Bill Gates Drops To Number 2

A number of readers made sure we know that Bill Gates is apparently no longer the world's richest person. His wealth, estimated currently at $59.2 billion, has been surpassed by that of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim. Slim, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, runs businesses in a number of industries from Mexico City. Stock in his wireless company, American Movil, recently surged in price by 27%, boosting his net worth to $67.8 billion. Last April Slim passed Warren Buffet, who had long held down the number 2 spot. In this audio Bill Gates says he won't care when he is no longer number 1.

Comments

We still hate him

[Harmonious Botch]

There seems to be a misunderstanding by some people - including Gates himself - that Bill Gates is hated because he is rich. This is not true. We envy him because he is rich.
We hate him because he produces crappy software and uses unethical techniques to promote it. Being surpassed in the richest person list does not change this.

Re:We still hate him

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, either reason is missing the point.

Technology rules and shapes the human race. He seeks to control all technology. *That's* the real reason to hate him. For 25 years the world has concerned itself with pittiances like who's president and which country has a despot in charge, while right under our noses the biggest monopoly in human history has effectively brought the globe under the dictatorship of Bill Gates - through the computers.

Wait til we rely on biotech to live past 150 years and we're colonizing space. There Gates will be, deciding who lives and who dies and charging everybody 50 cents to breathe. Think the people will wake up then? If so, do we want to wait until it's that bad before we start to resist?

Re:We still hate him

[GodOfCode]

There seems to be a misunderstanding by some people - including Gates himself - that Bill Gates is hated because he is rich. This is not true. We envy him because he is rich. I couldn't agree with you more on this part. We hate him because he produces crappy software and uses unethical techniques to promote it. Being surpassed in the richest person list does not change this. On this one, I am not so sure. Do we all hate all other "producers" of "crappy software" just as much? I am sure a lot of these folks would also be using unethical practices somewhere or the other.

Re:We still hate him

[Seumas]

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Outside of certain tech circles, a lot of people love Bill Gates. And outside of the tech world altogether, most people have extremely favorable opinions of Gates.

Personally, I don't care much for the guy. His whole charitable foundation and generosity does get a great deal of favor from me, though.

Re:We still hate him

[TheGreatHegemon]

Bill Gates? He hasn't really being doing that all so much recently. Seriously, the Microsoft hate is still valid, but Gates himself really ain't doing much of the evil, screwed up practices.

Re:We still hate him

[garbletext]

I envy him a little less. But his wealth didn't change; it grows every day. All that's changed is a meaningless position relative to other rich men.

Re:We still hate him

[revengebomber]

Wait til we rely on biotech to live past 150 years and we're colonizing space. There Gates will be, deciding who lives and who dies and charging everybody 50 cents to breathe. Think the people will wake up then? If so, do we want to wait until it's that bad before we start to resist? But do you want Air Ultimate or Air Premium?

Re:We still hate him

[asliarun]

I was working as a server in a restaurant, and when my brother let it leak that I was a computer geek A geek working in a restaurant... as a *server*

How poetic!

Re:We still hate him

[bmgoau]

"There Gates will be, deciding who lives and who dies and charging everybody 50 cents to breathe"

Don't forget giving out free vacinations, building schools, improveing healthcare, researching technology, paying taxes and employing people. How darstedly evil!

Oh and between you and me, he plans to be both Evil Overlord and Good guy between loving and raising his children and being a good husband to his wife.

You might think im missing the point here, that his business tactics are evil. Well i agree, they were and still are. But thats not the point you raised, you implied that he has some kind of 1000 year fourth Richt plan for the human race. What im pointing out here is that he is a business man, living in the US, mainly concenred with technology, who has done some bad business things in the past, he has a loving wife and some beautiful kids. His investments do cover alot of fields yes, but so does any investors. Oh and he is the most charitable person in our generation.

Before you go and spend your time photoshoping hate images of Bill Gates for his most evil business moves read up on companies like Texaco, ExxonMobil, Amgen, The US Government, Shell, BP, Disney and Nike.

