gates donates more money

[ssam]

the other day one of my friends tried to argue that it was ethical to use windows because bill gates gives a lot of his money to charity.

it is easy to dismiss the donations as clever public relations, but the money still does a lot of good.

i pointed out that he also takes away money from a lot of charities and third world countries.

i also said about mark shuttleworth gives a lot to help with education in poorer countries, and how things like edubuntu could make a real difference.

but it is still hard to beat mr gates giving away billions.

can anyone think of anymore i can tell my friend?

thanks

sam

[towsonu2003]

the other day one of my friends tried to argue that it was ethical to use windows because bill gates gives a lot of his money to charity.

it is easy to dismiss the donations as clever public relations, but the money still does a lot of good.

i pointed out that he also takes away money from a lot of charities and third world countries.

i also said about mark shuttleworth gives a lot to help with education in poorer countries, and how things like edubuntu could make a real difference.

but it is still hard to beat mr gates giving away billions.

can anyone think of anymore i can tell my friend?

thanks

sam

just tell your friend that bill gates and the ideologies he supports (monetarily as well as by just by being there as a monopoly) is no good for non-american and non-european people, regardless of how much money he gives away.

now if your friend doesn't believe you, let ms vista take care of him/her :)

Note: third world is america. civilization as we know it now (math and other scientific stuf mr. b uses) came from middle east,thus the first world...

[majikstreet]

Bill Gates is just a @#%^$EYDF^&%$&%%$#^

http://www.aaxnet.com/images/billg.jpg

Do you want your OS to be built by a criminal?

[aysiu]

First of all, it's not just good PR--he also gets great tax breaks for it.

If someone robbed you and then gave half of what stole from you to the poor, you'd consider him ethical?

Few corporations or CEOs are wholly good or wholly evil.

[majikstreet]

First of all, it's not just good PR--he also gets great tax breaks for it.

If someone robbed you and then gave half of what stole from you to the poor, you'd consider him ethical?

Few corporations or CEOs are wholly good or wholly evil.
aysiu = UF philosopher and general smart person.

[Samuel]

The fact that bill gates gives money to charity hardley makes it ethical to use his operating system, does he also give away free windows XP licences to schools that cant afford to buy them? i personally can't afford to buy windows vista and upgrade my hardware to beable to run it as well as ubuntu runs, im sure many people are in the same boat as me, ubuntu gives a very good operating system to people who otherwise would not beable to have one.

besides, when im choosing an OS ethics dont even come into it ;)

[xequence]

Bill Gates is just a @#%^$EYDF^&%$&%%$#^

http://www.aaxnet.com/images/billg.jpg

Do you want your OS to be built by a criminal?


That is really funny :cool:

[stuporglue]

the other day one of my friends tried to argue that it was ethical to use windows because bill gates gives a lot of his money to charity.

but it is still hard to beat mr gates giving away billions.

can anyone think of anymore i can tell my friend?

They are separate issues. No one is 100% good or 100% bad. Bill gates can do terrific things with the wealth he has. I, personally, am very glad that he does donate so much. That doesn't mean that I have to like other things that he does.

Ethics also doesn't have to do with quantity. If Gates can give away more than Shuttleworth, so what? They can both donate tons more than I can, but that doesn't make any contribution I make less important. It also doesn't affect the ethicality (?) of the products we sell ([edit] or give away).

[towsonu2003]

\
Do you want your OS to be built by a criminal?

wouldn't care whether OS-developer is criminal or crazy or human or monkey or alien or even me... as long as the OS is good and ideology behind it doesn't suck...

[Qrk]

Use ubuntu, donate what XP costs to charity. Eliminate the middle man.

[blastus]

OK let me point out the structure of your friend's argument:

premise 1: Person A has great influence over Organization A
premise 2: Person A gives to charity
premise 3: If Person A gives to charity, it is ethical to buy products from Organization A
---------------------------------------
conclusion: It is ethical to buy products from Organization A

By "great influence" I mean that person is either owner, president, CEO or other insider that has great influence over the decision making in that organization.

premise 1: Bill Gates has great influence over Microsoft
premise 2: Bill Gates gives to charity
premise 3: If Bill Gates gives to charity, it is ethical to buy products from Microsoft
---------------------------------------
conclusion: It is ethical to buy products from Microsoft

Now how about this:

premise 1: The Don has great influence over the Italian Mafia
premise 2: The Don gives to charity
premise 3: If the Don gives to charity, it is ethical to buy products from the Italian Mafia
---------------------------------------
conclusion: It is ethical to buy products from the Italian Mafia :)

Why does this argument break down? Well because premise 3 abdicates Organization A from ethical responsibility on the basis that Person A gives to charity.

