
Let's not forget, Bill Gates hasn't always been the good guy - cf100clunk
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/29/lets-not-forget-bill-gates-hasnt-always-been-the-good-guy
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causality0
Microsoft's evil tactics seem childish in comparison to Google's. Where
Microsoft bundled a browser with their OS, Google did that with Android, and
created an entire separate OS running on their browser, and paid devs to
include their browser as opt-out installation in tons of unrelated freeware,
and leveraged their control of the most performance-hungry sites on the
internet to make those sites run noticeably smoother on their browser compared
to their competitors.

Despite coming with Windows, being the default web standard, and being the
proscribed browser for government computers with a market share of 95% in
2004, IE immediately lost a third of that when something better, Firefox, came
along. Google would never in a million years let another browser become a
threat to their dominance. They'd either get bought out the moment they began
picking up steam or Google would crush them with ads, exclusive site
functions, and search page warnings.

The only real difference is market share. The Google/Apple duopoly enables
behavior a hundred times more egregious than anything Microsoft ever did.

~~~
Barrin92
Yep, imagine Microsoft banning developers from every Windows operating system
because you made a Microsoft Word document complaining about Microsoft prices

The world we live in makes Microsoft look innocent, and they basically owned
the entire OS market

~~~
causality0
The easier computing devices get the less technical the users have to be to
use them, and the more vulnerable they are to being taken advantage of.

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HeyZuess
Gates did some bad stuff in relation to MS, and now he is doing some good
stuff in relation to philanthropy, shock and horror, people are not always
saints.

This is the very foundations of `cancel` culture, find something in someone's
past and criticism them on, no matter how they have grown as a person or to
whatever level they have changed, you should always judge them on their
actions of the past.

I am not saying that you should not take a person as the sum of their actions,
but we shouldn't just them on a slither of their actions. I would not say that
Gates is a good person either. Hey welcome to people being people.

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notatoad
what is the purpose of this article? is this relevant to something other than
the current "Bill Gates invented coronavirus" conspiracy nonsense?

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blindm
Well he is indirectly responsible for all the malware that propagated through
Windows because of the well-known fact that Windows is a closed source, and
therefore vulnerable system. Windows 10 has better mitigation against such
threats, but is not bulletproof by any means. This man has contributed to the
recent wave of ransomware attacks that have plagued IT departments.

~~~
smt88
So all viruses on closed-source software are the fault of the developer of
that software for not opening it up?

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aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA
“Why weren’t there more stories on the small businesses Sam Walton put out of
business with Wal-Mart? Most success is driven that way. In its heyday, IBM
was never loved.” — Bill Gates (Fortune, 28 December 1992)

“Any government action that would derail or delay Windows 98 would hurt the
American economy and would cost American jobs.” — Bill Gates (5 May 1998)

“I want to get as much mileage as possible out of our browser and Java
relationship here. In other words a real advantage against Sun and Netscape.
Do we have a clear plan on what we want Apple to do to undermine Sun?” — Bill
Gates (8 April 1997)

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nogabebop23
let's not forget, distilling anyone into "good" or "bad" is a trait of a weak
mind.

~~~
cf100clunk
OP here. I was fascinated by the author's take on the juxtaposition of Bill
Gates' malevolent legacy of old, to wit:

[http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=2007021720...](http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=2007021720190018)

with the "new" Bill Gates model of what seems to be benevolence and global
amity. Personally, I struggle with my sourness towards his past behaviour in
light of what I see as admirable conduct in the present.

~~~
ggm
This too applies to me. I disliked his effect on the industry at large, and
software licencing, and pace of development. His work outside of the computing
industry has been humane, and focussed on matters often at odds with the US
republican christian-right wing: women's reproductive health, contraception
and vaccination. For that, I applaud him.

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danielrpa
Despite his cut-throat approach to business, Bill Gates has a more _net_
positive impact on the world that most people who have ever lived.