For all that is good and evil in this world, if Bill Gates and Microsoft is the worse we can do in the industry most of make a living from then we could ALOT worse. Now grow up and place your activism somewhere where it counts, say maybe worrying less about IT business and worrying more about the education and health tomorrows children. And in case your wondering where to start, heres a good charity: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default.htm

Re:We still hate him

[Selfbain]

A FEW extra billion? Since 2000, he has given away 29 billion and he has been quoted as saying that he intends to give away 95% of his wealth. He also inspired Warren Buffet to give away another 30 billion. He's done a lot to help those who need it. I can't stand microsoft products in general but I still respect Bill Gates for what he is doing with his foundation.

Re:We still hate him

[db32]

Well I will just touch on a few things. Melinda Gates was the one responsible for Microsoft Bob which eventually became clippy. He married an employee, which while there is nothing inherently wrong with it, given his past behaviors it certainly looks funny.

That wonderful gates foundation you are so happy with ALSO invests heavily in various chemical plants in africa that are causing huge amounts of lung damage/disease in the areas they operate in because its so horribly profitable for these US companies to move their operations outside of the reach of the US regulations so they can spew shit into the air and water and not have to worry about it. So yes they are absolutely fantastic, they give a bunch of african kids diseases and disabilities and then get super happy PR when they show up to "help out". For even more fun go look up the rural isp/computer in africa thing that MS got asked for help from and saw it as a way to sticker their name all over a big PR hype thing and still charge the poor guy thousands of dollars. (Nambia net or something to that effect, it was some years ago, and the guy doing it basically posted all the letters online on the 'deals' MS offered and he told them to go stuff it). So you are right, he is just a businessman that understands how incredibly important it is to look the part of good ol traditional american family values and how to milk the PR machine.

The man is a megalomaniacal scumbag willing to lie cheat and steal his way to the top. Now you are right, there are far more serious issues in the world than his little "I will rule the world" "One Microsoft Way" nonsense...but he is in no way a good guy. I would encourage you to not give a dime to that scumsuckers charity, go find a real charity that is more responsible with their investments and expenditures and not focused on getting a convicted monopolist "Man of the Year".

But For How Long?

[eldavojohn]

I thought I had heard that Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish owner of Ikea, had surpassed Gates due to the slide in world markets of the American dollar versus the Swedish crown.

Of course, Forbes never registered that because, I believe, the slide was temporary and the dollar rebounded somewhat and some reports put Kamprad in front of Gates and some didn't.

It's kind of funny when your ranking in the world's richest raises and falls with small market fluctuations. Regardless, I'll throw out the idea that it is extremely likely that Slim's net worth will be 'adjusted' by the stock market in the coming days when his stock is re-evaluated. I could be wrong but Kamprad saw his worth rise on something that is (usually) much more stable than the stock market--his country's currency.

Placing an unprecedented 27% increase in his stocks makes his position as the world's richest man all that much more volatile to me. Then again, I'm not an economist or finance specialist so I could be wrong. How the stock market index seems to consistently return 11% on investments baffles my simple computer scientist mind.

I would also like to point out a few things relating to this #1 position of world's richest man. It's obvious in (at least America) you often need money to make money. More money you have, the easier it seems to be to make money.

I've half a mind to go on a rant about the questionable business model that Gates employed to gain his position as world's richest and keep it ... but I'm too tired and it's obvious by now that some people agree. Though I'm sure there won't be a lack of posts on that topic for this particular news story.

Reason Gates won't care that he's not #1 is probably because he's giving a lot of it away anyway in the end. That and he's made his mark on history ... will we remember Kamprad or Slim? Highly unlikely. But Gates has touched entire generations with software we been forced to and have chosen to use for better or for worse.

Re:But For How Long?

[CriminalNerd]

He did pass Bill for a day at most, but then Bill passed him again on the same day.

Re:But For How Long?

