Bill Gates Answers Questions From Redditors

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Bill Gates Answers Questions From Redditors

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Monday February 11, 2013 @12:45PM from the favorite-meal-is-braised-penguin dept.

First time accepted submitter rroman writes "Bill Gates is answering questions on reddit. He talks about the work that is being done by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, about his life and about his opinions on various topics." Jump right to the answers.

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Looking forward by DeathFromSomewhere · 2013-02-11 12:55 · Score: 2, Insightful

Looking forward to watching the usual mental gymnastics from you guys trying to make him out to be evil or something. Bonus points for not reading a word he says.

--
-1 overrated isn't the same thing as "I disagree".
1. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:02 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Think about the last time you saw Bill Gates on television. Did he look normal? Did he look quite how you remember him? If you were paying attention, you would have noticed that something was not quite the same.
  The Chinese character for the JFK assassination looks a lot like the character for Bill Gates's name.
  Invested parties have done a lot to make sure this stays under wraps.
  In 1750, Benjamin Franklin was observed by over fifteen residents of Philadelphia as he branded an unidentified man with an Illuminati insignia. He was overheard telling one of his associates, "my work will be done once Bill Gates arrives to complete it."
  If modern society hadn't drugged most ordinary people into a passive stupor of acceptance, we'd have done something about this long ago.
  Shortly after the JFK assassination, the number of diabetes cases in children born to parents living nearby almost tripled. However, the government refuses to research this effect or compensate the affected families.
  Corporate interests are preventing us from getting the truth out.
  Consider the facts, and ask yourself: are you willing to let them get away with this? The answer should be a resounding no.
2. Re:Looking forward by earlzdotnet · 2013-02-11 13:03 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I think we've all moved on to Steve Ballmer being an idiot rather than Bill Gates being evil
3. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:08 · Score: 1
  
  Aaaah Slashdot. You never disappoint.
4. Re:Looking forward by CHIT2ME · 2013-02-11 13:15 · Score: 0
  
  Hey man! Whatcha drinkin' or smokin'? I want some of that. Have not had hullicinations since the 70's!!!!
  
  --
  My karma is bad. Don't get too close!!!
5. Re:Looking forward by jaxtherat · 2013-02-11 13:41 · Score: 2
  
  I read that in a Tracy Jordan voice.
  
  --
  http://www.zombieapocalypse.tv/
6. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:46 · Score: 0
  
  Slashdot
  
  moved on
  You're a funny man.
7. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 15:00 · Score: 0
  
  Haha yes, I also thought the story in Assassin's Creed was pretty corny.
8. Re:Looking forward by Kethinov · 2013-02-11 15:56 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  I'll bite.
  The elephant in the room in these discussions for me is that no one ever wants to talk about the idea that might be immoral for a society to ever let a single individual get so wealthy in the first place, irrespective of any responsible use of said wealth.
  But that's not Gates' fault. Don't hate the player. Hate the game.
  
  --
  You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
9. Re:Looking forward by hairyfish · 2013-02-11 16:05 · Score: 3
  
  As soon as you try to explain why/how being rich is bad then we'll talk. Because of right now you're sounding a little bit crazy...
10. Re:Looking forward by Molochi · 2013-02-11 16:30 · Score: 1
  
  If you are young and briliant you have a choice, help the world or help yourself and become filthy rich. Of course choosing the second leaves the option of later forming a massive foundation to help other people make the world a better place than you would if you chose the "good" option. And you still got to be rich.
  
  --
  "The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
11. Re:Looking forward by rolfwind · 2013-02-11 17:34 · Score: 1
  
  The human need to paint characters in black and white is annoying. Evil Gates is as annoying as those that want to paint a hagiography of him and not accept any criticism.
  
  Looking forward to watching the usual mental gymnastics from you guys trying to make him out to be evil or something. Bonus points for not reading a word he says.
  He was a ruthless businessman and set back computing in some ways that we are still feeling today. He's doing amazing things with his fortune since then.
12. Re:Looking forward by islisis · 2013-02-11 17:46 · Score: 1
  
  If you see the potential in emerging technology, have a fortunate enough background to mark a sizeable degree of influence, proclaim yourself part of the movement by accepting the efforts of a sea of talented peers, and then on the cusp of a social revolution, turn it into a closed system, ignore a history of dedicated research culture which aimed to increase possibilties, not curate them, you no longer are capable of understanding your own role in the deviation of that potential back towards to the established ways of old.
  No one should care about a man's single present will to strive towards evil or non-evil or the determined personal crusades, it is their ability to perceive their place in the possible evolution of social behaviour which marks the responsibility of their actions. This man has failed, and is guilty, when considering the notion that technology is not at all what it could be even today. Let alone tomorrow. Only those who studied the practice, should know what I mean, depending on your appraisal of said potential. His prior actions were nothing but pure abuse of what should be thought of as privilege, not just opportunity.
13. Re:Looking forward by ShanghaiBill · 2013-02-11 18:43 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  If you are young and briliant you have a choice, help the world or help yourself and become filthy rich
  False dilemma. Profit seeking capitalists have done far more good for the world than philanthropists.
14. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 18:44 · Score: 0
  
  Thanks, Steve.
15. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 18:48 · Score: 0
  
  You, clearly, are too young to have suffered all the many years of crashes that we suffered through.
16. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 19:22 · Score: 0, Insightful
  
  Profit seeking capitalists have also caused wide-spread social devestation, supported genocides, engaged in corruption and dismembered the middle-class through eroding union support with massive PR campaigns for the past 50 years.
  Standards of living were increasing in slave societies. You may feel that this legitimizes the keeping of slaves. I do not.
  You are wrong and, in my opinion, show clear psychopathic tendencies when you do this type of devil's arithmetic.
17. Re:Looking forward by White+Flame · 2013-02-11 19:36 · Score: 2
  
  Big things don't happen without concentration of wealth giving people the opportunity to fund them and take large risks.
  Throughout modern and ancient history, you'll find the "big names" were almost always backed by the funding of private magnates, aristocrats, religious organizations, and other concentrations of money. Otherwise, they'd be eccentrics doing small stuff in their garage that would be forgotten to time.
18. Re:Looking forward by Alex+Belits · 2013-02-11 21:23 · Score: 2
  
  He's doing amazing things with his fortune since then.
  Throwing money at the crowds of poor people is not "amazing", and this is what all "charity" of the rich always amounted to.
  
