Well, I haven't seen it discussed, but what do y'all think about the billion dollar donation to the Boys and Girls club he made (computers, new software, etc). I know it's not a large percent of his total value, and not much weight on him, but Tavis Smiley and them seemed to be happy about it. What do you think Gates intentions were? The govt off his back? Good publicity for Microsoft? Does he want to see minorities contribute to the technical fields in the workforce?

Someone give me a response here.

joey dos aka jose miguel maldonado

Bill Gates the new black leader

I don't know what Bill's reasons were but I have heard he donated $23 Billion to world immunization. Apparently it goes to the 50 poorest countries in the world. I'm not sure over what time period the money is being given but in any case, that's a lotta loot even for Bill. It's funny how you never hear about the good things people do.....


"wisest is he who knows he does not know"

"if life is prison, music is the yard time"

okay......a man donates a BILLION dollars and people want to question his motives?!?!?!

makes no difference why he did it...

the fact is, it was done and that money will do alotta good.

i don't care if his net worth is 100 billion and his donating 1 billion is insignificant...a mere drop in the bucket for him.


all i know is ONE BILLION DOLLARS will make a difference in a few lives...

if he did it for the pub...so what...lets give him some publicity...

OKAYPLAYERS THINK 1 BILLION DOLLAR DONATIONS ARE KINDA COOL!!!
(the sentiments expressed by prophetsun are his own and do not represent those of anybody else on the planet...)


okay, the commercial is over...billy has his publicity...

he paid a billion dollars for some recognition.

i'll take it.

and keep the change.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
-i aint lyin! this sh*t i'm makin up is true!!

PEACE & LOVE

It's sad how people constantly try to villify Microsoft. I hear now there is a racial discrimination lawsuit going around (hell, every major corporation gets em, so its no big news). As much has Gates and Microsoft have donated to schools and youth organizations, this all seems pretty stupid. Thanks to leftists, we are about to go into recession, thanks to Microsoft's breakup. Good job.

>It's sad how people constantly try
>to villify Microsoft. I
>hear now there is a
>racial discrimination lawsuit going around
>(hell, every major corporation gets
>em, so its no big
>news).

That's an easy position to take when you're not the one being discriminated against. You probably wouldn't say this if you had to go to a hostile work environment everyday.

As much has
>Gates and Microsoft have donated
>to schools and youth organizations,
>this all seems pretty stupid.

Under this theory, we should just be yes-men and yes-women. The big corporation has paid us off, so we should shut our mouths and be happy despite any future injustice.

> Thanks to leftists, we
>are about to go into
>recession, thanks to Microsoft's breakup.

I think we agree here. I don't want Microsoft to break up either. But they should be held accountable for any discrimination.


I like Bill Gates because of the scholarships he set up for minority students that will be distributed through the UNCF. However, a race discrimination suit is not stupid. To say that is unfair to the employees that were discriminated against. Courtland Milloy, a BET News commentator and Washington Post reporter, wrote an article in the Washington Post(1/7/01)describing how most in Microsoft agree that Bill Gates is a racially sensitive man, but the company itself does not share this sensitivity. It then went to list several other organizations that have given millions to minority groups only to discriminate against the same groups later on. The premise of the article was that if these "racially sensitive" corporations can't get it right, then is there any hope? However, letting corporations, even Microsoft, off the hook for discrimination is not the answer.

I know you want to give Gates a humanitarian award and all, but he's not some great man for donating a billion here, and a few million there....can we say tax break? That's right folks, he'd probably be paying a hella lot more in taxes if he wasn't making these billion dollar donations. Gates ain't stupid you know.

>As much has
>Gates and Microsoft have donated
>to schools and youth organizations,
>this all seems pretty stupid.

I'd rather see a real distribution of wealth, not just "donations" by the whims of the richest for PR or tax reasons.

> Thanks to leftists, we
>are about to go into
>recession, thanks to Microsoft's breakup.
> Good job.

I love this argument. Reagan was give credit for the 8 years of growth that Clinton had and now Clinton will be blamed for a recession after the biggest growth period in U.S. history?