[drawfour]

Meh, let me know when someone surpasses Rockefeller. In today's dollars, he would have been worth around $200 billion. And you wanna talk about monopolies, predatory pricing, and anti-trust? The Sherman Antitrust Act was DIRECTED at Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

Oh, I guess since it was over 100 years ago, no one cares anymore.

Re:But For How Long?

[fractoid]

LOSE!! It's LOSE! The only way you could 'loose' money is by untying it, or making it less tight.

Gah. Other than that your post is correct.

Re:But For How Long?

[808140]

This is bullshit. People who make the loose/lose mistake are overwhelmingly native speakers. As someone who has spent most of his life living in countries where English was not the local language, I can attest that I have never seen this mistake made by second language learners. It is, however, disturbingly common among Americans in particular.

Your etymology lesson is also completely irrelevant; while los may be the root for both words, that in no way implies that people should make the mistake. First of all, in German, the word for lose is verlieren, which sounds nothing like lose; second of all, words that come from the same root but developed into different words abound, but this has little effect on current speakers, because we don't learn words based on their etymologies: consider that "cipher" and "zero" both have the same root, the Italian word "zefiro" (the latter coming to us via French). You don't randomly mix up cipher and zero, do you?

No, the only reason people mix up loose and lose is because they are spelled similarly and people are bad spellers. It isn't because they are pronounced similarly, because you never here people say "He always looses that game", you only see morons on the internet type it out.

In general, second language learners are much more anal about things like spelling than native speakers, who typically were taught spelling young and stopped having any feedback from teachers on it by the time they were 12 or 13. To someone learning English as a second language, though, English's weird and inconsistent spelling conventions are considered one of the truly difficult aspects of the language, and so, predictably, a great deal of time and effort is expended mastering them.

And even if non-native speakers were prone to making this mistake, what makes you think that we shouldn't correct them? They'll look like idiots if they ever write anything important in English and make that mistake, and it's not the sort of thing that spell check can help them with. In fact, we're doing them a great service. We're doing anyone who makes that mistake a great service.

If you're one of these people that gets annoyed when you get corrected, you're being awfully short-sighted. Despite what you may think, people judge you on things like spelling. Sending in a cover letter? A job application? Hey, let me tell you, if your resume has a spelling mistake on it, it goes straight into the trash at my firm, you can count on it.

Don't deliberately mislead yourself: spelling and grammar are important. Lose vs loose is an easy distinction, and there is no reason whatsoever to fail to make it, native speaker or not.

Don't worry. Slim is not very different from Bill

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

Telmex and Microsoft use the same monopolistic practices, Gates and Slim are not very different. They both apply the same practices in different markets. The interesting part is that we will get to see both of them competing in a few years, since POTS is disappearing and the fight will be on VoIP, that's a market both of them will be into.

I Hope we see them fighting each other for control, because if they reach an agreement, for example, m$ makes voip software, and Telmex provides the service, we are really screwed up.

Telmex got here [Argentina] only a few years ago, they acquired CTI (Biggest mobile telco), Techtel (at the time one of the 5 top players in the carrier and corporate market), Ertach (Biggest Wifi ISP), and lots of kilometers of fiber that interconnects the main cities in Argentina from other companies (metrored, etc.). They also are betting money into Telecom. So, in just a few years they become the third biggest player in Argentina (In this order: 1 - Telefonica, 2 - Telecom, 3 - Telmex), But they have a pretty tight relationship with Telecom Argentina (Read: They are buying stock, big time), And Telefonica has a policy of being friendly with the 5 biggest players, and screwing the rest, So they are now the second bigger in Argentina, and the first one keeps them safe.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Does Bill get an eyepatch?

[Itninja]

I just watched the 'complimentary' download from Xbox Live Marketplace of Austin Powers. It looks like Bill is now on par with Robert Wagner as 'Number 2'. Coincidence? I think not.

In other news, Slim is now (apparently) Dr. Evil. Go figure.

As Q Would Say...

[R3d M3rcury]

"Well, well. If it isn't number 2..."

You sure?

