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Bill Gates, Hero

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Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#191

Post by codexon »

gaius wrote: post #189
codexon wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Michael Phelps was born with his flipper-like feet, does that make him any less of an Olympian? No, but it makes the victory tainted by circumstance rather than hard work. Who would you be more receptive to in a lecture about hard work: Yao Ming at 7"6' who barely has to stick his hand out to make a block, or Charles Barkley who is an entire foot shorter? And if Michael Phelps didn't exist, someone like Cavic would h…

No, people are anti-tax because they believe government is an inefficient way to Get Stuff Done. To use your example, recent figures have shown that there are 4M adults in the UK who have never worked and spent their entire lives on the dole. Paying them to do nothing while there is stuff in the public good that needs doing, is simply not a good use of taxpayer's money.

No, people are anti-tax because they believe government is an inefficient way to Get Stuff Done.

This is a common euphemism for "you don't deserve my money because all my money came from hard work and all your poorness comes from your laziness, regardless of circumstances".

And about that 4M figure, I couldn't find any evidence of that on Google, but I did find numerous results for 1.4M, which you were off by more than a factor of two. In addition, half of that is due 16-24 year olds choosing not to be janitors fresh out of college due to the recession that was by no means their fault.

That 1.4M also includes the terminally ill, disabled, and housewives. So for you to even bring this up as evidence is dishonest.

http://www.walletpop.co.uk/2010/09/14/1-4-million-brits-have...

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#192

Post by 2arrs2ells »

megablast wrote: post #165
arohner wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're forgetting that people can have principled objections to the role of the federal government. I'm not rich, and I'm grumpy about what my 20% federal taxes are going to. The financial and GM bailouts, "homeland security", ag subsidies, congressional pork, federal taxes to pay for local schools, "war on terror", "war on drugs". If the gov't was efficient in the things it did, and did the things I believe it shoul…

With you there, except for "federal taxes to pay for local schools". What is your problem with education? This does not compare to anything else you were complaining about.

I'm guessing the parent isn't upset about paying taxes for schools, but is upset about the increasing amount of federal control of education (i.e. No Child Left Behind) that has been coupled to the increased amount of federal ed funding.

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#193

Post by 2arrs2ells »

Bricejm wrote: post #133
krishna2 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not more in taxes but more as a percentage of total earnings. The tax bracket was higher for the secretary whereas for Buffett it was around 18% (iirc).

The capital gains/dividend tax breaks basically benefit the rich. Cap gains/dividend taxes should be on a marginal basis just like ordinary income.

The idea behind lower cap gains/dividend taxes is to incentivize investment (over consumption or savings). I'm no expert with the economics literature here, but I would worry about making changes that make it harder for businesses to access capital.

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#194

Post by CamperBob »

rbanffy wrote: post #104
mattmaroon wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly porting happened, but the market was very fragmented. That was why Office was born in the first place. My bet for what would have happened: one of two things. 1. Either someone would have done much of the same things Microsoft did and you'd be complaining about them instead. Except maybe you wouldn't be complaining because nobody would have written this article because whoever benefited from it would have h…

> That was why Office was born in the first place. Office was never "born". Not even designed as a suite. It was cobbled together. Word and Excel were independent products developed originally for the Mac. PowerPoint was acquired and Access developed internally. > Either someone would have done much of the same things Microsoft did Striking a deal with IBM, retaining the rights to the OS and cooperating with OEMs so…

Bill Gates had nothing to do with the popularization of the home computer.

Anyone heard of Microsoft BASIC? How about Applesoft?

Bueller...?

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#195

Post by statictype »

code_duck wrote: post #134
yosho wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. Paris Hilton was also given a lot of freebies early in life...looked how that one turned out. Early advantages don't always produce exceptional results, often times it can lead to the exact opposite.

Seems to have turned out pretty well. She's famous for no other reason.

What good has she done for society? Isn't that the metric we're using here? Not whether she has done well for herself.

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#196

Post by [deleted] »

edw519 wrote: post #62
mattmaroon wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument is silly all the way through. He's got an IQ of 160, which means he actually is considerably smarter than most of the rest of us. He was born into money, but so are hundreds of thousands of people in our country. Most accomplish little of value. Much more common in his situation would be a career in investment banking, sucking money out of the middle class's retirements. It's ludicrous to say that he's…

I cannot see into alternate universes You don't have to see into alternate universes. You just have to be old enough to have already lived in one. The one before Microsoft. I suspect that alot of the Bill Gates/Microsoft love/hate splits along age lines. If you're under 40, you're not old enough to have experienced the glorious pre-Microsoft days. We worked on all kinds of cool stuff, IBM mainframes (the good and the…

[deleted]

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#197

Post by statictype »

rbanffy wrote: post #149
storm wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a young(ish) hacker, and I'm proud not to engage in religious nonsense like this at all. Windows, Linux, OSX, who cares? Get on with the coding already.

A real craftsman cares for the tools he uses. And it's not a religious issue - it's just that the thing is taking up space on an NTFS partition. I can store better stuff in that space.

A real craftsman also cares about having the output of his craft be useful/enjoyable to other people. And sometimes this means, having to make it work on a system that other people use, and not the one that you use. Just saying.

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#198

Post by aik »

Kilimanjaro wrote: post #89

So, Dick Cheney decides to give away all the billions he made (wars, corruption, oil cartels) and discovers the cure for cancer and super vaccines for all children of the world. Good. It is ok to rape half of the world for the good of the rest. That makes you an instant hero.

This kind of logic doesn't make sense. I'd love to find a word for it.

No one has simultaneously done good and bad like that. If a person does bad, then change their views or themselves, and proceeds to do good wholeheartedly, then good, I'm happy about their actions. Why do people have to criticize stuff like this? Learn to forgive. Focus on what's being done now instead of just being upset about the past.

I'm sure all the Bill Gates hate affected him some back in the day (and apparently now too), but it's very doubtful that he cares all too much what other people think or he wouldn't have accomplished much, and still wouldn't be accomplishing much today.

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#199

Post by RuadhanMc »

I suppose Bill Gates was responsible for the death of Princess Di as well? Britney Spears 3rd album too. Not to mention Hanson and Take That. And all those Hugh Grant films. Sooo bad.

My point? No point really, just adding to the existing rubbish on this thread.

Re: Bill Gates, Hero

#200

Post by jacquesm »

ced wrote: post #146
edw519 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...but this part above strikes me as petty... Sorry if it came across that way; that was not my intent. Everyone's starting point is relative. No one ever gave me the gifts that Bill Gates got. But then again, I've had gifts that 99% of everyone who ever lived couldn't imagine. With those gifts comes responsibility. Whenever I have an opportunity to use my gifts to do good things, I think of how proud those who made…

Bill Gates never used his tremendous gifts for the greater good, only for the good of Microsoft. Wait, what? Are you arguing that his foundation is some kind of elaborate scam?

For sure it isn't a scam.

But it is somewhat reminiscent of a capo getting absolution for his sins in return for a gift to the church.

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