  --
  Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
19. Re:Looking forward by chrismcb · 2013-02-11 22:17 · Score: 1
  
  Consider the facts, and ask yourself: are you willing to let them get away with this?
  They can get away with it, as long as they bring me my Breakfast Mountain Dew
20. Re:Looking forward by chrismcb · 2013-02-11 22:18 · Score: 0
  
  False dilemma. Profit seeking capitalists have done far more good for the world than philanthropists.
  I'm going to go down to my local Carnegie Library and look that up...
21. Re:Looking forward by AmiMoJo · 2013-02-11 23:42 · Score: 0
  
  Those two groups are not mutually exclusive, and profit seeking capitalists have also done far more damage to the world than most.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
22. Re:Looking forward by Clockwurk · 2013-02-12 01:48 · Score: 1
  
  Basically, Bill skimmed a lot of money from the productivity of others and continued to do so long after he stopped needing/wanting additional cash.
  If Bill disbursed 50 billion (leaving himself with a paltry 16 billion), he could have provided every MS employee in the US with $877K. Given that there are plenty of non-rich MS employees, an additional 877K (87K additional salary for 10 years, 43k additional salary for 20 years) would have been far more economically useful to them than it would be as an additional billion for someone that could never spend it.
23. Re:Looking forward by Capt+James+McCarthy · 2013-02-12 02:06 · Score: 2
  
  If you are young and briliant you have a choice, help the world or help yourself and become filthy rich. Of course choosing the second leaves the option of later forming a massive foundation to help other people make the world a better place than you would if you chose the "good" option. And you still got to be rich.
  Being young and brilliant (being savvy, lucky, brutal, and hardworking could be confused with brilliant I guess) you get to carry that 'brilliance' with you throughout your life. Now he's made a lot of money (though not his real goal, he just wants to be the winner), and being smart, what is one to do with all that money and be considered a winner throughout history? Let me see......how about starting a charitable foundation, that he controls, get the tax benefits, be able to pass along all of that power to whomever he chooses without the death tax, and be deemed a savior by all man kind. He has not and will not just give away all of his winnings.
  Say what you will, he's still a vicious person who always wants to win at all costs. I don't hate him, but thinking that he somehow has seen the light is quite naive.
  
  --
  There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
24. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 02:15 · Score: 0
  
  Are you rich?
  Do you know what it takes to be rich?
  You can not pay employees what they want or are worth, you need to make a profit off of them.
  So if you pay a guy $10 an hour, and add in benefits and what not lets be nice and say he costs you $15 an hour. You need to bill him for at least $20 more realistically at $35.
  Now, this chap makes $10 an hour, he cannot get $35 anywhere, yet you sell him as a $35 an hour employee to another company (and, even if you aren't an outsourcers, it is similar to everything else)
  You make money off of other people - you are a bad person, it is not you doing the work, you might be taking the risk, but you aint doing the work.
  How can you egtt hat big contract?
  Study hard? Work hard? Golf with the owner of the Caribbean branch's son and hire him and get all their work exclusivly.
  Not gonna lie. Business is rough.
  To succeed in business you have to be a prick.
  Ergo, successful business people are evil.
25. Re:Looking forward by PerMolestiasEruditio · 2013-02-12 02:17 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  Historically large differences in relative wealth (gini coefficients) are strongly correlelated with the breakdown of society and revolutions etc. The US is already pretty high in OECD terms, and has pretty appalling stats in access to health care incarceration rates, crime, educational outcomes for poor kids etc that tend to go along with having a high gini coefficient. You have a huge and growing pool of americans who have little to no real hope of being able to get their kids into even the middle class.
  The Trust Fund Kids of the Walton family (Walmart) have a net worth equal to the poorest 90 million US Americans. (That absolutely staggers me).
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_family
  Now assume for a moment that they have little or no interest, aptitude, or industriousness in using that capital in an efficient manner to grow further enterprises (ie improve the country) but simply want to live as emperors - I don't know if that is actually true, but in some cases it may be. Such colossally rich individuals who have not created that wealth themselves but have simply chosen their parents carefully are in effect a useless nouveau aristocracy.
  That equity would be far better in the hands of hard working people further down the chain who could use it to start businesses, improve infrastructure, develop technology, educate their kids etc, but given the size of their money pile and the relatively small birth rates of today, there is a strong possiblity that their dynasty could maintain or even with minimal effort grow their total holdings as a proportion of GDP over the coming decades/centuries.
  I have no problem with entrepreneurs getting rich, but that wealth needs to be returned to the rest society within a couple of generations if you want to have a dynamic society based upon egality, fraternity and liberty (that is what the French revolution was all about) and not a world of gated communities and violent ghettos. How you go about constructing a society that achieves that is left as an exercise for the reader, but massive inheritance taxes (above some level) seem like a pretty useful component.
26. Re:Looking forward by hoboroadie · 2013-02-12 02:24 · Score: 1
  
  Whilst not so young, before fooling with DOS, Windows 3.1, '95, '98, and (shudder) Me, my first OS experience was Win2K. I don't think Bill has enough cash to atone for the routine crash thing, and it scarcely even afflicted me personally. Were we always in such a rush to upgrade that the bazillion lines of code could not be debugged?
  What really chaps my hide is the DRM. I've never pirated so much as a Pop Song, yet I must grit my teeth and ignore my need to slap someone every time one of my Windows computers refuses to do suspicious tasks or has to stop and ask me if I'm ripping off Bill today. (And phones home every week to get the Mothership's verification.)
  I feel that dirtbags not paying the agreed upon price for software to be misdemeanorish, at worst, while abuse of monopoly and and anti-competitive practices are mostly felonious.
  Fuck Bill.
  