He made some other donation for inner city youth scholarships. I think the name of the scholarship is related to his wife.

I don't hate the man for his politics, or even his business savvy, but could they write some non-buggy software for once?

k. orr
i hate ie 5.5, and netscape 6.0

Who's the man fooling...I'm nobody to judge but dude's going to hell regardless! LOL. Fuck donating computers...I want that damn X box (from the lik wic crew).
---------------------------------------
How many glocks can you cock on
one record?
Videos of hoes naked, hip hop's
been infected
Now lets correct it, before it's too late
To fix our mistake of lettin record
labels infiltrate (for real)
Cause if there's money to make
Then there's an artist they create,
ignorate to hip hop, meanin he's fake
Now lets take the average emcee for
example
They lacin with the same used
bullshit samples
I watch and construct a rapper bout
his conduct
And about, how many niggaz he
done bucked
But ask the question, you carry gats
and rock knifes?
But ask yourself, can you rock the
motherfuckin mic?
All this gangsta advocatin is
aggravatin
And aggitatin, it's time for us to stop
confiscatin
With wack rapper with that emcees
Thats plagued by the gangsta
disease

-Krumb Snatcha (Gangsta Disease)

i know he donated 15mil to the united negro college fund.

"be careful of how you treat strangers. many of you have been in the presence of angels without knowing it."

"you funny duke-'cause really you think you could do me when you roll a 500 that's really a 320."

"don't forsake you. you are what you own. when you love you you'll never be alone."-me

Compare what he's donated to what sports stars donate... think about that for a moment... how on earth can someone find fault in what Gates has done on numerous occasions?

I don't care what anyone says, Bill Gates is a pretty damn cool guy. But I agree with k_orr... they need to up their game a ton - PROGRAM SOMETHING DECENT!



-thebigfunk

He was on 60 minutes. I don't follow sports (unless you count women's professional billiards), but I think his name was M'Tombe. J-ro mentions him in a rhyme. But he's taking his money, power, influence, and building a hospital in his home country.

A hospital is so much tighter than a summer sports camp if you ask me.

one
k. orr

"To be perfect is to lack nothing essential to the whole therefore I AM."-Solarus

"And if I have to dead you, it's only cuz I love you."- Talib Kweli

Very very cool.

-thebigfunk

not questioning his benefactoral (is that a word?) spirit - i hope he did do it out of concern for his fellow man
but
it is a good business move as well
more computer literate people = more computers in use = more windows desktops, more Word users, etc....

Is a great thing, no matter what the motive. If he thinks getting folks of color hooked on windows, he has far more respect for us than a grip of other INDUSTRIES.

It would be ill if Redhat tried to give us Linux, which I think you can describe as the Newports of OS's. (strong)

peace
k. orr

that said that he had been to Africa, the most poverty striken regions, and said on his return that as a father he felt morally obligated to donate and how computers (gasp!) are all well and good but they can't feed a starving child and how he felt that attention should b focused on eliminating or alleviating world poverty and he was donating to kick it off.

>more computer literate people = more
>computers in use = more
>windows desktops, more Word users,
>etc....

It's funny. In the contracts that these "donations" come with the benefactors are required to us Microsoft products on them, otherwise there is no donation. What kind of donation is that?

good for the children
makes him look even worse

shouldnt have a billion to give in the first place
in my opinion



=meaning he shoulda been giving before he was comfortbale enough to feed his whole future family tree and forest

..peace

Didn't he "earn" it?

It's not like he was selling drugs? (well in a metaphorical sense, windows might be an addiction).

k. orr

>good for the children
>makes him look even worse
>
>shouldnt have a billion to give
>in the first place
>in my opinion
>
>
>
>=meaning he shoulda been giving before
>he was comfortbale enough to
>feed his whole future family
>tree and forest
>
>..peace

Exactly. What about his other 70 Billion (that's $70,000,000,000)? Anyone giving money to worthwhile project is a good thing. And this real money helps real people. But doesn't giving when it hurts mean more? Why does he need all the other money he has? Are children not still dying? It must not have hurt him that much if he couldn't spare the other $70,000,000,000.

