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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

He's done something worthwhile with a fairly small portion of the riches and is using that as a very successful propaganda machine to counter his negative image.

Please keep in mind that this was the CEO under which a number of very questionable actions (anti-trust, SCO) were effected.

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Propaganda? Please. Outside of the open source tech bubble Bill G doesn't/didn't have a negative image to counter. He has given away ~$30 billion which is not a small portion at all (> half of his current net worth). It's his main focus and he will likely donate teh bulk of his remaining fortune. iMacs and iPods don't save lives, providing vaccinations saves millions.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/01/29/davos.bill.gates.dona...

In the innovative products race Steve Jobs wins. In the does good things race Bill Gates wins. It's admirable.

Not all of these are gifts, plenty of them (especially the larger ones) are structured as investments.

If a mafioso gives his money to charity do you think that qualifies him for sainthood ?

Ask the stacker guys if they think Bill Gates is a nice person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics

> Outside of the open source tech bubble Bill G doesn't/didn't have a negative image to counter.

His company is a convicted monopolist by the US government,not by OSS fans.

More anecdotally, most people acknowledge that Windows is pretty shit these days.

I own a MacBook Pro, but use Win 7 at work. I think it's great, and have considered switching back at home.

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