Bonum Certa Men Certa

BBC: Bill Gates a “Famous Thief”?



Summary: The network behind the constant grooming of Bill Gates discovers that some of the public still knows the truth about Microsoft's co-founder

BILL GATES' well-documented crimes are no better than Steve Ballmer's. In a just system, they would both be sentenced to prison, but the existing legal system offers nepotism to the affluent class, which it often glorifies and romanticises instead. Attempts to portray villains as heroes using heavy-duty PR operations is not the subject of this post though. One of our British readers pointed out that, according to the BBC, few people in the UK still think correctly of Bill Gates. To quote the BBC:



Microsoft boss Bill Gates was the most well-known but 5% of the group thought he was a comedian or a famous thief.


He actually is a famous thief. He is famous (or infamous) and he has stolen many things. Gates himself once said, "just because you broke into Xerox’s store before I did and took the TV doesn’t mean I can’t go in later and steal the stereo." Gary Kildall said about Gates: "He has taken much from me and the industry." A lot of people may not know about the dawn of Microsoft which involved dumpster-diving (literally) and taking other people's code. Microsoft would not even deny it. There are many other examples in Microsoft's darker past, but again, this is not the purpose of this post. Entire books could be written on the subject almost exhaustively.

When Bill Gates moved to lobbying in 2008 [1, 2, 3, 4] the BBC did some shameful things to rewrite history and 'correct' the image of Bill Gates. Here are some links on the subject:



Last month, the BBC was slammed for excluding Free software users, which once again brings to mind the iPlayer fiasco. We wrote about this in:



OpenBytes has this new post which shows that the iPlayer fiasco carries on:

It is reported that talks between the BBC and Microsoft have hit a stalemate with sources close to the BBC reporting that:
Microsoft only wants to offer its users access to platforms it can charge for as this is the model it is pursuing. It wants to ensure that only those paying for Xbox Live Gold accounts can access its additional content services and even then there is usually a charge on top to get access to those. For example, to access the Sky Player on Xbox, you have to pay for a Gold subscription as well as a Sky subscription
Do it our way or not at all? It certainly seems that way to me and whilst Nintendo and Sony users are apparently enjoying the benefits of the service, Microsoft customers are not so lucky as it appears Microsoft want to make a buck. We had covered this before, but when looking at the Xbox 360 its hardware failures, the reports on build quality many have submitted on the net and add into that Microsoft putting its eggs into the HDDVD format (instead of Bluray) one has to wonder what its users make of it now?


Xbox is a disaster. There is no reason why the BBC should ever prioritise it, but it does. There is too much Microsoft staff inside the BBC [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] and therefore conflicts of interests.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Windows Falls to All-Time Low of ~60% in Switzerland, GNU/Linux Among Top Gainers
What will it take for mainstream media (not just geeks' site) to cover it?
 
