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Gates Donates $15M to Preserve Computing History
Dan-DAFC writes "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is donating the sum of $15 million to the Computer History Museum in California, according to the BBC. The money is the biggest single gift in the museum's $125 million fund-raising campaign, which is still $50 million short of its target. The funds raised will be used to add more exhibits and educational programs."
I took a tour of the museum shortly after this announcement. Bill Gates only asked for a few changes to made following his generous donation.
Middle Age Clockwork Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Punch Card Programmable Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Analog Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Digital Electronics: Invented by Bill Gates
Atanasoff Berry Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Z3 Universal Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
ENIAC: Invented by Bill Gates
EDSAC: Invented by Bill Gates
Integrated Circuit: Invented by Bill Gates
Personal Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Internet: Invented via a joint effort from Bill Gates and Al Gore
Honestly, this is asinine. While you personally might disagree (as many do) with some of Microsoft's business practices through the year, at the same time, one must honestly be impressed with what they've managed to accomplish. Making computing ubiquitous, and easy to understand-- these aren't things to be taken lightly. Yes, things crash, and yes, he stole some things, but I think that most /.ers wouldn't be here if they hadn't been introduced to computers at some point; most people are introduced to computing through Windows. And maybe yes, we move on to bigger and better things, but at the same time, it's nice to have a computer I'd give my grandmother.
The change jar on Bill's dresser was getting full :)
Don't take that the wrong way. Whatever his reasons (and I believe them honest), you can't help but respect the Foundation. A quick look shows they've donated over $28B and over $1B each year. That's a lot of money doing a lot of good, and is probably better spent than most Government-sponsered projects.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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Maybe Jack Thompson will pitch in ten grand...
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To preserve the history of species that went extinct because of drilling. Well, at least students will know there were other computers and operating systems before our new worm-infested overlords.
Will it include a copy of CP/M?
Okay Steve, time to shell out the rest to really stick it in Bill's craw.
Everyone says DOS is a dinosaur and now we have a museum of history so DOS should be on display. But seriously speaking DOS did revolutionalize the personal PC segment so it has its place in history. So for that matter does the first mouse, the first GIMP , the first laser printer but then it might become a Xerox PARC archive instead of a museum of computer history.
Anyway wonder how a software can be displayed in a museum. Would they have old computer terminals running DOS on which people can play around or would they just have a number of big boards with writeups abbout the software. A museum of
computer history seems to me to an unique challenge for a curator.
**Life is too short to be serious**
I'm glad their web site is full of tiny pictures with unreadable text. Example here. I suppose I have to visit the museum in person and pay admission to find out what that diagram says. On the other hand, I could probably look at it elsewhere on the web, for free, and with much more information surrounding it.
You make it sound like Bill Gates is Hitler or something. Queue Gates = Hitler jokes. The Gates Foundation has donated an enormous amount of money to many different types of organizations that helps millions.
Big PR stunts? Gates has been giving money for *years* (at least as far back as 1997) to charitable organziations. He's also personally responsible for the gates foundation. MS, and gates in particular has been quite generous. Much more so than other silicon valley tech companies. In fact, i recently tried to find information on charitable giving done by steve jobs or apple but to no avail. It seems that they collected some money for the red cross in the wake of katrina but i didn't find any actual donations from apple. How generous of them to off "free" advertising space.
I wonder if they are going to preserve key points and dialogues in computing history like "No one needs 640 kilobytes of ram..."
For Free Computer Help, and Technical Answers
well worth a look if you can't make it there yourself.
it's nice to have a computer I'd give my grandmother.
/. expressed their dissdane for their own lineage...
mod parent up.. its about time someone on
serenity now!
I don't know if I'd say that, though. Many people's first experience of computers were with DOS (still Microsoft, I know, but not Windows), Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Commodore 64, Amiga, and probably a plethora of other platforms from the late 70s and 1980s that I forgot to mention. And then we have some old-timers here who were introduced to vacuum tubes, punch cards, IBM mainframes, PDP-11s, and some other ancient stuff.
Computers have been around for about 60 years now, and they have been in Joe Average's workplace for about 25. I'm pretty sure that except for the youngest generation, most people have been exposed to computing prior to Windows dominating the market.
You know, I hate Microsoft just as much as (if not more than!) you, but until you donate anywhere near that amount, shut the fuck up.
I wonder if his money will go to finding and preserving an old copy of the Apple IIe children's game, Z-bug, which was supposed to teach kids to type. That's a bit of computing history I remember, but can't find any references to even on the 'Net. I'm not making that up either, so don't mod me down. It was a piece of my childhood. It probably won't make it to the history of computing, though, because no one seems to remember it. Also reminds me of the ZamJak 72v. At least some people DO remember that crappy platform (http://www.zamjak72g.net./ Mostly just to make fun of, though. I think it was a basement computer enthusiast's attempt to get rich, but who didn't quite have a Bill Gates story in him.
Target Audience goes to this museum?
I think not. The visitors to this museum are hardcore computer geeks that are already well aware of their choices and are likely not going to dump their current setups for Microsoft's latest and greatest based on their experiences at this museum.
Microsoft's target audience is corporate executives and average consumers, not enthusiasts
"64...ehm... 15'000'000 ought to be enough for anybody." Bill Gates, 2005.
The Bill Gates foundation is pretty nice. Even though I support Linux, they have kept our school computers very nice. For example, we recieve upgrades almost every two years, and we just upgraded almost a week ago to 2.8 Celeron D's in our whole school. When our network was only 10BaseT, they helped us upgrade to 100BaseT, speeding login times. Of course, there are the disadvantages, with MSIE only, and Word, but there's always PortableFirefox and PortableOpenOffice!
