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Gates Pledges $750M to Vaccinate Children
chriskzoo5 writes "The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is pledging $750M to vaccinate children worldwide over the next 10 years. Much maligned for his business practices, is this proof that sometimes the ends justify the means? Let's see if the Linux community can match his generosity."
So he's spending his monopoly money for the children. Thank God someone's finally thinking of the children.
The ends justify the means only if you have a corrupt morality. If you commit a crime, but use the proceeds in some "altruistic" way, is the crime then excusable?
The Robber Barons of old used charity to improve their image. Rockefeller, for instance, handing out shiny new dimes to children.
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
The Linux community has ALREADY "matched this generosity." Rather than charge money in exchange for software and then give some small fraction of that money back as charitable donations, the Linux community lets people keep all their money in the first place. That's more efficient, and I think a lot more generous, than charging for the software in the first place.
Free software is also going to help the third world develop more quickly than it would under a purely proprietary model, so there's an extra kicker that'll help the next generation too, not just this generation. "Teach a man to fish..." and all that, ya' know?
I hope that after I die the one word people use to describe me is "resurrected."
Much maligned for his business practices, is this proof that sometimes the ends justify the means?
So, by analogy, if a Mafia boss donates one percent of his ill-gotten gains, that justifies his crimes?
Let's see if the Linux community can match his generosity."
The Linux community is about public service and cooperation; by creating billions of dollars worth in free software, the Linux community has matched Bill Gates's "generosity" many times over already. And unlike Bill Gates, members of the Linux community paid for it with their own time and money. Bill Gates is just giving back a fraction of the money he stole.
Match that one Mr Gates.
Mod me -1 Flamebait if you must, but this submitter is retarded. The whole article should be modded Flamebait.
"I'll say it again for the logic-impaired." -- Larry Wall.
"Well honey, here's a big heaping plate of shut-the-fuck-up and a can of quit-your-god-damn-whining to wash it down with.
"...mod a news article as flamebait?" Come on you hating /.ers. The guy's giving 750 mil to help children. Sheesh!
Besides if you put together IBM, Sun and RedHat I'm sure you could come up with 750mil to give over 10 years and it wouldn't be a drop in the bucket compared to their profits on the open source industry.
Get overyourself. Yur statement only proves that the "linux community" is a bunch of self-serving idiots.
The Linux community is fighting for more sensible intelectual property laws, which would make life-saving drugs much more accessible to developing countries than money would.
This is disgusting. How much of that money will go directly back into big pharma ? How much stock of big pharma companies does Gates hold, directly or indirectly ? Is this legal in the first place since the money is coming from his foundation (presumably tax-free ?)
Sure, they aren't dying from polio, rickets, and ebola. But what now? They're still living in poverty and now they're gonna gripe and complain for the next 20 years that we won't give them more hand outs.
... and the $75 billion to vaccinate the next generation ... and the $750 billion for the generation after that.
I actually don't consider this a win-win situation. However, if the Gates foundation pledged $750 million to build schools and bring in teachers to educate the ones that DO survive normally, that would be a win-win situation. It's the old give a man a fish / teach a man to fish saying. Vaccinating a whole generation of poverty-stricken 3rd world humans will actually hurt the situation because we'll have a generation with a 80% survival rate instead of the normal 25% (or whatever it is). And they will go on to produce a shitload more poverty-stricken 3rd world humans. Then, where will the Gates foundation be to cough up the $7.5 billion needed to vaccinate that generation
If they learn how to raise their standard of living on their own, they'll be able to support themselves in the future.