[Spy der Mann]

Telmex and Microsoft use the same monopolistic practices, Gates and Slim are not very different.
They both may be monopolies, but there IS quite a difference. The difference is that Telmex *IS* a competitive and efficient company. If it wasn't for Slim's investment in telecom infrastructure, we mexicans would still be calling the state-driven phone company to complain that our 24K modems disconnect too often. I do remember those times... Slim practically saved the country from stagnating in the information era.

Microsoft is an artificial monopoly, reeking with planned obsolescence and lack of innovation. In contrast, Telmex already gives us the videophone service.

Re:You sure?

[ClosedSource]

"They both may be monopolies, but there IS quite a difference. The difference is that Telmex *IS* a competitive and efficient company."

If Telemx is really competitive compared to MS, then there must be stronger telecom competitors in Mexico than MS had in computers in the US. What competitors does Telemx have that are stronger than Sun, Oracle, IBM, and Apple?

Isn't there evidence that Telmex maintains it's monopoly through political influence and protectionism rather than through providing better service than competitors could provide?

Re:You sure?

[xtracto]

Just to put a bit of perspective on that. The reason why Mr. Slim got Telmex and in great degree, all the money he has is because a very well known (and hated) Mexican corrupt ex-president (Mr. Carlos Salinas de Gortari) privatized the then state-controlled Mexican Telephone company (TELefonos de MEXico) giving Mr. Slim a lot of advantages over other offerers. And after the acquisition, providing him with government policies to make him increase its power.
Slim practically saved the country from stagnating in the information era.

I do remember those time too, and I do not believe what you say is completely true, just look at the Mexican federal Electricity commission (CFE), one of the best worldwide, excellent technology and service and it is also state controlled.

Re:VIVA MEXICO CA....

[nomadic]

:D Feels glad to be mexican.... *sigh* :)

Why? Are you sharing in his success?

Carlos Slim Fortune

[Anonymous Coward]

Slim was one of the first traders in mexican stock market (before he was stock operator in usa) but really become mega-rich after getting TelMex from the goverment (at that time the monopolic, state owned telephony company) from former mexican presindent Carlos Salinas (due to corruption)

Talk about, how not to sell a state monopoly: just making it private, instead of dividing it to form a competitive market. To this day méxico suffers from that.

America-Movil its the celular telephony company from Grupo CarSO (Carlos Slim keiretsu that started with TelMex)

Today CarSO participates in the telephony of most countries in latinamerica, and soon also in spain

Both Gates and Slim are unfair market monopolist... because the ones in power dont care

oh, drops TO number two!

[hobo sapiens]

At first I thought it read "Bill Gates drops A number two".

I though "man, is this a slow news day or what?!" and "Did he flush?"

I guess it's time to get some sleep. Or stop smoking crack. Either way.

The real point

[edwardpickman]

Either one of them could take every breathing person to MacDonalds. The only difference is one could super size it and still have money left over. Both would actually still be billionaires.

Be honest with yourself

[ClosedSource]

"We hate him because he produces crappy software and uses unethical techniques to promote it."

There are lots of guys out there running software companies that produce crappier software than MS and are less ethical. Since they aren't rich, however, nobody gives a shit.

Re:Be honest with yourself

[Aliriza]

Well maybe it is because he never gives up , if most of us were as rich as him we'll not work :)

Re:Be honest with yourself

[cgenman]

Every one of the people who has to use their poorly made software hates the people responsible for it.

It's just that Gates happens to be responsible for a poorly-made piece of software that everyone uses.

Re:Be honest with yourself

[Opportunist]

Nonono, people don't give a turd because they don't have to suffer from it. I don't have to suffer from Syman... I mean, a crappy AV tool. I simply choose another one. I don't have to suffer a bad game, I simply play another one. I don't have to eat crappy ramen, I ... ok, there's no such thing as crappy ramen, but you get the idea.

On the other hand, you can't escape the grasp of MS. Even if you personally run Linux at home, or if you have a Mac, you can hardly escape it. You will have to suffer from MS related issues. Either you're suffering from incompatibilities, or you might even have to work together with MS infected systems because your business partner insists in using them.