Drone Strikes on Amazon (GAFAM) Datacentres Highlight Azure's Miniscule Share
Azure is failing
SLAPP Censorship - Part 35 Out of 200: How to Make ~10,000 Pound Sterling (13,220.50 United States Dollars) by Copy-Pasting and Editing 10 Pages
Today it's Easter Sunday, so we'll keep this part relatively short
Gemini Links 05/04/2026: Artemis II Mission Tracker, Meditation on Copyright, Alhena 5.5.5, "Gemini as the Final Frontier of Human Cognition"
Links for the day
Mainstream Media on "Practical Survivalism"
Suffice to say, panic buying begets more panic and price surges
Cloud Computing as a Cloud of Smoke (Your Hosting Provider is a "Legitimate" Military Target)
When a French datacentre went up in flames people joked that the "cloud" meant a cloud of smoke
Andreas Tille Congratulates Sruthi Chandran Before the Election for Debian Project Leader (DPL) is Even Over
Andreas Tille, the current Debian Project Leader (DPL) who has been in this role for nearly 24 months
When You Try to Change the World for the Better and Somehow They Find a Way to Say You Are the Villain
Don't be a fool. Don't fall for inversions of narratives.
Slop Was a Flop and Energy Crisis Will be Slop's Final Blow
Today we see no slopfarms in Google News
Links 05/04/2026: "Taiwanese Airlines to Hike Fuel Surcharges 157%" and Openly Racist Voter Suppression Starts in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2026: Playing with Hyprland and Migrating Antenna Filters
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2026: "Confidential Computing" as Proprietary Bundle of False Promises and "The Web Is an Antitrust Wedge"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 04, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, April 04, 2026
SLAPP Censorship - Part 34 Out of 200: The Necessity of Transparency, Illuminating Garrett's and Graveley's 'Tag-Team' Act, Misusing the British Docket (From Far Away in America) in Efforts to Hide Bad Behaviour
Transparency is paramount
Red Tape at Red Hat (IBM)
Now the guiding principles are the whims and moods of people who peddle buzzwords to manipulate IBM's share prices
The So-called 'AI' (Slop) Companies Will Have the Plug Pulled
It can vastly accelerate this bubble's implosion
Dr. Andy Farnell on a "Technology Plan B"
based around Free software
Windows Lows Across the Mediterranean
Judging by this month's data from statCounter
The Future of the Net is 'in Space'
Gemini Protocol is growing and GemText remains the same, so it's made to endure
Linux Foundation Profits From Scams, Fraud, and Grifting
Don't be misled by the name "Linux Foundation"
Too Hard for IBM to Keep Everybody Silent About How the Company Has Gone South
IBM is busy trying to keep disgruntled or ex workers silent using NDAs
Microsoft Transmits Malware and Back Doors to GNU/Linux Servers, Media Points the Finger at Everyone But Microsoft's Servers
Is Microsoft too poor to vet and check what it hosts and transmits?
Gemini Links 04/04/2026: "Fuzz Guy", "Reusing Old Computers with Arch Linux and DWM", and Bubble v10.0 Released
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2026: eBay Scam, "Music Publishers’ X Copyright Lawsuit Officially on Pause"
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2026: Social Control Media Verdict and Bans, Whistleblower (Axel Rietschin) Explains How "Microsoft Vaporized a Trillion Dollars"
Links for the day
Reaching the End/Event Horizon of LLM Slop
Are we moving towards a post-LLMs world?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 03, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, April 03, 2026
Gemini Links 04/04/2026: STXGE and Computer Relationships
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 33 Out of 200: Garrett Sued by My Wife and I, Then His Microsoft Acquaintance Files Another Lawsuit and Our Webhost Receives Legal Threats Too
Today we also show how our solicitor Mark Lewis responded to it
Good Friday, Leaving IBM for Good
Even on holidays
Links 03/04/2026: Rejection of More Software Patents and Social Control Media in Several Continents
Links for the day
Malware in Proprietary Software - Latest Additions by Rob Musial
Original published yesterday in gnu.org
Visual Evidence/Documentation of IBM Dying Like the Dinosaurs
IBM has many of these giant white elephants lying around, with some getting demolished
Links 03/04/2026: USPTO’s Latest Greenwashing and Internet Blackouts Impact Journalists in War Zones
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 32 Out of 200: Garrett Made Spurious Requests (Later Withdrawn) the Same Week Someone He Later Spoke to by E-mail Sent Threats to Our Webhost
The "plot thickens" because there's a multi-party tag-team act, as confirmed by Garrett after he had sworn on the Bible
IBM is a Dying Company, Nowadays It Kills Red Hat With Slop
when your last day is a national holiday in IBM's country
"Independence Drives" and Community-Run Sites
Independence in reporting is a much-valued trait
When Charlatans Are Only Good at Losing Money and Storytelling (e.g. About Investment in Them)
Wait till a a barrel of oil costs $300
What Apple Fans Are Missing
Apple is a bad company
The "Pale Blue Dot" Moment Had Returned
To many people, the "bitter-sweet" observation of how small we are
Saudi Arabia Does Not Rely Much on Microsoft/Windows
Putting aside politics, this is good for Free software
Almost 12 Years of Exposing Corruption in Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The "unready" President is now an abandoned President
Easter Moon Mission and Its Reminder of IBM's Demise
A lot of NASA operations now rely on GNU/Linux
When Power is Scarce and GNU/Linux Has Power
In Cuba, GNU/Linux has long enjoyed high adoption rates
Don't Totally Dismiss the 'Survivalists'
'Survivalists' or similar terms are used to describe a particular mindset of people who prepare for some really awful scenarios
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 02, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, April 02, 2026
A Much Better Use of Fuel Than Slop
Something positive for a change
Hoping for Peace
There are still many things to be enjoyed, including nature and kind people
Gemini Links 03/04/2026: "Slide Rule Triple Multiplication" and End of "Picture Pages"
Links for the day
Rumours of Microsoft Layoffs This Season
Just how much trouble is Microsoft in at this point?
GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High in Sweden
Can 'influencers' have played a role