  --
  They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
27. Re:Looking forward by Glothar · 2013-02-12 02:50 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  Other true statements
  Profit-seeking capitalists have done far more bad things to the world than philanthropists.
  Profit-seeking capitalists have done far more bad things to the world than good things for the world.
  Profit-seeking capitalists do harm to the world even when they are unsuccessful.
  Profit-seeking capitalists are far more likely to be unsuccessful than philanthropists.
28. Re:Looking forward by Glothar · 2013-02-12 02:59 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  ...and he still pushes Microsoft products, even when he's being "charitable".
  He wants to help other countries, but that help often includes Microsoft products, even when there are cheaper alternatives that meet all the requirements. He says he wants to help schools, but that help often comes with the expectation to buy Microsoft products in exclusion of other solutions. He wants to help scientific research, but you're less likely to get that help if you're labs are currently based on Apple or Linux systems.
  Is he evil? No. Is he doing this all in the the Greater Good? No. He's a benevolent door-to-door Windows salesman. I like some of the things he does (fighting idiotic vaccine people), strongly dislike some of the things he does (improving schools so they can better address the plight of the rich, white children), and find the rest to largely look like a rich guy throwing his money around at causes he likes. I'm not saying that it should be outlawed. I'm just saying that in the end, he's still no saint. Carnegie did it right. Gates.... is no Carnegie.
29. Re:Looking forward by Hatta · 2013-02-12 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  Profit seeking capitlists have taken a cut of most of the good that has been done in this world. But the actual good is done by labor.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
30. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 04:15 · Score: 0
  
  And yet he's doing more than you ever will in one second than you during all of your pathetic life as an arrogant asshole.
31. Re:Looking forward by T.E.D. · 2013-02-12 04:33 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  False dilemma. Profit seeking capitalists have done far more good for the world than philanthropists
  Precisely. Ask yourself, who has contributed more to making the world a better place: Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr., or Bill Gates and Sam Walton?
  (honestly curious how this gets modded)
32. Re:Looking forward by Rotag_FU · 2013-02-12 04:59 · Score: 1
  
  Speaking of Carnegie, even in his more altruistic endeavors he often had shrewd, secondary considerations. As a case in point, years ago I toured Carnegie Mellon University and the tour guide informed the audience that one of the main buildings that we were passing was built with an intentional grade rather than being level. The reason for this grade was that if the university did not take off he could then repurpose the building as a factory with an assembly line that would move down the slope. I found that to be an interesting insight into his mind.
33. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 05:22 · Score: 0
  
  Start here to find out about how Gates profits from investments in Big Pharm, etc., etc. (although he wants you to think it is all about providing vaccines, etc. Yeah, Gates, the 'wonderful philanthropist, et al.' You drank the koolaid, etc. Highly susceptible to propaganda/advertising, etc. aren't you? :)) Or are you going to continue to fawn and praise your idol of greed without reading the article(s)?
  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-gatesx7jan07-sg,0,2046572.storygallery
34. Re:Looking forward by Rinikusu · 2013-02-12 05:50 · Score: 1
  
  Ghandi and MLK. Next question.
  
  --
  If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
35. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 05:56 · Score: 0
  
  Historically, wealth was based on a finite amount of a natural resource or resources. That is thankfully no longer the case.
36. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 06:12 · Score: 1
  
  False dichotomy. Philanthropy is not possible without resources. Successful profit-seeking capitalists have more resources, and more opportunity for philanthropy. The very word "philanthropist" evokes the image of a monocled gentleman strewing money around. Philanthropy and capitalism are not mutually exclusive.
37. Re:Looking forward by T.E.D. · 2013-02-12 08:39 · Score: 1
  
  (honestly curious how this gets modded)
  Well, looking at my modding and responses so far, I have to give Slashdot +2 for understanding the world, and -2 for understanding sarcasm.
38. Re:Looking forward by Alex+Belits · 2013-02-12 10:20 · Score: 1
  
  The amount of evil that he did, can not be undone by the whole population of Earth in half a century -- and only by virtue of forgetting his crap while people like me develop new technology.
  What he does now, can be done by one office worker 1 hour a week -- and much better, too. All he does is distributing money that he and his foundation should've not be allowed to touch in the first place.
  
  --
  Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
39. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 12:40 · Score: 0
  
  I guess I'll do it...
  Woooosh!
40. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 13:45 · Score: 0
  
  The amount of stupidity you unleash on Slashdot cannot be undone either, and the amount of shitty code you pump out in between two wanks won't help. It's okay, if you can't do anything better than him, just hate on him. I hear it can make you feel better if you're feeling overwhelmed.
41. Re:Looking forward by Magius_AR · 2013-02-12 14:23 · Score: 1
  
  If Bill disbursed 50 billion (leaving himself with a paltry 16 billion), he could have provided every MS employee in the US with $877K. Given that there are plenty of non-rich MS employees, an additional 877K (87K additional salary for 10 years, 43k additional salary for 20 years) would have been far more economically useful to them than it would be as an additional billion for someone that could never spend it.
  That might be a valid point if Microsoft employees weren't historically and presently treated/compensated very well compared to the greater tech market: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/microsofts-starting-median-pay-beats-rivals-91500/
  Though funny enough, satisfaction is low despite the relatively high pay & perks.
42. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 18:53 · Score: 0
  
  The whole money thing is a way of making sure everyone pulls their weight and doesn't draw too much from the pool of shared resources and continues to value those shared resources (ie prevent the tragedy of the commons).
  One person having $80,000,000 isn't evil, it's just silly. He couldn't possibly have made a contribution with that high a value.
43. Re:Looking forward by Alex+Belits · 2013-02-12 20:50 · Score: 1
  
  If the only people who diss my code are those who believe that Bill Gates is anything but a self-absorbed psychopath, I am certainly doing something right.
  
  --
  Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
44. Re:Looking forward by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-13 03:51 · Score: 0
  
  Then clearly you're doing something wrong.
45. Re:Looking forward by hairyfish · 2013-02-13 16:21 · Score: 1
  
  So you're saying Bill's spending $25B on global Polio irradication and other important health issues is less effective than giving cold hard cash to middle class English people. I think we'll have to agree to disagree.
46. Re:Looking forward by hairyfish · 2013-02-13 16:22 · Score: 1
  
  In Bill's (and Warren B's) case that wealth is being returned. So we're all good.
Sign of the times... by xtracto · 2013-02-11 12:59 · Score: 5, Funny

Sign of the times... when /. is linking to Reddit.