What geeks loathe about MS and Gates isn't that it's a big company that makes tons of money. Hey, if their software was good, I'd be happy that they make a lot of money, that keeps them in business and ensures that I will be able to use it for a long, long time. Actually that would be a good thing!

What ruffles our feathers is the way this money is being made, and the product this money makes. The money itself doesn't bother me.

Re:Be honest with yourself

[westlake]

It's just that Gates happens to be responsible for a poorly-made piece of software that everyone uses.

Apple took the word "Computer" out of its name.

The Mac is built using generic Windows PC parts. "Boot Camp" becomes a core marketing tool. In damn near thirty years of competition Apple remains a - very - distant second to Microsoft, in Microsoft's core markets.

The Geek trots out the "poorly-made" argument at every opportunity.

It is guaranteed a +4, +5 mod-up, Insightful, on Slashdot. But the fact remains that something like 500 million desktop-laptop users world-wide have found that Windows does what they want it to do.

Re:Be honest with yourself

[Anonymous Coward]

"We hate him because he produces crappy software and uses unethical techniques to promote it."

"There are lots of guys out there running software companies that produce crappier software than MS and are less ethical. Since they aren't rich, however, nobody gives a shit."

Take Carlos Slim himself.
Try to find any semblance of Gate's extraordinary philanthropy and you won't find anything close.
Mr. Slim hails from a country where a good portion of the population lives in bronze age conditions, another big chunk in the middle ages, and so on. By the time you reach 20/21st century standards, you are left with less than the population of Chicago (out of 100+M). I think it is extraordinary that a country like Mexico produces such absurd amount of bi/millionaires - which few acknowledge, and then people are amazed by all the immigrants trying to come to the US. I always felt Bill Gates was an unfair target for most of the attacks he received. I think Gates is a goober, but more people should get the negative attention he gets.

Re:Be honest with yourself

[cgenman]

The strength of Microsoft's software isn't in its quality. It is in it's compatibility with existing infrastructure. If you want to play most games, you need a PC. If you want to reach an audience, you need to program for a PC. If you want to communicate with the world, you need Word. Many places won't even accept Resumes that aren't in Word format. Lots of VPN software is only written for Windows, because customers are on windows, because the VPN software is written for it. And when one business manager in an office decides that you should be on outlook, everyone has to go to outlook.

Thankfully websites have more or less broken the Internet Explorer requirement, but those seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Secondary platform support is always that... secondary. Unless you're working in a back-end capacity, the software that you use, and write, is expected to be written on Windows first and foremost.

Again, Windows' strength lies not in its so-so quality (look at the backlash against Vista), but in its slew of indespensible 3rd party applications all written for the platform. Applications that are unavailable elsewhere simply because everyone is locked into Windows. It doesn't help that Microsoft goes out of their way at every available opportunity to make Windows software incompatible with other platforms, pushing incompatible APIs such as DirectX and ActiveX.

Re:So...

[Don_dumb]

This is a race where coming second or third (or even a hundred and third) is still winning.

Bill Gates Gives His Money Away

[phalse phace]

But isn't part of the reason why Bill Gates isn't so rich anymore because he's giving his money away? He's given away more money than anyone I can think of.

How much has Carlos Slim given away to help fight AIDS? How much has he given away for education?

It's not how much money you have that's important, but what you do with it and the impact it has on others.

Re:Bill Gates Gives His Money Away

[Tom]

Because the tax system is not as simple as that.

For example, giving away x would "reduce" my taxable income. If that means it goes below a certain value, the tax percentage on my total income goes down. I might very well end up with a net profit. e.g. if I earn 101k, and pay 40% taxes on that, but earning 99k would put me in a 38% tax bracket, I'd pay 99k*0.38=38.61k and get to keep 61.38k. If I had paid 40% on 101k, I'd be left with just 60.6k.

Actual tax laws are a ton more complicated then that and allow you a lot more loopholes. Especially if you don't so much "give away" the money than invest it in a foundation under your own control. That's more a redistribution than a loss.

