06.23.10
Bill Gates Still Works for Microsoft
Summary: Rebuttal to an article/post from Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (SJVN), who wishes readers to believe that Bill Gates’ current work is irrelevant to Microsoft
SJVN published this mystifying article yesterday, arguing that “Bill Gates doesn’t work at Microsoft anymore” (meaning he does not physically work at Microsoft). The contention implied by this headline ought to be commented on, but not the ending which makes a lot of sense:
Besides, as I observed, “Who the heck could replace him anyway? I can’t think of anyone inside MS and they’re sure not going to look outside.” Well, actually, there is one place that Microsoft could look, and that is to Bill Gate’s house. But, he’s not coming back. Bill Gates has left the building.
This is a good thing for Apple, Google, Oracle, and the Linux companies, but for Microsoft? Well, I, for one, expect Microsoft to continue its slow decline from the top of the computer industry.
As for Bill Gates, he hasn’t exactly left. He still lobbies for Microsoft all around the world (take his visit to Finland for example), combining it with his for-profit patent agenda (connected to Intellectual Ventures/Nathan Myhrvold, part of the clique which the article above mentions).
“Gates most certainly does still work 4 thru the Gates Foundation, where he advocates against FOSS”
–Christian EinfeldtGates’ image laundering these days makes him a more effective lobbyist. Some people don’t understand this.
Christian Einfeldt writes in response to SJVN’s article: “Gates most certainly does still work 4 thru the Gates Foundation, where he advocates against FOSS”
Einfeldt helps schools migrate to GNU/Linux, so he must have seen how the Gates Foundation stands in his way with its pro-Microsoft, pro-scarcity (for patents) agenda in US education [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] and also in public libraries — an issue we covered in posts such as:
- How the Gates Foundation Blocks GNU/Linux and Free Software in National Libraries, Then Inherits Education
- Gates Foundation (and Microsoft) Take the Libraries Takeover Global
Gates is not only lobbying for domination of his proprietary software but also for a monopoly in health. Doctors occasionally complain about it, not to mention those relationships with the FDA, whose staff is lobbying for Microsoft (on the payroll). “Microsoft launches personal health record site,” says a new headline. To what extent will the Gates Foundation help promote its use?
Microsoft is paradigm, it’s a mindset. Bill Gates still works for Microsoft as long as he perpetuates this mentality and takes it further to help monopolise more walks of life, even food [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8].
Companies don’t exist in the physical sense (except buildings and equipment); companies are collections of people who are structured hierarchically. In order to explain sociopathic corporations, one needs to assess and explain who at the top is responsible for the behaviour. To describe Gates as an ethical person based on his behaviour is like describing Napoleon as a peacemaker. █
“I think he [Bill Gates] has a Napoleonic concept of himself and his company, an arrogance that derives from power and unalloyed success, with no leavening hard experience, no reverses [...] They don’t act like grown-ups!”
–Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson
Needs Sunlight said,
June 24, 2010 at 4:48 am
Gates’ apparent chief lobbyist and financer, Warren Buffet, has had direct access to the president since the election and has been meeting with him subsequently. Buffett personally filled the cofferes of the warchest used by Gates’ “foundation” to fight computer technology around the world.