--
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
1. Re:Sign of the times... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:23 · Score: 0
  
  Next week on slashdot cowboy neal answers questions about being a cowboy.
2. Re:Sign of the times... by AlphaWolf_HK · 2013-02-11 14:22 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  From my observation of 10ish years on slashdot (I didn't register until some time of lurking,) slashdot *was* almost entirely in favor of apple, but no longer.
  The common argument in favor of apple at the time was how open they are (e.g. using posix rules, incorporating samba, etc.) I frequently pointed out that if apple was as dominant as microsoft, they would impose far worse restrictions on user freedom than microsoft ever did. I was shot down at the time, but it turns out that I was right.
  Anyways, most of slashdot now agrees with that assessment and is largely anti-apple these days.
  
  --
  Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
3. Re:Sign of the times... by sourcerror · 2013-02-11 15:46 · Score: 1
  
  I don't know, Slashdot was all over the iPhone too. I had to make a filter rule for Apple because there were at least two articles of the daily (either iPhone or iPad).
4. Re:Sign of the times... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 16:43 · Score: 0
  
  I don't recall a time when Apple was favored over MS after the went to Unix, mosly they were a competitor to Linux. Definitly not after they opted to just make intel PCs like HP and Dell with their own closed source OS.
  Of course now most devices are Linux based and MS and Apple are irrelevant.
5. Re:Sign of the times... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 20:38 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah why doesn't he come on slashdot and do a Q and A... Oh that's right were a bunch of whining little girls obsessed with apple and android.
6. Re:Sign of the times... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 22:02 · Score: 0
  
  You weren't shot down because people didn't agree about "restrictions". You were just sidelined because restrictions were immaterial to criticism of Microsoft at the time. Criticism was about using a monopoly on the OS to destroy competition. Critisicm was about literally buying up every possible lobbyist in the US when Microsoft's conviction for illegal monopolistic behavior was in the penalty phase. Critisim was about Bill Gates blatantly lying about emails he had received while testifying. Your magnanimous declarations were just noise trying to mask the signal.
7. Re:Sign of the times... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 22:19 · Score: 0
  
  As most anything online, /. is funded via ads. Apple, being controversial, brings in the views, and by extension ad revenue.
8. Re:Sign of the times... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 22:29 · Score: 0
  
  Are you RMS?
9. Re:Sign of the times... by T.E.D. · 2013-02-12 04:37 · Score: 1
  
  From my observation of 10ish years on slashdot (I didn't register until some time of lurking,) slashdot *was* almost entirely in favor of apple, but no longer.
  More like 15 years here, and I have to say, I don't really remember that. I do seem to remember Apple being a pioneer in software patent trolling.
  Then again, I don't remember a lot of things these days...
Wait... by fustakrakich · 2013-02-11 13:00 · Score: 0

Does Dice own reddit too?

--
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Does he not know... by Darkness404 · 2013-02-11 13:02 · Score: 1, Insightful

Not as much as I would like to. I write some C, C# and some Basic. I am surprised new languages have not made more progress in simplifying programming. It would be great if most high school kids were exposed to programming...

Does Gates not know about Python? Python IMO is a whole lot easier to learn than BASIC ever was and you can do a lot more with it. And Python is much easier than C/C#/C++ to learn and is much, much, much cleaner than Java.

Slap on a few libraries and you can do just about anything in Python in less lines of code. AND you can actually read it when you're done :)

--
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
1. Re:Does he not know... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2013-02-11 13:13 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Well, at least he actually knows how to program. Take a look at the CEOs of HP, IBM, Oracle, Dell, SAP, Cisco, . . . etc.
  Most of them probably can't even manage to program themselves out of a paper bag.
  Now, what programming languages does Steve Ballmer know . . . ?
  
  --
  Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
2. Re:Does he not know... by Kwyj1b0 · 2013-02-11 13:26 · Score: 1
  
  Does Gates not know about Python? Python IMO is a whole lot easier to learn than BASIC ever was and you can do a lot more with it. And Python is much easier than C/C#/C++ to learn and is much, much, much cleaner than Java. Slap on a few libraries and you can do just about anything in Python in less lines of code. AND you can actually read it when you're done :)
  While that might be true, it still doesn't say much about the ease of learning Python compared to other traditional activities a high school student might engage in. I think Python is fairly neat, but I think that the abstractions required for modern OOP languages is something that is not easily understood by most people. Remember, this is high school he is talking about.
  What you'd need is a language that is easy to learn, and can be related to other classes/life without too much programming. For example, in any language I know, creating a good graphics of a bouncing ball (or Newtonian dynamics visualizations) is fairly hard. I'd like to be proved wrong, but very few students in high-school like programming as an intellectual challenge in itself (and while I don't think everyone should become a programmer, a basic understanding of programming is becoming essential IMO. Much like understanding the basics of cars was required in the early days. Cars were common, but not as reliable as they are today. They broke down often enough that you needed some knowledge on how to fix them).
3. Re:Does he not know... by DeathFromSomewhere · 2013-02-11 14:03 · Score: 1
  
  Python... our ultra underground language that only the super secret priesthood of unix admins knows about?? You are letting our divine truth out to the unthinking public! You better believe you are going to get shunned at the next invocation.
  
  --
  -1 overrated isn't the same thing as "I disagree".
4. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 15:02 · Score: 0
  
  LJE can actually write code. See http://www.quora.com/Larry-Ellison/Was-Larry-Ellison-a-good-programmer
5. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 15:08 · Score: 0
  
  Larry Ellison got his start writing database software.
6. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 15:37 · Score: 0
  
  Would it be hard to make the turtle behave according to Newtonian dynamics in Logo?
7. Re:Does he not know... by The+Evil+Atheist · 2013-02-11 15:55 · Score: 1
  
  Steve Ballmer may not know much about programming, but he knows some useful language constructs. Like looping. Or exceptions.
  
