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Bill Gates Donates $51 Million to Schools

I give him credit for using his money to do good. He believes in this issues of AIDS and education. Others of wealth should follow his lead!
 
At least some of the money he obtained through vicious business tactics is going to something good, even if it doesn't make a dent in his wealth.
 
hhmmm... tax write off. i also beleive that if any Microsoft employees that make donations to a charity orgainization Bill Gates will match the donation. i heard that a few years ago, not sure how true that is now.
 
Originally posted by cb911
hhmmm... tax write off. i also beleive that if any Microsoft employees that make donations to a charity orgainization Bill Gates will match the donation. i heard that a few years ago, not sure how true that is now.
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Bill Gates != Microsoft

Microsoft matches employee donations (1 for 1) up to $12,000.
 
Originally posted by themadchemist
He's a generous guy, let's give him credit for that.
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Exactly.
I listened to an interview on NPR today, and Gates is indeed passionate. Education and world health are the foundations top priorities. It amazes me that anyone would link their hatred for Gates to a cause that benefits the greater good. He actually plans to give away almost all of his money before he dies, his children getting a comparatively paltry 30M, much like a modern-day Carnegie.

hhmmm... tax write off.

So what?

You can be sure that the technology to be used in those schools will NOT be Apple.

It's not true as it's not for technology. You'd know that if you spent one SECOND looking into the story instead of spouting the "company line". I'll challenge you to find out what the money is for.
 
Well, he may not be as cool as SJ, but he does have enough money to donate and be it a tax pay off, well, at least it's going towards schools.
 
Originally posted by Wardofsky
Well, he may not be as cool as SJ, but he does have enough money to donate and be it a tax pay off, well, at least it's going towards schools.
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Jobs is "cool"? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and my slant is that Stevie is a megalomaniacal visionary, and Gates is a misguided populist. Both have a dark side, but give it up for Gates for doing something beautiful with his dough, no MATTER his reason because frankly, he has the option to keep it, nicht war?. I had my epiphany some time ago, when I realized that the "Jobs Brigade" was trashing Gates for the way he runs his business, then turning around and asking Jobs to be just as heartless only because they like Macs better. So I decided a long time ago to just use a Mac becasue I believe in the OS and HW, shun the idiots who insist PC's are superior, and to leave the personality problems to others. Oh, and Longhorn REALLY sucks. It's like the thing was designed by John "Der ShtormTrooper" Ashcroft (for it's spy-cam-like abilities) and Sponge Bob Square Pants (for it's laughable graphics)
 
Originally posted by Les Kern
You can be sure that the technology to be used in those schools will NOT be Apple.

It's not true as it's not for technology. You'd know that if you spent one SECOND looking into the story instead of spouting the "company line". I'll challenge you to find out what the money is for. [/B]
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*ahem*

Grants and gifts from the foundation have an outward appearance of support for districts and schools, either in building them or supporting their causes. The unwritten inference is that the classroom technology and backbone support of that technology will be Microsoft driven.

I've seen this first hand and I know of what I speak, with a 25 million dollar foundation grant at my district. It was connected directly with the understanding that certain employees at high levels would continue their employment with the district, and not so blatently stated but witnessed nonetheless was a flurry of activity soon afterwards related to wide scale implementaion of Microsoft standards, software and support contracts.

I would be a heartless fool to openly bash Bill's generousity and obvious passion for his causes. All I stated was "You can be sure that the technology to be used in those schools will NOT be Apple." It's simply a statement, not spouting a "company line". Neither am I rasing a red flag, warning everyone to "Watch out! Bill is taking over the world, starting with our children! The sky is falling, it's a cover up!"

Bill's foundation is a tremendous asset to whomever it touches. All I'm saying is that with such amounts of money, back room "understandings" between parties are not uncommon. So I stand by my apparently controversial, uninformed "party line" statement.
 
I used to be part of the IT dept of a US college that was tight for cash. The Gates Foundation made an offer to supply money for upgrading the computers and software used by the school. The money disappeared however when it was revealed that we planned to continue to primarily use Macs.

Because of this and other incidents, I cannot give them credit for generousity. The Gates Foundation has done much good, but it is also an extension of the Microsoft marketing efforts.
 
Originally posted by Phil Of Mac
The Gates Foundation awarded a grant to my old high school, contingent on some conditions (not technology related). We haven't forgiven them since.
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What were the conditions that the Gates Foundation set on your fomer high school to be awarded the grant?
 
We had to completely restructure the school, which is a huge, expensive hassle (but the Gates Foundation will pay for it!). This provided a distraction as immediate problems and our shortage of funds in general started to happen with hardly anything done to stop it. Eventually cutting back became more of a priority than dancing for Bill Gates' money, so I have no idea where that's going now.
 
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