Hotep

It is no mere coincidence that most of the world's philanthropists and/or humanitarians are the richest capitalists around. Carnegie, Rockefeller, Rhodes were all "great" humanitarians. This image is just a public ploy and part of the rhetorical ethic of Western culture to show that these persons who have made it through capitalism are virtuous and generous. However the real deal is that capitalism is a system based on exploitation and domination of the fellow wo/man. Any piece of the pie given by those individuals, including the GAtes and Turners of today, is show small and neglilible that it has no bearing on their character other than to show that they are truly Western to the core by their rhetorical natures.

Sure the money can help those in need but overall it is not indicative of "generosity" in the characters of those who exploit a system that benefits from impoverishing others in the first place. Also the money is not meant to truly end poverty or at least impede it since capitalism is the reason why so many are impoverished and exploited today.

Oh yeah Carnegie, Rockefeller and Rhodes all benefitted from the European colonization of Africa which futhered their wealth. That's like taking away someone's house and then giving them a tent to live in when it starts raining.

PEace
Solarus

"To be perfect is to lack nothing essential to the whole therefore I AM."-Solarus

"And if I have to dead you, it's only cuz I love you."- Talib Kweli

>Hotep
>
>It is no mere coincidence that
>most of the world's philanthropists
>and/or humanitarians are the richest
>capitalists around. Carnegie, Rockefeller,
>Rhodes were all "great" humanitarians.
> This image is just
>a public ploy and part
>of the rhetorical ethic of
>Western culture to show that
>these persons who have made
>it through capitalism are virtuous
>and generous.

They exploited workers who had to work under substandard conditions, I don't think Microsoft employees have it that bad

However the
>real deal is that capitalism
>is a system based on
>exploitation and domination of the
>fellow wo/man. Any piece of
>the pie given by those
>individuals, including the GAtes and
>Turners of today, is show
>small and neglilible that it
>has no bearing on their
>character other than to show
>that they are truly Western
>to the core by their
>rhetorical natures.

He's western, true, but I personally am satisfied to an extent with his capitalism. He is helping out the black community not by giving charity, but by giving computers, a key to knowledge. Who has really had to suffer for his gain? The people that buy his computers? Yea, they have glitches and bugs occasionally, but no one is going into poverty buying them or making them (see Nike and Air Jordan shoes).


>
>Sure the money can help those
>in need but overall it
>is not indicative of "generosity"
>in the characters of those
>who exploit a system that
>benefits from impoverishing others in
>the first place. Also
>the money is not meant
>to truly end poverty or
>at least impede it since
>capitalism is the reason why
>so many are impoverished and
>exploited today.

I think that his constant new innovations are actually something to help the whole society prosper, even if the motive is money in his pocket. He donated to get the govt off his company's back, but he really helped people out in the process.

>Oh yeah Carnegie, Rockefeller and Rhodes
>all benefitted from the European
>colonization of Africa which futhered
>their wealth. That's like
>taking away someone's house and
>then giving them a tent
>to live in when it
>starts raining.

Since when did he exploit Africa or anything of that source (Gates I mean)? Didn't someone post that... well I'll just cut+paste
ArLa
Jan-16-01, 11:32 AM (EST)
14. "read an article lately"
that said that he had been to Africa, the most poverty striken regions, and said on his return that as a father he felt morally obligated to donate and how computers (gasp!) are all well and good but they can't feed a starving child and how he felt that attention should b focused on eliminating or alleviating world poverty and he was donating to kick it off.

I understand where you are coming from, but I dont find anything wrong with Bill Gates donating money, computers or whatever to any people. I think its great that he does that and theres no need to hate him for starting microsoft and floating with his talent. My cousin is in college and able to afford it wothout crazy student loans because of the BILL GATES scholarship she received. There aren't enough of "our" people giving millions of dollars so it's good that someone is, not to mention what microsoft has done to the workplace--working the computer is THAT much easier to learn and use...and from what i recall--Bill Gates is the one who dropped out of Harvard to follow his dream and clearly his dream has had positive effects so I don't see the problem...is it because he's white? is it because he is now rich?