  --
  Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
8. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 16:06 · Score: 0
  
  Now, what programming languages does Steve Ballmer know . . . ?
  A variant of Logo named "Chair".
  Sample code:
  Tell chair turn 50
  Tell chair throw 30
  Jump monkey boy jump
9. Re:Does he not know... by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-02-11 17:07 · Score: 1
  
  Now, what programming languages does Steve Ballmer know . . . ?
  Oh, he knows Turbo Pascal quite well...
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
10. Re:Does he not know... by phantomfive · 2013-02-11 17:39 · Score: 1
  
  Nah, his comment is informed by the 90s, when people were coming up with all kinds of programming tools that would bring programming to the masses. Something like Visual programming languages. There's a reason it's called visual basic, which has sometimes been described as drag-and-drop programming.
  
  He's wondering why no one has built an easy programming language that anyone can use. You can use mixins in Python, it's not an easy language.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
11. Re:Does he not know... by VortexCortex · 2013-02-11 19:35 · Score: 1
  
  Well, at least he actually knows how to program. Take a look at the CEOs of HP, IBM, Oracle, Dell, SAP, Cisco, . . . etc.
  Most of them probably can't even manage to program themselves out of a paper bag.
  I'm working on the documentation for my game engine's (domain specific) entity interaction language. Thank you for your help in naming the example project that comes after the eponymous "Hello World". With a small change to the shape of the objects and the forces being applied from within rather than externally, the simplistic collision detection demo shall be dubbed "Paper Bag" so that we may finally have a definitive test with which to quantify the aforementioned skill level.
12. Re:Does he not know... by mrxak · 2013-02-11 20:24 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Everyone in my class learned Logo in 3rd grade. In middle school they taught everyone HTML. In high school we were using Scheme in several math classes.
  I also learned C++ and Java in high school, though admittedly that was not everyone, and it was AP level classwork.
  I think the earlier you teach kids computer languages, the better, and the quicker they'll pick it up. I don't think OOP is something terribly scary. After all, objects is kind of what people have to deal with every day in the real world. You explain it as nouns and verbs, and it's not that hard to understand.
  
  --
  -mrxak
  Onions Will Kill You
13. Re:Does he not know... by thue · 2013-02-11 20:55 · Score: 1
  
  > Python IMO is a whole lot easier to learn than BASIC ever was and you can do a lot more with it.
  The language you already know every corner of is almost always faster if you just want to get something done.
  Since Microsoft got started with a basic compiler, I assume that Bill Gates know BASIC pretty well.
14. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 21:13 · Score: 1
  
  >And Python is much easier than C/C#/C++ to learn and is much, much, much cleaner than Java.
  Python is a filthy scripting language with no types. Every other language you list is a JIT/compiled language with type safety. They are like comparing apples and oranges. For any software project beyond simple scripting, Python is inappropriate as a tool. It does not perform, has less exception safety, and does not scale.
  You can measure the experience of a programmer by how he/she discusses the pros and cons of Python.
15. Re:Does he not know... by Alarash · 2013-02-11 22:18 · Score: 1
  
  Talk for yourself. I like my sub-code to be curly-braced, not indented.
16. Re:Does he not know... by chrismcb · 2013-02-11 22:21 · Score: 1
  
  Does Gates not know about Python? Python IMO is a whole lot easier to learn than BASIC ever was and you can do a lot more with it.
  
  They are both turing complete languages. So what can you do in Python that can't be done in BASIC?
  
  Slap a few libraries on ANY language and you get do anything in less lines of codes. That's what libraries are for.
17. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 01:22 · Score: 0
  
  Which schools?
  We can move and raise our kids there.
18. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 06:15 · Score: 0
  
  Why do programmers think that everyone needs to share their skill set? I don't know how to repair a car (beyond the very simple stuff), run a Fortune 500 company, or remove an appendix. Does that make me a bad programmer?
19. Re:Does he not know... by shutdown+-p+now · 2013-02-12 07:56 · Score: 1
  
  They are both turing complete languages. So what can you do in Python that can't be done in BASIC?
  Linked lists, since classic BASIC doesn't have full-fledged pointers or any equivalent.
  (yes, yes, you can do it with PEEK and POKE, or by using indices into a dynamically reallocated array as pseudo-pointers - and you can do OOP in assembly too; but when we talk about doing something "in language X", it usually implies some higher-level abstractions)
20. Re:Does he not know... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-13 12:16 · Score: 0
  
  "Father, forgive him, for he does not know what Perl is."
Re:Long done by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:06 · Score: 5, Informative

If you had bothered to look, he has been answering for the last 6 or so hours, and his last post was only 5 minutes ago as of this posting.
Good Read by GreggBz · 2013-02-11 13:07 · Score: 4, Interesting

This really is an excellent AMA. It's good to see Mr. Gates mixing witty one-liners with several long, open and thoughtful answers.

In a weird way I wish that this was the Bill Gates that was still leading Microsoft. I mean, in that alternate universe it certainly wouldn't be all rainbows and freedom, but at least Microsoft would be a company that I could understand. These days, I have no clue where Microsoft is going and it kind of makes me sad that they are becoming a weaker, less competent rival to their open source and corporate opposition. Ah well, It's likely better that he's taken his drive and his billions and put it towards a noble cause.
1. Re:Good Read by wile_e8 · 2013-02-11 13:59 · Score: 0
  
  These days, I have no clue where Microsoft is going
  Oh, that's easy to figure out. Just look at what Apple did in the last year and expect Microsoft to go there in two years.
2. Re:Good Read by c0lo · 2013-02-11 14:20 · Score: 1
  
  These days, I have no clue where Microsoft is going
  Oh, that's easy to figure out. Just look at what Apple did in the last year and expect Microsoft to go there in two years.
  Ummm... shed 40% of the stock price in the last 5 months? I think it will happen to MS sooner than 2 years.
  
