It looks like this is comparing the Gates Foundation's total charitable contribution in 2007 to the US's foreign aid budget for one year. Not to undermine Gates' massive contribution to humanity, but the title should say "gave away".
The infographic plague continues. Surely the author could have gotten more up-to-date information about a 501(c)(3) than five year old data.
And I would venture to say that money he donated was the result from ill gotten gains. He is a convicted monopolist. And in all honesty, this money is tainted from perpetuating a monopoly.
And still this company does what it was charged with. We see that with the 'secure computing' in regards to the locked down boot sequence for up and coming Windows ARM devices.
And I bet this "donation" Gates does also encourages Windows as a computing infrastructure.
Edit: why the karma backlash? Have I said something false or misleading? Also, we are not discussing US aid.
the article is about how philanthropic bill gates has been (along with others), i think the US aid was just a tactic used to help put the amount in reference to something more easily understood than just a number. it seems poor taste to criticize his personal or professional history in light of the positive changes he's trying to affect. i think most people on HN are familiar with his competitive personality and the business practices of microsoft, and those have been discussed at length, but that isn't what this article is about.
You do realize Bill Gates isn't even at Microsoft anymore, right? This isn't about the company, but what he's done independently, after the fact. He could have simply sat on that money, or left it to all to his family. Instead, he chose to make a difference in the world at large, a noble cause in my book.
There's a strong case of dispute for this as well.
The B&MGF have been highly active in education. And computers in education. Guess what OS they favor?
My understanding of much of the medical work done by the B&MGF is that there's been a focus on making patented prescription medicines available inexpensively (a social good), but preserving the strong IP protections on the patents themselves (again, an objective which favors Microsoft Corp's own interests in strong IP.
There is some confluence of interests.
Still, despite my very strong misgivings of Gates, Microsoft, and its business practices, he's made a huge impact on philanthropy and social causes. B&MGF absolutely dominates the field.
I already knew of this. Gates may not be the CEO of Microsoft, but he has complete sway on what happens. He went from "King" to kingmaker.
I guess the most damning things he has done recently, I have heard through trustworthy sources. The claim is that Gates foundation does indeed do good work, but they also greatly encourage their money to pay software licensing fees (read: MSWindows and MSOffice). Their form of greatly encouraging is very similar to their bulk rates that allow snooping their networks for compliance.
Be aware, I have no direct proof. I only have the word from a close friend who does work in 3rd world countries.
The infographic plague continues. Surely the author could have gotten more up-to-date information about a 501(c)(3) than five year old data.