Bill Gates gets Mac Overload!

[applebum]

Basically, I see the world of media purchases in two categories: Buy and Rent. "Buy" means it's mine, I can do ANYTHING I want with it, there are NO restrictions beyond what the law says. "Rent" is everything else... stuff that expires, stuff that could potentially stop working for some reason other than I lost the item or damaged it. iTunes songs fall into the "Rent" category... sure, you own them, but technology is in place that could hobble you at some point.

Unless you are an audiophile, the difference between your music purchase and mine is simply a matter of semantics. You go to a store and buy a cd. You bring it home and then transfer your music from the cd to your computer. I buy an album from the iTMS. I then transfer the music from my computer on to a cd. We now essentially have the same products (I realize that I don't have the official liner or jacket and that the files on your computer have no restrictions while mine do) - I OWN the music on my cd the same way you own yours. While the sound quality for my music is lower, I am no audiophile so it really doesn't matter.

If you are an audiophile, of course you need to buy a cd. However, that really has nothing to do with DRM. I am assuming that an audiophile would NOT buy DRM free music from iTunes (or other online stores) that was encoded with a lossy format. In this case it is all about the music quality as opposed to the rights.

 

[solvs]

He's probably not all that bad a person in real life, and at least he seems like a real human being sometimes. He made a statement that many regular joe's will probably agree with.

Actually, no. He's a jerk. And he doesn't tip. His wife, and their parents, are the ones who set up the charity. Before they and Paul Allen convinced him to, he didn't used to give any money away.

And this is funny coming from a guy who's products are so filled with copy protection. Including his 2 incompatible music DRMs. He's only bitching about it because Apple is ahead. If it was the other way around, he probably wouldn't say anything vs. Jobs who, even though Apple is ahead there (and yeah, he does actually have a temper) still complains about DRM himself.

 

[Zeke]

Personally, with all the philanthropy Bill does- I think he's a much nicer guy then Steve (who everyone knows, has a temper.) Steve is far more revolutionary, but Bill does A LOT for humanity.

Yeah, what a humanitarian. He cursed the human race with the worst blight the world has ever seen -- Windows.

 

[-hh]

Actually, no. He's a jerk. And he doesn't tip. His wife, and their parents, are the ones who set up the charity. Before they and Paul Allen convinced him to, he didn't used to give any money away.

Don't forget how MS wouldn't allow ancient revisions of MS-DOS / Win3.1 to go public domain for use in public schools in extremely poor 3rd World Countries.


-hh

 

[mac-er]

Actually, no. He's a jerk. And he doesn't tip. His wife, and their parents, are the ones who set up the charity. Before they and Paul Allen convinced him to, he didn't used to give any money away.

Source, please.

 

[solvs]

Source, please.

http://www.answers.com/topic/bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation

The perpetually boyish, bespectacled Gates was also at times reviled as the personification of a company perceived by some as greedy and rapacious. He was called a miser, for holding on to his personal fortune.

Gates established a foundation for the charitable disbursement of much of his wealth in 1994, shortly after his marriage to Melinda French. This was known as the William H. Gates Foundation, and it was run by Gates's father, a Seattle lawyer, initially from the basement of his home. Apparently, Gates's marriage to Melinda French spurred the billionaire to find a way to give back some of his money.

There are others. And he doesn't tip. Ask any waiter or waitress that has served him. I remember being in the car with a waitress friend of mine when they were talking about it on the radio. A bunch of people called in to say he stiffed them. No one called to dispute it. She said it was true, he did it to her too.

edit: found this after a quick web search, I'm not the only one who knows about his rep for not tipping.

You don't have to believe it, but there it is.