  --
  Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
3. Re:Good Read by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 14:52 · Score: 0
  
  Too bad Microsoft probably won't double it's price over 12 months before the 40% cut like Apple did....besides Apple shares are already coming back, it was just a bunch of short sellers shaking out the scared money.
4. Re:Good Read by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 15:14 · Score: 0
  
  Don't worry, you're definitely not alone, plenty of people would gladly sell freedom up the river for some bizarre as shit desire to see Microsoft strengthened.
5. Re:Good Read by hairyfish · 2013-02-11 16:09 · Score: 1
  
  Ummm... shed 40% of the stock price in the last 5 months? I think it will happen to MS sooner than 2 years.
  I think the opposite, wanna short some MSFT from me?
6. Re:Good Read by hcs_$reboot · 2013-02-11 16:56 · Score: 1
  
  I wish that this was the Bill Gates that was still leading Microsoft.
  He may be back. Medvedev did it..
  
  --
  Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
7. Re:Good Read by ShanghaiBill · 2013-02-11 18:54 · Score: 2
  
  What cause would that be? Evading taxes?
  The more taxes he can avoid, the better. He is putting the money to far better use than the government would.
  
  Attempting to buy a legacy?
  So what? What difference does it make what his motivations are? His foundation has already saved millions of lives, and improved the lives of millions more. All those lives are not worth less just because his motivations are not pure enough for you.
8. Re:Good Read by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 20:48 · Score: 0
  
  given a good windows 9 for phones and computers it's possible.
9. Re:Good Read by RazorSharp · 2013-02-12 00:50 · Score: 1
  
  What difference does it make what his motivations are?
  If you want to get into ethics, it makes a huge difference. Not to mention that he's not actually saving the world -- in proportion to his wealth he's doing very little good and it hardly offsets the type of economic disparity pirates such as himself have created by plundering the American economy.
  I normally don't care when people donate money to charities for third world countries -- I just think they're fools who lack perspective. But when a person spends an entire career damaging the American economy -- destroying many of its most innovative companies, ripping people off, and holding back progress -- I'm not going to put the blinders on and refrain from criticizing that person just because they found a profitable way to 'give to charity' that interestingly enough also strengthens his business interests.
  Here third world country! Have Windows machines! Oh, what? You wanted long-term support? Oh, no, just the first taste is free.
  Here third world country! Have this medicine! Oh, yeah, I'm heavily invested in the pharmaceutical that makes this. You want more? Here's their business card. Just the first taste is free.
  If Bill Gates was actually attempting to do good for the world he would: 1) Actually do good for the world and 2) Stop making it a point to be publicly acknowledged for doing so. One of Bill Gates' lies in the reddit discussion was saying that only 1% of the government's budget goes to foreign aid. Every time Joe Schmoe or Angelina Jolie or Bill Gates donates money to a third world country and then writes it off on their taxes, that's the government paying for foreign aid. Charity is subsidized and it's a major problem with our tax code. Unlike Bill Gates, the American government doesn't profit from charity work. The American government doesn't have the money to spend on charity.
  
  His foundation has already saved millions of lives
  Saving a life is only a good thing if it's a life worth saving. Also, do you actually know his foundation has saved millions of lives or are you just saying that?
  Here, learn something: http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Gates_Foundation_Critique
  
  --
  "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
10. Re:Good Read by SuiteSisterMary · 2013-02-12 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  It's interesting that your first argument is about ethical behavior, and your second argument is about determining who is and is not fit to live.
  
  --
  Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
11. Re:Good Read by RazorSharp · 2013-02-12 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  It's interesting but it's not contradictory unless you buy into the bullshit that life is sacred.
  
  --
  "From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
12. Re:Good Read by Stuarticus · 2013-02-13 00:44 · Score: 1
  
  Everyone's life is sacred to someone, I bet an egomaniac like yourself is pretty fond of his own.
  
  --
  If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
This was the device he used for the Q&A by kentrel · 2013-02-11 13:09 · Score: 3, Informative

I want one!!
http://i.imgur.com/1JqrLVc.jpg
1. Re:This was the device he used for the Q&A by ryzvonusef · 2013-02-11 18:38 · Score: 1
  
  It's a Surface Pro:
  http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/18bhme/im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill_melinda_gates/c8dd2t2
  
  I just got my Surface Pro a week ago and it is very nice.
  I am using a Perceptive Pixel display right now - huge Windows 8 touch whiteboard. These will come down in price over time and be pervasive... ( http://i.imgur.com/1JqrLVc.jpg )
  
  --
  I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
2. Re:This was the device he used for the Q&A by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 20:39 · Score: 0
  
  Notice bill does not use the metro interface.
3. Re:This was the device he used for the Q&A by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 01:16 · Score: 0
  
  From your own fucking quotation, it's a Perceptive Pixel...
4. Re:This was the device he used for the Q&A by ryzvonusef · 2013-02-12 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  Mea Culpa, I got confused about what parent was asking about.
  
  --
  I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!
Windows 7 or 8? by Kwyj1b0 · 2013-02-11 13:15 · Score: 1

And Mr. Gates' answer? Higher is better.
Ah, I guess that was the developers' motto during product design as well. ;)
1. Re:Windows 7 or 8? by sd4f · 2013-02-11 13:37 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I like the windows 2000 response.
Handwriting by Dan+East · 2013-02-11 13:16 · Score: 5, Interesting

Robots, pervasive screens, speech interaction will all change the way we look at "computers". Once seeing, hearing, and reading (including handwriting) work very well you will interact in new ways..
I'm very surprised he's still hung up on handwriting recognition. It is a DEAD END for human interfacing to a computer (with the sole exception of OCRing existing handwritten documents, and perhaps security as a form of credential). Think about it for one moment, the amount of muscle control, precision and time required to DRAW A SHAPE which is then interpreted as a single input glyph. It is a horribly slow and tedious method of input - I would rather (and literally have) key Morse Code into my android phone than write text.
It also shows he's still a bit out of touch, and still thinking stylus-centric (which, IMO, was one of the reasons Window Mobile / Windows CE failed, was because it never completely shook the stylus-required-to-interact-with-tiny-widgets problem). Is a person really expected to draw on a modern touch screen with their finger to write letters for the device to recognize (and feel like a preschooler fingerpainting)? Or are we going to step back into having to keep track of a stylus?
Just found it odd he threw in handwriting in this day and age. It was beat to death with Palm starting a decade and a half ago. It's gone. Dead. Byebye.

