Humanity Does Not Need Bill Gates | Hacker News Reader

Humanity Does Not Need Bill Gates

currentaffairs.org

4 pointsDonnyV4 comments

> Gates’ fortune came at the expense of the rest of us

This is the essential truth about Gates and Microsoft. Microsoft did not advance computing; it suffocated it and made it into a grey, boring, feudal kingdom, at least through the 90s, driven by Gates ruthless mindset of monopolisation and 'embrace, extend, extinguish'. And even now we still have to pay the 'Microsoft tax' on every personal computer we buy, even if, like many here on HN do, we immediately replace Windows with a Free Software operating system (usually some variant of GNU/Linux).

Whatever the argument about Gates' philanthropy (and personally, I remain highly sceptical around that) it can't be denied that the way he made his money made the world poorer, to his personal profit.

Wow... just wow... this is a prime example that of how awful people are sometimes. There are people out there that, no matter how much good someone tries to put out into the world, will look at their good deeds and spit on them. No one is perfect but dear god, this author has a vendetta against Gates. They're even mad at Gates for things that MSFT has done decades after he stepped down as CEO.

This is a man who, instead of sitting on his wealth goes out there and dedicates his remaining years to doing as much good in the world as possible.

Did you even read the article because it literally listed point by point. All the shady shit the Gates and Melinda Foundation do. I guess you think its ok for for a giant foundation to pay off journalists and control pharmaceutical patents? Or fund private businesses breaking into foreign countries?

It's literally nothing more than a hit piece against one of the most impactful philanthropists that our generation has ever seen.

You bring up "paying off journalists" but the article doesn't even mention that. Instead, he donates money to newspapers so they can cover underappreciated topics like global povert. Ohhh noooo Bill Gates donates money to the Guardian so they can have a "Global Development" website, those MONSTERS!!![0] Here's their DEPLORABLE description: "This website is funded by support provided, in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The journalism and other content is editorially independent and its purpose is to focus on global development...The Guardian’s award-winning global development site was launched in 2010 to provide special focus on the millennium development goals — the eight targets set in 2000 by the United Nations Millennium Declaration with the aim of improving the lives of the world’s poorest people by 2015. The site has gone on to produce news, features, debate, multi-media and photography from journalists, experts and people around the world."[1]

You bring up that the foundation "controls pharmaceutical patents" but tbh it's an specious (and unsourced) claim from KHN that reeks of conspiracy theory vibes. If that's what you call a rock solid source then I have bridge to sell you.

That last point is fascinating because there you're twisting something great -- working to bring mobile banking to the impoverished rural communities of Tanzania -- into something that's somehow awful. Mobile banking is such an incredibly impactful way to reduce poverty[2] yet he's the DEVIL for partnering with a for-profit company?

Grow up and get a life.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2010/sep/14/a...

[2] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6317/1288

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