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Thread ID: 57935	2005-05-16 23:20:00	You may hate the guy, but Billy does in fact do some good...	Strommer (42)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
355793	2005-05-18 00:30:00	Dear vinref: Allow me to iterate on a particular posting above . . . . <climbing on soapbox again> As one of the world's most generous philanthropists, he is a genuinely a nice guy . The causes he gives to don't seem to have anything to do with MS at all, so there is no financial benefit at all to him . . . and now, on my soapbox . . . ah! Here in the US we have laws about donating monies to yourself . It is punishable by charges of racketeering and postal fraud . So . . they better not have anything to do with his M$ . . . therefor, I find the comment a little . . er . . shallow and perhaps not totally investigated . Just the thought that Bill would ever give money to himself or some shadow corporation sends shivers to hand wringing attorneys looking for another good anti-trust lawsuit against poor ol' misunderstood Bill . Perchance I was misstating myself to indicate that I am somewhat miffed by the mere existance of Bill . . . not so . I admire him and his abilities . But! There are just times when his power and might get me a little bent . I never said I hated him . I just made a sweeping denounciation of his latest ploy . When I make a mistake and send a product out to the general public, and then charge them for repairs to my badly executed systems or assemblies, then I pay for them . It's the American way to stand up and take the bullet for our mistakes or "rush to production" items . We live in litigation land here, and no-one, not even the third largest country (M$) should be exempt of product liability . Or . . do we forget what M$ did to Netscape?	SurferJoe46 (51)
355794	2005-05-18 00:55:00	You, like every other punter on the face of God's earth and beyond, has every opportunity to not use Bill's products if you don't like them. Re-read the sentence above and convince yourself of the fact. And I promise you, when you are convinced of the fact, then you will not feel any personal animosity towards Bill (just pity for those who continue to be plagued by his products). You may also see that his philanthropic activities are disconnected from his capital activities. And in his capital activities, he derives his money from those who willingly use his products, despite moaning and whining and gnashing their teeth and wringing their hands... Also have a think about MacOSX (prettiest Unix ever) Linux (~100 distros, most are free) *BSD (Unix, basis for MacOSX) OpenSolaris (soon to be released) SkyOS (interesting, but not free or open source) BeOS (or whatever it is called now)	vinref (6194)
355795	2005-05-18 01:22:00	Thanks for the best laugh :lol: this morning! I don't find it difficult to digest the bit about the Saudi royalty, but all the others - are these just your opinions or can you substantiate them? For example, hasn't the NZ govt contributed heaps in foreign aid? I don't know, but would find it surprising that all that you name do not contribute to charity. This NZHerald article (www.nzherald.co.nz) notes the NZ Foreign Aid budget at ~$NZ230m a year. But Bill Gates gives away a lot more than the latest report of ~$US450m - from vague memory he gave away some $US800m late last year. Note NZ vs US $. The Catholic Church, is a charitable trust/organisation and so receives aid, not donate it - although you would think otherwise. Her Royal Highness and co. run charitable trusts much like the Catholic Church, and people donate to it, not the other way around. Larry Ellison, Steve Balmer, Paul Allen etc etc - none are reported, now or ever in the past, to be particularly generous except to mansion/boat/luxury car builders etc. Bill reportedly does drive a bog-standard Lexus. The Walton Family (of WalMart) is generous, but nowhere near as much (www.usatoday.com) as the Bill and Belinda show. Much of their generosity goes to other Americans. I was joking about the Saudi royal family though. I hope I don't end up in Osama's black book...	vinref (6194)
355796	2005-05-18 01:33:00	I actually like Bill! YUP! :p I like Windows opsys! YUP! I love enterprize . YUP! I love computers . YUP! I enjoy life . YUP! I do not like to pay for something that is already my own . NOPE! :angry My gripe is the thought that I should have to opt for a different opsys . Windows is comfy for me . . like those pink fuzzy slippers, mentioned somewhere in a distant galaxy . I hold no malice towards those who by extension consider me idiot savant by sticking with Windows and M$ . But . . . . I do not want to change my opsys to another . . I will be one of the last fleas on the dog's back to leave if I cannot afford to go for the new Longhorn . I will stay right where I am . . I'm old now, and I know how to use it! I just hate being forced to buy into a new security utility to protect me from bad code writing, when I feel it should be free . . . that's my only gripe here! (not with Linux, Apples or even Commodore C>64 users . ) :D	SurferJoe46 (51)
355797	2005-05-18 01:37:00	I actually like Bill! YUP! :p I like Windows opsys! YUP! I love enterprize . YUP! I love computers . YUP! I enjoy life . YUP! I do not like to pay for something that is already my own . NOPE! :angry My gripe is the thought that I should have to opt for a different opsys . Windows is comfy for me . . like those pink fuzzy slippers, mentioned somewhere in a distant galaxy . I hold no malice towards those who by extension consider me idiot savant by sticking with Windows and M$ . But . . . . I do not want to change my opsys to another . . I will be one of the last fleas on the dog's back to leave if I cannot afford to go for the new Longhorn . I will stay right where I am . . I'm old now, and I know how to use it! I just hate being forced to buy into a new security utility to protect me from bad code writing, when I feel it should be free . . . that's my only gripe here! (not with Linux, Apples or even Commodore C>64 users . ) :D Oh sorry, I thought you hated Bill's money going to good causes . Well then, yeah I must agree that it is a bit off that you have to pay for something that by rights you should get as part of the standardpackage . But hey, the best solution is to go to the dark side . . .	vinref (6194)
355798	2005-05-18 05:27:00	This NZHerald article (www.nzherald.co.nz) notes the NZ Foreign Aid budget at ~$NZ230m a year... I was joking about the Saudi royal family though. I hope I don't end up in Osama's black book... Thanks :thumbs: for the link, and other info. Very interesting!!! ;)	Strommer (42)
355799	2005-05-18 05:50:00	www.jurgensdemolition.co.nz Is that realy you Metla?	JJJJJ (528)
355800	2005-05-18 06:16:00	really me? Its a plastic doll, The person its meant to represent is an individual called George "The animal" Steel, a professional wrestler from the 70's early 80's whose gimmick was that he was an......animal, covered in body hair,green tounge,whacking himself in the head,eating the turnbuckle,Speaking only in grunts kind of guy....	Metla (12)
355801	2005-05-18 08:20:00	MMMM doesnt quite sound like you then does it Metla . . . . . . . . and well, do you really think that looks like you????!!!!???? :stare: :lol: Yeah right . What do you guys think? or beleive??? :p beetle	beetle (243)
355802	2005-05-18 10:20:00	really me? . . . The person its meant to represent is an individual called George "The animal" Steel, a professional wrestler from the 70's early 80's whose gimmick was that he was an . . . . . . animal, covered in body hair,green tounge,whacking himself in the head,eating the turnbuckle,Speaking only in grunts kind of guy . . . . The description sorta matches the style of posts from a PF1er who used to sign as "LifeCoach"!!! :lol: But wait! Beetle put me right in the chat room, assuring me that Mr . Cuddles is not in fact a mean old wrestler! :rolleyes: To me, venerable Metla is Mr . Funny Wit, who keeps my levels of seratonin at a nice level . :D	Strommer (42)
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