--
Better known as 318230.
1. Re:Handwriting by Kwyj1b0 · 2013-02-11 13:42 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Just found it odd he threw in handwriting in this day and age. It was beat to death with Palm starting a decade and a half ago. It's gone. Dead. Byebye.
  There was another article which stated that paper-and-pencils are the best tools in the classroom. While handwriting recognition (like all technologies) has had its hype, it is now becoming a serious tool. The stylus is actually a nice way to get work done on a computer in many technical fields (where drawings and notes are the way the people communicate).
  I know faculty and students who use OneNote/EndNote and really like the Ink-to-Math and Ink-to-Text functionality.
2. Re:Handwriting by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:43 · Score: 0
  
  The Galaxy Note 2 has a stylus and is very popular:
  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57553995-94/samsung-5m-galaxy-note-2-units-sold-in-2-months/
3. Re:Handwriting by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 15:01 · Score: 0
  
  He says handwriting in the context of computer reading, not stylus input; i.e. the computer can read handwriting, on paper. Humans being able to read handwriting is not useful because you can recognize what someone is writing *on you*; it's useful because you can read a note someone left for you etc. Computers being able to read handwriting will be useful in the same way. Of course when you're interacting directly with a computer you'll use other means of communication.
4. Re:Handwriting by data64 · 2013-02-11 16:07 · Score: 1
  
  Gestures are a form of hand-writing too.
5. Re:Handwriting by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 17:14 · Score: 0
  
  There was another article which stated that paper-and-pencils are the best tools in the classroom.
  
  I'm 36 about to be 37 and a serious programmer but I forgot a lot of math i knew very well so I started using Khan University to refresh my skills. Next thing I know not only can I not type what i know i can't read what I wrote so I bought a 600 dollar Walcom and couldn't be happier.
  Writing is not a dead art computers have just not caught up to it yet and this is coming from someone who only needs a keyboard!
6. Re:Handwriting by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 18:49 · Score: 0
  
  As does the Galaxy Note. I had the pleasure of using both, although the only time I ever take out the stylus is when my hands are too sweaty to use touch. My kids like it for colouring though.
7. Re:Handwriting by beowulfcluster · 2013-02-11 19:32 · Score: 1
  
  For me, writing something with a pen is still faster than typing it on a phone keyboard. I also require less muscle control to write with a pen than I do to not throw the phone into a wall after I've hit the wrong letter for the 10th time in a five word sentance.
8. Re:Handwriting by DerPflanz · 2013-02-11 20:42 · Score: 1
  
  Windows CE didn't fail. It is all over industrial handheld devices (barcode scanners mainly, but also embedded computers). I have yet to see a multitude of Android / Windows Phone devices. There are some, but the large majority is Windows CE5.
  
  --
  -- The Internet is a too slow way of doing things, you'd never do without it.
9. Re:Handwriting by Alex+Belits · 2013-02-11 21:36 · Score: 0
  
  Windows CE didn't fail. It is all over industrial handheld devices (barcode scanners mainly, but also embedded computers).
  No. It's a system that was pushed into applications that should've not existed in the first place.
  
  I have yet to see a multitude of Android / Windows Phone devices. There are some, but the large majority is Windows CE5.
  That's because you work stocking shelves at Wal-Mart.
  
  --
  Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
10. Re:Handwriting by mattr · 2013-02-11 23:42 · Score: 1
  
  I wouldn't handwrite a book, but it might help with carpal tunnel and you know there are languages where it is easier to draw a character (like Japanese/Chinese) than use a front end processor / dictionary which happens to also use up cpu. Also really understanding what you are doing with a pen is a hard AI problem. It would be cool if you could annotate something on an e-ink display even if it is just underlining or putting a star on something and a few letters long steno type comment. Where you are communicating with the machine.
11. Re:Handwriting by SuiteSisterMary · 2013-02-12 01:12 · Score: 1
  
  Last time I was in an Apple Store, buying an iPhone, my purchase was completed on a Windows CE device.
  
  --
  Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
12. Re:Handwriting by T.E.D. · 2013-02-12 04:45 · Score: 2
  
  It also shows he's still a bit out of touch, and still thinking stylus-centric
  
  It isn't odd at all. Its perfectly in character for him. This is the same guy who looked at a impending revolution in ease of copying things, and thought to himself, "What this new ecosystem needs is old-fashioned steam-press era copyright law applied to it".
  Bill Gates wasn't really born in the era of electronic information, and either never fully understood it, or just flat out isn't a fan of its implications for society.
13. Re:Handwriting by DerPflanz · 2013-02-12 20:27 · Score: 1
  
  That's because you work stocking shelves at Wal-Mart.
  No. I work as the CEO of a industrial automation company in the Netherlands. We actually sell these things, and are well informed on what the market has to offer. Even the suppliers of barcode scanners agree that there are just a few Android devices.
  
  --
  -- The Internet is a too slow way of doing things, you'd never do without it.
14. Re:Handwriting by Alex+Belits · 2013-02-12 20:47 · Score: 1
  
  We actually sell these things
  To Wal-Mart.
  That market is gone. Never should've existed in the first place, as wifi barcode reader is the most that could be justified for that purpose.
  
  --
  Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
15. Re:Handwriting by DerPflanz · 2013-02-12 20:58 · Score: 1
  
  Read again. I am in the Netherlands. There is no Wal-Mart here.
  
