds of millions" struggling to simply survive. Why haven't you yet given your money to them? Oh, that's right, it's because your true motivation is jealousy and envy.

You're right. And I'm proud of us.

[zipwow]

So you're right. We cheered him when he was attacking the 1980's IBM, which WAS a good thing to do. IBM's business practices and overcontrol were legendary, and harmful.

IBM's practices are much more cooperative, and I have yet to see them doing much major exploitation. In fact, if they beat SCO in court, they'll have done us a favor.

You claim that we shouldn't now demonize Gates for what Microsoft has done, yet you don't explain why. He's a founder, he's still a major decision maker, whatever his title. Microsoft is a harmful monopoly and their technical decisions get in the way of getting things done. Why shouldn't we rail against them and Gates now, just like we did against IBM in the 80's?

All you've pointed out is that our opinions of corporations and individuals change with their behaviors. Isn't that a good thing?

-Zipwow

911

[Anonymous Coward]

I've always wondered why back in 911, the terrorists decided to destroy the world trade as opposed to Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond and bill's house, because they are the true axis of evil and by destroying them, everyone in the world would benifit and have more jobs.

Re:911

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen to that!

Re:I've argued at length with Bill Gates, He's sha

[Anonymous Coward]

it was actually early 1993 buddy. 'A little over 10 years ago'

and he was well versed in almost any tech topic you could conceivably imagine including countless non-microsoft technologies including various graphics meta-file formats, various syntax driven editors, and much more.

As for microsofts 'big mistake' they quickly made up for it by hiring countless internet savvy engineers from the wild, and aquiring source code from various mac developers (John norstads usenet code ported to windows, and the mac code for Spyglass became MS IE, etc)

He was up to date on all trends and tools, and though i was on the internet in 1991 with genuine shell account, not a lot of people were even in early 1993.

Actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

I am not saying that we should put Gates on a pedastal or build a monument to him but we should respect was he does try to do.

Actually he should be stuffed because that's what he did to the computer software industry.

Re:I've argued ... $650,000 ransom !

[Anonymous Coward]

It was Bill Joy who helped arrange the money to pay for his co counder who was kidnapped in Adobe parking lot in 1992.

Even after 1992 Bill Gates refused anti-kidnap security detail.

here are the facts of the kidnapping of co founder of adobe :

Charles (Chuck) Geschke, co-founder of Silicon Valley software giant Adobe Corp was kidnapped. It was a sensational kidnap at gunpoint in the Adobe's parking lot by two men who demanded $650,000 ransom from the Geschke family. The ransom money was paid, but Geschke, who had been held blindfolded and shackled in a "safe house" closet for a week, was later rescued by the FBI and the money recovered. The kidnappers, both from Middle Eastern countries and suspected as part of a larger ring, were arrested and given long prison sentences in the 1992 incident that drew national attention.

Sad story

[stock]

Rosebud eh? geez. being Bill Gates daughter ain't a easy thing i guess.

Robert

The best comment...

[Cryptnotic]

This was a comment left on the intern's blog:


Had the same experience last year, and the whole thing really is pretty overwhelming. My favorite part was when a buddy of mine asked Bill "Ninjas or Pirates." Needless to say, Bill had no idea how to respond, and after looking around blankly for a second said "Ninjas," which of course was the obvious answer.

Posted by: Josh | July 30, 2004 07:25 PM

Re:I've argued ... $650,000 ransom !

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I'll post this anonymously. If he were really concerned about his safety, he would not spend time at the Red Lion Inn in Bellevue. Many people know he goes there to "get away from it all" for a few hours. Of course, this information is dated, circa 3 years ago. But I'm sure if someone wanted to, they could snatch him if he has regular habits.

Meet the New Religious Fanatics: Science As God

[kemkerj]

Vaporware might have been coined to make it simpler to talk about Microsoft, but FUD existed well before Microsoft existed.

Dr. Amdahl (inventor of the IBM 360 series mainframe, for all you "computing-was-invented-in-the-80s" types) coined FUD to describe IBM when he decided he'd had enough of their monopolistic marketing practices and broke off to form his own company. He used it in "The Mythical Man-Month"

So, you see, Microsoft didn't even invent FUD. They had to steal even *that* idea from someone else!

References:
http://www.cavcomp.demon.co.uk/hall oween/fuddef.ht ml
http://www.isham-research.com/emulation_1st_fu d.ht ml (I like this one, it introduces a new way of saying the same thing with a neat double-entendre!)
http://encyclopedia.thefreedict ionary.com/FUD
http://members.hellug.gr/vyruss/co mputing/FUD_essa y.html

whine of feedback

[Doc Ruby]

I am pleased that my whining has feed back into the system. The Slashcode should support exactly this feedback. A mod'ed poster should be get a link from the post to a "reply to moderation" subthread. Mods should be shown that thread, with a "reply" option, when moderating, like the "Preview" steps in submitting a story. Metamods could follow the current link to "See Context", and a new link to "See Moderation", before metamoderating. Moderators would have to think a little more, looking at the history and considering an optional reply. And Metamods would have more input on their decision, rather than always having to weed through the context. Finally the whining produced something for my TODO list! Thanks.

Hello!

[DrMorpheus]

... a person passionate enough about that solution to carry it through to completion over the bumpy path of reality.

Sorry, but that's the MANAGER'S JOB.

If it isn't then WTF is a manager's job?

Re:Hello!

[firewood]

A managers most important job is rarely to do real work. It's often more than a full time job to find, hire and retain smart talented and passionate individuals, to choose from among the many solutions offered by them, to get everybody supporting the chosen solution, and to run interference for them to make sure other managers (investors, etc.) don't get in their way.

Re:Hello!

[DrMorpheus]

It's often more than a full time job to find, hire and retain smart talented and passionate individuals

There's a whole department called 'Human Resources' whose whole purpose is to do that. Otherwise, what's their purpose?

... to choose from among the many solutions offered by them, to get everybody supporting the chosen solution...

Frankly the former could be done by discussion amongst the project members and a vote. Since the project members are the ones who are most familiar with the problem it only makes sense that they should decide and not someone who's completely divorced from the problem set, the implementation details and other information that isn't available to anyone who isn't in the trenches.

The latter is what you were arguing (or the parent post, if it wasn't you) the engineers should be doing, i.e., being passionate about their idea(s). If they're passionate about their idea while their pitching it then they certainly will remain so during it's implementation.

...o run interference for them to make sure other managers (investors, etc.) don't get in their way.

Frankly it sounds like companies would work better if they didn't have management. Especially if (part of) the purpose of managers is to prevent managers from interfering with the smooth operation of the company! ;-)

Re:Hello!

[firewood]

Frankly it sounds like companies would work better if they didn't have management.

This works great for small companies with one to a handful of employees. Once the problem scales, there are vanishingly few examples of any large ongoing endeavors sans management in the real world. Success becomes statistically unlikely. Even the success of linux is attributed in part to Linus's management skills.

HR departments? Somebody's got to push the (often legally required) paperwork.