Don't get me wrong, his philantropy is possibly the only redeeming feature of Bill Gates. I just find it important to point out that there are a lot of tax incentives for these donations, and a lot of them wouldn't happen without.

QUICK !

[polar red]

Quick, let's all buy an overpriced vista ... we can still push him to #1

Re:QUICK !

[eclectro]

Luckily he does not need to rely on Vista sales. He just needs to dig the loose change out of the couch and he would be #1 again.

Logic fallacy

[Derling Whirvish]

The difference is that Telmex *IS* a competitive and efficient company. If it wasn't for Slim's investment in telecom infrastructure, we mexicans would still be calling the state-driven phone company to complain that our 24K modems disconnect too often. I do remember those times... There's a logic fallacy in your argument. I could just as easily say: "The difference is that Microsoft *IS* a competitive and efficient company. If it wasn't for Gate's investment in GUI-based operating systems for personal computers, we Americans would still be using a command-line interface to telenet into mainframes when we needed to use a computer. I do remember those times... " And if I did, I would probably be as wrong about how the future of PCs played out over the last 20 years as you are about how the future of the Mexican telecom industry played out over the same period. If not Gates then someone else. If not Slim, then someone else.

You seriously want a list?

[Enderandrew]

Windows ME
Windows 2000 pre-SP3
XP pre-SP1
Most of the first-party XBox 1 titles save for Halo, which wasn't really first-party
MS SQL Server
Internet Explorer 5
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 7
Frontpage
Microsoft Messenger
Windows Messenger
Live Messenger
Office 97 (barely within the last decade, but it was truly horrible)
Windows Mail
Outlook Express
Microsoft Mail
Netmeeting
MSN Explorer
Microsoft Sharepoint Server
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Money
Virtual PC
IE For Mac
Microsoft Anti-Virus
Office Assistant
Visual FoxPro
Microsoft Binder
Hotmail

And don't forget blunders like PlaysForSure, Zune, etc.

Re:You seriously want a list?

[Enderandrew]

Why Virtual PC? It beats VMWare Player and is the same price, i.e. free.

I'll forgive you. You must not read Slashdot, or you would have seen this article.

"IT managers gathered in New York City earlier this week to get advice from experts on when, why, and how to virtualize their server environments. The takeaway from the conference: if you want to run an enterprise-class virtualization platform in production today, stick with VMware."

And in the Linux world, you're seeing all kinds of nifty new virtualization technologies as well. Don't count out Xen.

And some of us prefer IE to other browsers.

You are entitled to your opinion sir, but I'm guessing the vast majority of the Slashdot crowd will disagree with you. In fact, I think most web designers will disagree with you. You don't see tons of websites dedicated to saying exactly how much Firefox is the worst piece of software ever created, but there and tons, and tons of such sites dedicated to explaining exactly how horrible IE is. The moment you attempt to tell me that IE is a good piece of software, you lose all credibility with me and come across as a troll. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and we'll continue.

Lastly if XP and 2000 sucked at one point, but they were fixed, for free, then they shouldn't be included. OS X sucked and then you got charged for 10.1, bitch about that.

Well, the parent asked for a list of Microsoft products, so mentioning OS X really has no place in the discussion. I specified 2000 pre-SP2 and XP pre-SP1 because I am not this huge hater. I dislike Microsoft as a company, and most of their products. But often I defend XP as being a pretty good OS in the end. I prefer XP with SP1, and not SP2 personally. SP2 added nag screens and bloat without really fixing security problems so much. However, when XP first launched, it broke apps, broke drivers, ran slow, and was extremely buggy. SP1 improved the OS in all those areas.

Also how do you knock a free email service? What did any other free service do that was so much better.

Because Hotmail is absolutely horrid. Slow, insecure, and they sell your email address out so you get spam. They try to sign you up for various newsletters, tons of people have complained about entire accounts and all their email magically vanishing, slow service, and not very feature rich. GMail destroys Hotmail. The new Yahoo-beta destroys Hotmail. Hell, SquirrelMail destroys Hotmail. Note, defending IE and now Hotmail? You have to be kidding me, right?

