

Bill Gates: Internet connectivity doesn’t mean much  - sheikhimran01
http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/03/bill-gates-internet-connectivity-doesnt-mean-much-of-youre-dying-of-starvation/

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gexla
The internet is a utility, like electricity and phone (mobile or land line.)
When you are dying of anything, electricity might not help much either. I
don't have numbers, but I'm guessing that most people in the areas he is
interested in aren't dying, they are just poor. When you are poor, any utility
which you can access for free is helpful (this assumes that these internet
programs will be useable and widely available.)

When you are going hungry because you have ran out of food, then you might not
even have the money to call or text someone for help. A free internet
connection gives you a way to reach out to others when you can't afford other
methods of communication. Free internet might allow you to do some sort of
internet micro job when you can't afford your own line or an internet cafe.
There is also online education.

Of course, you still need to be able to purchase devices to access the
internet. People find a way to purchase things that are helpful though. There
is a lot of poverty in the Philippines, but many people are able to buy a
scooter. As tablets get cheaper, more people will be able to afford them. Free
internet access would definitely improve lives here.

ETA: Of course, Bill has great experience with the sort of problems he is
trying to solve. But I wonder if he has tried to live the struggle of a family
which isn't starving, but simply regularly falls short. I would like to see
him run a household of 8 with a budget of a few dollars a day and an
occasional problem where money might not come in for a few days.

ETA ETA: The Philippines also has a lot of money coming in from remittances.
Having the option to fire up your tablet and make a free call to a relative in
the U.S. to send money is hugely helpful.

ETA ETA ETA > “Fine, go to those Bangalore Infosys centres, but just for the
hell of it go three miles aside and go look at the guy living with no toilet,
no running water,” Gates told the FT. “The world is not flat and PCs are not,
in the hierarchy of human needs, in the first five rungs.”

Yes, but soon that same person might have a computer in the form of a smart
phone or a tablet. Again, that computer would be much more useful when he is
able to access the internet for free.

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nasalgoat
Bill has never thought much of the Internet, given his ignoring of it in
favour of pushing MSN over adding TCP/IP to Windows 3.1 until late 1997.

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joyinsky
Ok, ok. Stop the world. People is dying. Why don't people in Microsoft is not
fighting hunger instead of doing new versions of Windows?