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Specifically, he was quoted as saying, "$15 million should be enough for anybody."
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Maintaining classic pieces in the museum's collection has grown difficult lately, not for lack of funding, but due to a dark and sinister force known as my wife.
you can have my violent video games when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
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"I'm pretty sure that except for the youngest generation, most people have been exposed to computing prior to Windows dominating the market."
There is a bit of a difference between being exposed to computing and actually having one in nearly every home. Don't forget that programmers aren't the only ones that make a living with computers. Most (if not all...) of the 3D artists I know, for example, got their start because they learned skills in 3D at home on their PC.
In any event, it's silly to deny that Windows hasn't had a positive effect on the number of machines in people's homes these days. I realize it's not fun to think about and all, but honestly, that's just not something to be in denial about.
"Derp de derp."
How about re-releasing MS-DOS 6.22 and MS WfW 3.11 as open source so as to get kiddies in Africa and South-East Asia into computing. You never know, it just may stop those kids from getting hooked on Linux. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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give me half that money and I'll double the size of that collection
Having gone through the museum twice, I can tell you that the collection on display (less than half their actual inventory) is irreplaceable. The very first Apple I, with Woz's signature, is there. Several other artifacts are similarly unique. You may be able to double the inventory, but you would lessen its actual value in the process.
However, the funds are not all for the collection. The Museum also needs operating funds, such as very strict climate control (typical for a museum), building maintenance, insurance, and material expenses for cataloging, handling, and restoration of the artifacts. The material expenses are unique, due to the Museum's unique inventory and the stringent policies regarding restoration.
He probably realised that MS Windows may pretty soon be relegated to history. :)
Reserving space before its too late
they also hold a number of symposia with very significant speakers. i saw a tim berners-lee there. pretty humbling to see the man who is largely responsible for the invention of the internet. try to catch some of their lectures by people who have made history. it's really enlightening.
This is a seriously insane museum collection of computer history. Apparently $45K wouldn't do it, but I certainly think getting saving all these old machines for posterity would be worth it.
_ W0QQitemZ8706273723QQcategoryZ4193QQrdZ1QQcmdZView Item
http://cgi.ebay.com/Classic-Vintage-PC-Collection
(And no I'm not the seller, or related to him/her in any way)
No reason for Gates to be listed in that crowd. Those selected are hard core R&D technical people. Gates isn't a technical type, he is a businessman. Steve Jobs is missing for the same reason.
I disagree with the methods of some of the more brutal African warlords but one must honestly be impressed with the quality of the diamonds that come from their mines.
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I don't know. It would be just as silly to claim that it is just because of Windows. I thought more people had computers, because they have gotten cheaper, and more necessary for work. Windows makes computers more expensive, and not as easy to use.
There is simply not the data to prove whether or not Windows had a significant effect on computer adoption. most people were going to end up with one, anyway, whether the software was made by microsoft, Apple, Commodore, Google or some company that exists in a parallel universe.
Since we don't have access to a parallel copy of the universe, we don't know whether Microsoft helped or hindered computing. Perhaps more people would own computers if today's software and Operating Systems weren't so demanding of resources? Or if they remained network, rather than desktop-centric.
I have never known anyonw who bought a computer because of Microsoft. Many but in spite of Microsoft. I have known people to avoid getting into computers at all, because of Microsoft, though.
... and then they built the supercollider.
...perhaps people will be able to remember when one actually had significant choice in mass-market computers.
...and I will build you the LARGEST collection of computer junk you could ever imagine!
e pisode/68766.html
I wonder if they have the W.O.P.R. (War Operation Planned Response) computer system?
Do they also have the M-5 from Star Trek? It sounds like something right up Microsoft's alley:
from: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/
The U.S.S. Enterprise is chosen to be the test ship for the new M-5 multitronic computer system, a computer meant to be able to run a starship without human intervention. Also aboard for the test is Dr. Richard Daystrom, the inventor of the M-5 and an obsessive and unstable individual. Initially the M-5 performs well, but when it decides to destroy a robot freighter, Kirk orders the test canceled. The M-5, however, protects itself and makes it impossible for it to be disconnected. The computer becomes increasingly erratic, a result of Dr. Daystrom's decision to impress his engram onto the computer as part of its programming. Starting a scheduled war games drill, M-5 uses the full arsenal of the U.S.S. Enterprise to attack four other Federation starships.
In a last-ditch appeal to the M-5, Kirk makes the computer realize that it has committed the sin of murder. Since Dr. Daystrom would be ethically abhorred at such an act, the M-5 is equally penitent and tries to commit suicide by leaving the U.S.S. Enterprise defenseless against a counter-attack by the remaining other starships. At the last moment, Spock and Scott are able to finish disconnecting the M-5 unit. Kirk keeps the shields down, gambling successfully that the attacking ships would not fire on an undefended vessel. Restoring communications next, the fleet is called off.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
The computer history museum website has a "Hall of fellows section" Which is described as:
For over a decade, the Computer History Museum has been publicly recognizing individuals of outstanding merit who have contributed to the development of computing. Chosen on the basis of accomplishment--formal education is not a factor--are nominated by a panel composed of Museum staff, industry peers, and former Fellows.
At least 10 years must have elapsed between a specific contribution and an individual's nomination in order to properly assess the historical importance of his/her achievements. The contribution must thus be of a foundational nature, one that has strongly influenced the intellectual, disciplinary, or industrial underpinnings of computing.
Bill gates is not on this list, because he has stifled development more than contributing to it... I imagine part of the terms for this donation will be that he gets listed..
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