Same with Messenger, what does anyone else do that takes it out back behind the shed and beats it with a stick?

I would urge you to look at Gaim/Pidgin, Kopete, Trillian, etc. How about the fact that Messenger would put itself back in the startup group repeatedly when it was removed? That alone makes it crappy and annoying software. What about the fact that you could be blasted with unsolicited spam via Messenger, and many people had no way or clue to get rid of it? So you're defending IE, Hotmail, and Messenger, three of the most hated things on the planet. Are you sure you're not trolling.

Works may suck but how many options were there for you if you didn't want to spend a ton of money on an office suite 10 years ago? Or even 5? Works and...? And oo.o wasn't really an option unless you had high speed, or wanted to spend $40 on a cd version of free software. Plus you had to go to compusa or some other store full of untrained morons who either don't know what you're looking for or spend the whole time trying to talk you into ms office (quick rant, I went into a compusa to buy a tv, pre massive shutdown, and I had to tell the guy 5 times I didn't want the extended warranty, I finally had to tell him that if he didn't shut the fuck up I was going

Re:You seriously want a list?

[Enderandrew]

I use SQL server everyday. I have to write custom functions in MS SQL Server to pump into Crystal Reports, and I loathe it.

MS SQL Server sucks for the following three reasons, among many others:

1 - MySQL is more ANSI SQL compliant and MS has no respect for standards.
2 - MySQL can run on multiple platforms and doesn't require a GUI. When you have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for a server (if not hundreds of thousands of dollars) it is important to note that MS SQL will only run on Windows, on an x86 architecture and is going to cost you considerably more money and have worse performance. A cheap Linux server on the architecture of your choice will destroy that Windows server in performance and cost less money.
3 - Even when running on the same hardware and OS, MySQL destroys MSSQL in performance. I mean, kicks MSSQL's teeth in.

http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/benchmarks/eweek.ht ml

And, they are two separate products:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Messenger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Messenger

Google could have told you that. Instead you call bullshit on me?

Poor form. Next time do some research and know what you're talking about.

Re:You seriously want a list?

[hobo sapiens]

MSFT has made some stupid software. One need only point to IE6 and Frontpage, and playsforsure nails it.

Putting SQL Server on your list is stupid, and I call you on that. I use MS SQL every day, as well as Oracle. I prefer Oracle (Oracle kicks everyones' butt, including MySQL's), but MSSQL isn't bad. A lot of it has to do with your configuration, and your database design. I have developed many websites and applications that use MSSQL, and every performance problem I have had has been due to bad indexing, design flaws caused by cruft, etc. That said, a site running on a well design Oracle database is noticeably faster than one running on a well design MSSQL database.

Yes, I see your benchmarks. I hate benchmarks. Virtually any Vendor can point to a benchmark in which his product excels. Software benchmarks are a bit like EPA mileage on your car; highly theoretical and totally unrelated to the real world. Come on now.

Not trying to create a flamewar over databases here. Which database you prefer is highly subjective. If I were to set up my own web server, though, I would use MySQL ONLY because it's free. From my *real world* experience, MySQL and MS SQL are quite similar in terms of performance. No benchmarks, just real world experience. And there is nothing like real world experience to tell you how something performs in the real world.

Saying MySQL is leaps and bound better than MSSQL is subjective at best. Putting MSSQL on a list of crappy software is a bit irresponsible.

How much cash... ?

[funkdancer]

has Slim put into philanthropy? To anyone who found this question relevant (I was almost expecting "none" - and thus making the Gates foundation a very easy explanation on the #1 move), Forbes says the following (plus a lot of other interesting stuff) of the man's new project:

"Lately Carlos Slim has taken up a particular interest in philanthropy, a pursuit he had neglected for most of the years he was building his businesses. He formed a foundation 23 years ago and funded it with a few million, and it has done little since then. A year ago Slim infused it with $1.8 billion; in the fall he pledged to donate up to $10 billion to the foundation in the next four years to fund health and education programs."