  --
  -- The Internet is a too slow way of doing things, you'd never do without it.
16. Re:Handwriting by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 03:23 · Score: 0
  
  There's no Walmart in Netherlands you fucking idiot. Stop spouting idiocy just because you can't accept that he's right and you're wrong.
Re:Long done by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 13:49 · Score: 0

Slashdot is late to the game. Don't bother posting there. Gates is long done answering questions.
This isn't reddit not only will we consume the info, we will analyze his answers.
Why doesn't he answer questions on Slashdot? by detritus. · 2013-02-11 13:51 · Score: 5, Funny

We love the guy!
1. Re:Why doesn't he answer questions on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 18:31 · Score: 0
  
  lol... I was going to say this!!! Modded you up instead.
Did he confirm the rumors by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 14:33 · Score: 1

of the cage match with Stallman?
1. Re:Did he confirm the rumors by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 20:43 · Score: 0
  
  What about a tag team match say..... Stallman, Torvald and Raymond VS Gates, Allen and Steve "King Kong" Ballmer.
  Much more entertaining scenario wouldn't you say?
Hope someone asked why he supports circumcision by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 18:13 · Score: 3, Insightful

Bill Gates supports circumcision as a way to fight HIV. That really is not an effective way to fight HIV, since many Americans are circumcised and still get HIV. Also, many European men are not circumcised and they don't get HIV as frequently as Americans. Using a condom is really the most effective way to protect yourself from HIV, and if you're going to use a condom, then there's no need to get circumcised.
Not to mention the fact that babies aren't even capable of having sex, so there's no need to circumcise a baby. When he's an adult, let him decide for himself whether he wants to permanently remove a body part that offers sexual benefits. And in 15-20 years there may be a REAL cure for HIV.
Saying that we should circumcise babies to protect them from HIV makes as much sense as saying we should give mastectomies to all young women to protect them from breast cancer.
1. Re:Hope someone asked why he supports circumcision by clarkn0va · 2013-02-11 18:52 · Score: 1
  
  Using a condom is really the most effective way to protect yourself from HIV
  Not exchanging body fluids with people who have HIV is the most effective way to protect yourself from HIV. Just sayin'.
  
  --
  I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
2. Re:Hope someone asked why he supports circumcision by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 19:35 · Score: 0
  
  Using a condom is really the most effective way to protect yourself from HIV
  Not exchanging body fluids with people who have HIV is the most effective way to protect yourself from HIV. Just sayin'.
  Well yeah, but since millions of people have sex, the condom is the best way for them to be protected from HIV.
3. Re:Hope someone asked why he supports circumcision by dargaud · 2013-02-11 21:36 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Saying that we should circumcise babies to protect them from HIV makes as much sense as saying we should give mastectomies to all young women to protect them from breast cancer.
  This is EXACTLY what I say to people who support sexual mutilations of babies. They usually mumble something about not being the same and quickly change the subject. I don't have mod points but this needs a '+5 insightful'.
  
  --
  Non-Linux Penguins ?
4. Re:Hope someone asked why he supports circumcision by shutdown+-p+now · 2013-02-12 10:58 · Score: 1
  
  According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website, circumcision reduces the risk of HIV transmission by 60 percent. I have no means of verifying that claim, but if it is really true, why shouldn't he pursue it? Sure, it won't make people immune, but it would at least slow propagation of the virus down.
  And yes, condoms are obviously better (and doesn't the Foundation also support them?), but backwards societies such as what you see in many places in Africa often frown on them for various cultural and religious reasons - and then of course there's the whole business with Roman Catholic Church spreading bullshit anti-condom propaganda. Circumcision, on the other hand, is widely seen as "traditional", especially in areas with heavy Islamic influence, and so it's easier to get people to sign up. And my understanding is that he's promoting circumcision done "right" (i.e. by a doctor, under anesthetic and with sterile tools in a clinical setting), which is also far better than the usual "grandpa chops it off with a rusty knife" approach.
  Of course it doesn't mean that this should be promoted in countries that are developed enough that you can just get them to use condoms.
5. Re:Hope someone asked why he supports circumcision by Stuarticus · 2013-02-13 00:48 · Score: 1
  
  Saying "Just sayin'" makes you sound like a fucking retard. I thought you'd choose more wisely in future if you were better informed.
  
  --
  If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
Re:right to the answers... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-11 20:43 · Score: 0

the question to that one was do you agree with the portrayal of yourself in pirates of silicon valley. I don't know if your stupid or trolling (so if trolling you get double points).
Reddit AMAs are stupid by thetoadwarrior · 2013-02-12 00:16 · Score: 0

He picks and chooses what he answers so naturally he only answers the softball questions that he wants to answer. It's not a "ask me anything" it's a "let my fans circle around and ejaculate into their own mouths over my awesomeness".
Pirates of Silicon Valley reasonably accurate? by dgharmon · 2013-02-12 00:17 · Score: 1

@loucatellia: "How did you feel about your portrayal in Pirates of Silicon Valley, and who do you want to play you next in a movie"?

@thisisbillgates: "That portrayal was reasonably accurate"....
--

"We should wait until we have a way to do a high level of integration that will be harder for the likes of Notes, Wordperfect to achieve, and which will give Office a real advantage". Bill Gates

"You never sent me a response on the question of what things an app would do that would make it run with MSDOS and not run with DR-DOS," Bill Gates

Comes v. Microsoft
Microsoft Litigation

--
AccountKiller
Indeed by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 00:31 · Score: 0

What he conveinently left out is that his plan can only be implemented through coercion, i.e. physical force. And now the ball is in his court -- to prove that "being rich" is somehow more immoral than employing physical force against non-violent human beings.
Good luck!
That's too bad. by Seumas · 2013-02-12 00:58 · Score: 0

I feel bad that the guy -- who certainly has far more important things to spend his time on -- had to sit around for a chunk of his day replying to a bunch of teenage morons who didn't even know who he was when he was still heading MS, in threads filled with reddit circle-jerking and idiotic massive pseudo-meme images in every post.
Re:Long done by Vernes · 2013-02-12 01:30 · Score: 1

I don't agree with you since you are using a hyperbole.
Nevertheless, this is funny to me: http://www.reddit.com/r/slashdot/
Best quote from the AMA by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-12 04:28 · Score: 0

"Higher is better." Personally, the context for this quote doesn't really matter.
Doing stupid shit with the money by tusam · 2013-02-12 06:26 · Score: 1

Something I might've asked him was posed by Louis C.K
With $85B (or whatever it is nowadays), "how do you not do that?"
Re:Long done by McDutchie · 2013-02-13 02:01 · Score: 1

You're wrong. When I posted his last post was hours old and he had posted an update thanking people for the great AMA and ending it.
How typical of Slashdot that some AC gets upvoted to +5 for blatantly lying.