[jeremy]

The famous Kray twins, who 'ran' a large part of Londons East end in the 1960's, were generous with several local charities.

[raublekick]

Posted in slashdot today...

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/31/233237&from=rss

[.Danny]

To be honest, if you look at how much he is worth his donations are not exactly something big. However he does at least donate. Unlicke some others.

[Pathogenix]

Bill Gates != Microsoft.

If I were really inclined to argue over his charitable doings (for which I have a great deal of respect) then I'd point out that just because Bill is giving away money doesn't mean that Microsoft's business practices aren't heavy handed and monopolistic.

Here's my current favourite example: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/27/accidental_music_monopoly_bid/

I'd also point out that "It isn't Microsoft" isn't a good reason to use Linux and will lead the unwary n00b into swamps of Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

If you want to get all ethical about it, then open source is an extremely important movement in the developing world because it lowers the price of access to IT and offers an alternative route to selling your IT infrastructure to a foreign company.

There's an awful lot of talented coders around the world, and if they've got something to base their work on, without signing into a monopoly, maybe they'll be able to compete a little more fairly. Support open source and stick it to The Man, yeeeeah.

[BWF89]

To be honest, if you look at how much he is worth his donations are not exactly something big. However he does at least donate. Unlicke some others.
Actually Bill Gates put in his will that after he dies all his money is to go to charity.

[Nu-Buntu]

No one here has to like Windows or Microsoft or even Mr. Gates. However, that does not mean that the philanthropy he does should be denigrated. I love Ubuntu and Linux, but I have to give the man his props for using some of his wealth to better the lives of people. Tax breaks and PR aside, he didn't have to do it, and I think the Gates Foundation has helped many people. Flame me if you want, but I appreciate it when a wealthy and successful person gives back to the society that enabled them to accumulate their wealth.

[KingBahamut]

Gates just doesnt want to get Malaria, thats what it is.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9877432/

[jeremy]

...I have to give the man his props for using some of his wealth to better the lives of people.
I think he uses his wealth to better his own life, like when he gave however much it was to help with AIDS in India, in return for a fat contract!

Bill Gates is a smug and unpleasant person, even if he did genuinely give, it would be for his own self satisfation - just like that other one, that bloody Tom Cruise bloke. Here, read this for a laugh... http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article323797.ece

[Snakey]

First of all, it's not just good PR--he also gets great tax breaks for it.

If someone robbed you and then gave half of what stole from you to the poor, you'd consider him ethical?

Few corporations or CEOs are wholly good or wholly evil.
Hmm, the American Zorro :p

[Turgon]

As pointed out before, you should tell your friend that Bill Gates only becomes a middle man for money your friend could donated himself if he didn't spend them on Windows. Most charity are more or less corrupted as it is, and if microsoft is going to corrupt your donationmoney first I swear it won't be much left when it finnaly reaches the ones in need.

[Turgon]

*dobble post*

[KiwiNZ]

Damm these type of threads annoy me. Mr Gates has donated monies because he wanted to .
Trust me I could not do the work I do in the community without the funds donated by folks like Mr Gates. And yes they actually save lives , think about it.

There are also far worse individuals and far wealthier Corps who do nothing . EG Exxon who has just announced record profits how much do they give.

You may not like MS products thats fine but why do we have these silly attacks on the man when gives very significant amounts of money to help those whom their own Countries dont give a toss for .

[peterbrowne]

At my local library, they have a certificate from Microsoft saying that Microsoft Corporation - in co-operation with the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation - are proud to donate 50 copies of Windows 98 First Edition, Office 97, and Wordperfect 5.1. This is advertising - they can't upgrade 98 FE to newer windows versions, and they gave such an old version of Wordperfect that people will think that if they can't do better than that, why should they use non-microsoft software. The certificate was dated December 2004.

[professor_chaos]

Use ubuntu, donate what XP costs to charity. Eliminate the middle man.

amen