It is somehow good to see the world's richest doing this kind of stuff. Of course, it's not like they couldn't afford it, but still.

Give it Away

[SoyChemist]

Carlos Slim should use his money to build schools in Mexico and pay adults as well as children to attend.

Re:Bill Gates. Bankrupt? When?

[Anonymous Coward]

led here I did think,
believing a haiku here,
i was badly wrong

I'm quite sure Bill doesn't give a "number 2"

[Opportunist]

Basically, why bother trying? Imagine you're rich. Not just rich, but super-duper rich. More money than you can sensibly spend in a lifetime. Would you care if there was someone richer by a few billion bucks? I wouldn't.

At some point, money ceases to matter. When you have more than you can spend, there's a dividing point for people. Either they stop caring, and I think Bill did. Why else would he start a charity fund? Or they get even greedier and want MOAAAAAAR, with "getting money" becoming a reason to exist all by itself. Which is kinda sad (I've seen it in a few friends in the dot.com time).

I doubt Bill falls in the latter category. I'm fairly sure he read it, shrugged and went on with his life. Being rich is not a matter of having more than the other rich guy. Just more than most others, so your money actually has some value. If everyone was rich, money would be useless.

Sigh

[kahei]

Bill Gates is one entrepreneur among many. His products came to a position of prominence in many markets, competing against the likes of NeXT, Apple and Sun whose offerings had weaknesses obvious to anyone who was trying to actually build a company using them. His company, Microsoft, isn't as nice as Ben & Jerry's but then it's a lot nicer than Sun and IBM. Although by offering commoditized, loosely-controlled solutions in an industry previously dominated by massive hardware/software lock-in, he is still small fry compared to the great 19th century monopolists like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller, or even the great 18th century players (Clive of India, anyone?)

He's a guy, with a company, that makes products, that people either buy or don't. He has major market share in a niche which, to be honest, was not very strongly contested, and he has a few OK products in other niches. Microsoft's smaller than Exxon, way smaller than GE, FAR smaller than Standard Oil, and VASTLY less controlling and anti-innovation than old-school IBM. On the other hand, it's not a particularly nice and fluffy company either. None of them are. Get over it. Now, quietly listen to yourself:

For 25 years the world has concerned itself with pittiances like who's president and which country has a despot in charge, while right under our noses the biggest monopoly in human history has effectively brought the globe under the dictatorship of Bill Gates - through the computers.

First, it's 'pittance' and it doesn't mean what you think it means.
Second, the above is exactly why basement-dwellers whose whole world is home computers do not wind up in important decision-making roles. And I think we should all be very grateful.

Re:Sigh

[King Rayray]

Get a Mac and install Linux on it. :p

breathe in UAC breathe out UAC

[bazorg]

and you had better press "allow" really quick...

He might be on top now...

[Glowing Fish]

But, he could be destroyed. The 31st richest person has done it before, and he will do it again.

Man am I going to get flamed for this

[Bandman]

I think you're resorting to some inverse megalomania.

Bill Gates has never shown any inclination to reach beyond the electronic realm with evil inclinations.

Quite to the contrary, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given so much money away that I'm willing to bet that if they hadn't, Bill would still be on the top of the list.

You can pooh-pooh Microsoft for giving away computers loaded with Microsoft software to indoctrinate the next generation into their cult, but you can not fault Bill Gates for his charitable donations, because he gives large cash donations and other useful things as well.

I really don't think Bill is evil. Ruthless with his business yea, but not evil. And yea, I envy the money the guy has, but in the same situation, I'm not sure i could have accumulated it the same way, but since he did, I'm glad he's giving it away.

Not really rich

[flyingfsck]

People who can count their money are not really rich. There are several people in Europe who cannot realistically count their wealth. The British Queen for example owns enormous tracts of land, the value of which can only be guessed.

I, for one...

[msouth]

... have always considered him number 2.

*bows*