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Who is Your Hero, Gates or Jobs?
feranick writes "Wired and Ars Technica are both running articles comparing Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, not for their business/technological achievements but for their humanitarian involvement. I am curious to see what you are thinking about the issue. What is more important, be a showmen technologist like Jobs or an humanitarian missionaire like Gates? And even more important: Is it important that donations from rich billionaires be public or should they remain private?"
Call me cynical, call me what you may, but I think this value judgment
is totally off. In short, the elements being compared and how they
relate to your daily life are skewed.
If I were the receipient of one of Gates' grants, I'm sure he would be
my hero. At the same time I think it's great that he's putting his vast
fortune to so much good. That's all brilliant.
However, on a day-to-day basis, I get joy and productivity gains from
using Apple products and Apple OS. I get pain and suffering from using
Microsoft products and Microsoft OS. So daily, Jobs does more to make
my life better than Gates.
Now, there any many people who give generously of their time and money.
Each person has to give based on his or her ability and level. If you're
the richest person in the world, well, you better give more than anyone
else. I believe a large part of Gates' public face on his charitable
giving is to offset the negative view of him by so many. It's probably
related to some sort of pent up negative view from his childhood. Who knows.
In any case, you can have Gates and Jobs as your hero, it's not an either
or thing. This topic is so close to a troll that I considered not replying
but here it is anyway. Now let the mac versus pc debate continue into its
3rd decade now.
Cowboy Neal.