--Ed Roberts, Gates' employer at MITS in the 1970's (Atlanta Journal-Costitution, 04-27-97)
ONE day in the near future we hope to properly research the subject we once covered quite a lot (especially in 2009 and 2010). Quietly but surely and very steadily, Mr. Gates is taking control of more aspects of everybody's life, from schools to food. He monopolises and controls those in all sorts of ways which we explained before and our criticism is backed by some voices from academia (professors), politicians, and free thinkers. It's not hard to see what's going on and a person who grew up with Mr. Gates, working closely with him since they were adolescents, is the co-founder of Microsoft, who is now known as Traul Allen because he is a patent troll of global proportions (he sues the whole world as Groklaw likes to cast it).
Paul Allen's memoir about his founding and helping run Microsoft paints Bill Gates as an unprincipled shark, conniving to get Allen to give up a sizable percentage of the ownership of Microsoft, and constantly bullying employees. Can Allen be believed? And if so, does Gates' later life as a philanthropist make up for his youthful behavior?
“Personally, I view Gates' philanthropy as kind of in the same category as Macbeth's handwashing.”
--Pamela Jones, GroklawGates is still bullying everyone who does not agree with him, sometimes causing his opponents to be fired or not funded by anyone. This characterises people who are underqualified and use the mistreatment of others to hide their vulnerabilities and boost their own ego (people who do this typically lack confidence and lash out to make themselves feel better, at the expense of others). Remember: Gates never even graduated from college (not properly anyway, honorary doesn't count). How come they treat him like economist extraordinaire? Possession of illegally-earned money is not the same as managing economies, but they allow him to enter the White House uninvited, regardless, and then lobby on issues of international financing. It's insane. That has a lot to do with the way he markets himself, iconifying one's image by emphasising false correlation between wealth and wisdom, rather than ruthlessness and familiarity with ways of breaking the law, then getting away with it (Gates' father). Regarding the marketing of one's character, we suggest people take a look at this wiki page, which we have not had time to extend since the start of the year. Well, the short version is that to start the whole thing, Gates bought a lot of the press (about a million dollars per day are spent on just this sort of deception by Gates), turning what may look like news and sound like news into public relations (PR) for himself, which in turn gives him a lot of wiggling room while he gets richer and more powerful, primarily by promoting patents (monopoly assurers) he invests in as well as lobbies for and convinces country leaders to pump public money into. This is a multi-faceted issue that we covered here many times (but not enough times, due to lack of time). It's disturbing, but a lot of people turn a blind eye to it or believe the PR. It's easier to just trust what's heard a lot of times.
Interestingly enough, Groklaw has dug up some old information a couple of weeks ago and it stated regarding the story of Ed Roberts (Microsoft was dancing on his grave last year): "They may wax lyrical now, but Wikipedia includes this illuminating detail, referencing Stephen Manes' book Gates, fleshing out my theory that partnering with Microsoft can lead to bad things -- after Roberts gave them their big opportunity, this is what happened: "Roberts refused to sub-license BASIC to other companies; this led to arbitration in 1977 between MITS and the new 'Micro-Soft'. The arbitrator agreed with Microsoft and allowed them to license the 8080 BASIC to other companies. Roberts was disappointed with this ruling. Since both Allen and Gates had been employees of MITS and he paid for the computer time, Roberts felt it was his software.""
Separately, Gates and his buddy Nathan Myhrvold, whom he funded to amass patents and now attack Linux/RIM/other rivals, are mentioned again in the context of Intellectual Ventures (IV). The people at IV extort and also lobby for the sick patent law which exists -- one that makes both of them (Gates and Myhrvold) a lot of money in their post-Microsoft days. It was only some months ago (about a year or more) when he was claimed to have spent about a million dollars just lobbying to change the patent laws and/or manufacture fake 'studies' to defend patent-trolling. Now, check this out:
Union Opposition To Patent Reform Legislation Funded By Intellectual Ventures
Pat Choate, noted political economist, filed a breach of contract lawsuit earlier this week against Intellectual Ventures, a patent aggregator, owner of approximately 30,000 patents, and plaintiff in numerous patent infringement lawsuits. According to a copy of the complaint obtained by GametimeIP.com, Choate was hired by IV to orchestrate opposition to the patent reform legislation in the 2005-08 time frame and beyond while “hid[ing IV] in the crowd” since its high-profile investors, like Bill Gates, supported patent reform.
Also revealed is IV’s connection to the surprising labor union opposition to patent reform. According to a 2007 PC World story, “the AFL-CIO, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and the United Steelworkers — have sent letters to lawmakers saying they oppose two current patent reform bills.”
[...]
However, IV’s tune changed in 2009 when the damages provisions were modified, and IV actually held fund-raising events for patent reform booster Patrick Leahy. According to the Choate’s complaint, about $500,000 worth of his contract with IV has gone unpaid (possibly relating to IV’s change of heart) despite the fact that he was in the middle of a 25 month contract.
--Bill Gates