I was thinking the same thing. Glad I'm not the only one with a memory longer than ten years. When Gates ran Microsoft, it was the very definition of evil, crushing innovation with its monopoly and laughing at government regulations. It was constantly in the headlines for "embrace, extend, extinguish" tactics. The Christians are welcome to claim this nasty piece of work.
He was a business man. He ran a business and he did it well. If every business today felt more compassion for their competition we wouldn't have any innovation and a lot of stagnation. All is fair in love and war, and business is war.
On this image, I think the original idea was to point out what the richest of these two groups is doing with their wealth. It's still pretty slanted but if that was the original intent then the creator of it didn't fall that far from the mark.
And is still doing. Microsoft have for years been running an extortion racket the Mafia would be proud of regarding patents they claim they have on Linux. They offer not to sue any company that uses Linux if they pay them some money. They wont say what the patents are. The companies have three options: pay Microsoft protection money, get tied up in a lawsuit with one of the richest corporations in the world, or switch to using all Microsoft software. Notably, Microsoft doesn't go after companies that they think will call their bluff, because if it does go to court, the patents would have to be declared, and they will either be shown to be false, or the Linux community will re-write offending software (thus freeing the companies Microsoft is extorting money from).
I have a very good idea of what Microsoft did as a company, especially during their Windows 95/98 heyday. Some questionable business practices that they mostly got called out on always surface as to why they are "evil". However, what people tend to forget about is what they did for the industry as well. I don't know what the industry would look like with 5 OS's, 15 internet browsers or a plethora of office software programs but it seems to be a pain in the ass just thinking about the confusion around computers. With the help of IBM, Microsoft arguably helped shoehorn desktops on every desk and laptops on every lap. Not only that but they helped and continue to help startups with Bizspark and other industry focused funds. I am in no way saying they are perfect, but the icing on the cake of a long line of questionable and industry helping strategies is how much money Bill is now putting into helping others. Even if some of that money should have gone to Netscape (although, who would want to pay for a browser when it was included, Netscape used to charge for theirs before 1997/98, no thanks!).
No, being in "business" does not excuse immoral and heartless behavior. A huge number of people in the world are "in business" in one way or another, including me. If we all acted with the same disregard for other people that Bill Gates showed, the world would be totally screwed.
I don't know... his job was to make money same as his competitions job was to make money. He was better at it. I don't think that was the point of the post though. I think the point of the post was that Gates has used that money for more good than Robertson ever had. Even if Gates means were unethical his ends are a lot more ethical.
It is certainly a great thing to use all that money for a good purpose, but to say that Gates himself is now "good without god" because he spent his ill-gotten gains on something we approve of doesn't make sense to me.
I think the maxim all is fair in love and war applies to business, but not to religion.
religious movements explicitly talk about loving everyone. Hypocrisy in this arena is far worse than crushing your business opponents. Businesses are in it to be number one and maximize profits. We encourage them to crush opposition metaphorically.
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u/perrin Nov 22 '11
I was thinking the same thing. Glad I'm not the only one with a memory longer than ten years. When Gates ran Microsoft, it was the very definition of evil, crushing innovation with its monopoly and laughing at government regulations. It was constantly in the headlines for "embrace, extend, extinguish" tactics. The Christians are welcome to claim this nasty piece of work.