bill gates bio

[Crake]

http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/bio.asp

quite interesting to see what age he started programming and stuff :thumbsup:

[iota]

http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/bio.asp

quite interesting to see what age he started programming and stuff :thumbsup:

There's also a thick book for his bio .
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/roadahead.asp
It sounds a little interesting.
I respect him for his all effort.In my opinion, Microsoft Platform is easy to program for user-friendiliness. But I'd rather like Linux.

[ArcticFox]

Bill Gates is my god!


:D
But you guys already knew that...

[sponex]

DOes anyone actually like bill gates

[JamieR]

DOes anyone actually like bill gates

Well seeing as he is a key figure in today's IT success, yes. There are however a lot of people who rip him because of who he is. Microsoft have contributed heck of a lot to todays software etc seeing as over 90% of computers across the world run the Windows OS. Ok, there are plenty of reasons not to use windows or to divert usage away from Windows but it is the worlds most used operating system.

Jamie.

[e-Raser]

Ha! 13? I began designing at 10 :p
He's done so much and yet he's only 50. Amazing.

[bradyj]

I think bill gates and all I see is this photo:
http://photos1.blogger.com/img/8/1913/640/young%20bill%20gates%201.jpg

No one can argue he's not extremely successful, driven, and smart? God, I may think the opposite some times:)

[JamieR]

dude that link is dead atm ;)

[bradyj]

try this one:
http://ktown.kde.cl/~elkrammer/pics/misc/young_gates-thumb.jpg

or the attachment!

[JamieR]

haha :eek:!

Not as bad as that one of him when he got done for speeding? :p

[theexo51]

u have to respect a man who took nothing and made it into the most popular OS of history, and went on to become the richest dude in the world, even if it is full of holes. who wouldnt want to swap lives - even for 1 day?

[JamieR]

Yeah but Steve Jobs is still regarded as a hero for co-founding Apple ;)

[theexo51]

but his boat isnt as big as bill gates', :D

[evo]

Yeah but Steve Jobs is still regarded as a hero for co-founding Apple ;)

Not necessarily, he is just another rich man.

As for Bill Gates, he is most admired for his contributions to charity.

You can read about that on www.gatesfoundation.org. I suppose that is who Bill Gates is, and why he deserves a hell of a lot of respect.

A more detailed bio:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_gates

[theexo51]

giving away money to charity instead of paying tax is honourable. but a lot of it is his accountants advising him how to escape massive capital gains tax etc...
it has to be said tho, that if more people in the Times Rich List did this, then i wouldnt be made to feel guilty every xmas.

[JamieR]

Yeah he does give a lot of money to charity, which is excellent. I once heard that he is going to give 1 (or 2) % of his wealth to his children and then give the rest away to charity - what a nice guy.

[evo]

giving away money to charity instead of paying tax is honourable. but a lot of it is his accountants advising him how to escape massive capital gains tax etc...
it has to be said tho, that if more people in the Times Rich List did this, then i wouldnt be made to feel guilty every xmas.

He has to pay tax like anyone else. Although the amount of interest he receives would exceed the tax that he pays.

[JamieR]

Microsoft have to pay a billion or so to the US government in taxes every year...

[theexo51]

they do pay a lot of money in taxes, but donations to charitable causes are tax deductable. i remember reading once that they had to give away millions of $$$ one year because they had to give so much per yr to good causes else they got heavily taxed and bill was struggling to find organisations to give it to

[Tristan Gray]

You think his taxes have been over 28billion dollars? Give me a break, if I could swear on this board I just would have. The fact of the matter is that small people need to spit resentment at great people and that is the ugliest thing about our society. Even the lowliest Wal-Mart worker in the garden centre ends up kicking a shrub after his boss chews him out. And if he can't get any real power? Time to try to play the moral high-ground card.

Bill Gates is more respectable than you because your entire lineage will likely never contribute even a fraction of what he has to the world. Let us just speak of money. I have heard Bill Gates criticized for his donations because 'he could have given so much more'. Well how much have you given? What's that? You don't make that much money? Why not? At the end of the day he is a great man because he was ever in a position to give that much money away. As someone has said, he started with nothing, and grew to a place where he could donate BILLIONS.

But aside from just money, how many other people are now rich and have also donated because of the technologies he developed? How many organizations use technology he helped create? I mean come on. I do not believe that Microsoft is any more evil than most companies and I'm sure there are much worse. I have no reason to believe that Bill Gates is a bad man, and I also have no reason to believe that you do either.

People just can't stand greatness we have to attack it all the time and it makes me sick.

[theexo51]

im not digging him at all, i too think its good to give back to society. Elton John is another "celebrity" who gives millions of ££ away to good causes each year. i think i read that he is the biggest contributer of any recording artist.
if i earnt a fraction of what he does i would too, unfortunately being unable to put food on my own plate all to often is the reality, so i cant. thats not a reason to flame me nor is it because i pointed out that donations are charitable causes.

[Tristan Gray]

I didn't flame, my tone of writing is angry, but I don't directly insult you. But relax, I did find some problems with Bill Gates... He provided parents with false information about 13375pe4k. So I wrote him a very 57r0n91y-\/\/r0][)3d e-mail.

[theexo51]

no worries tristan, but to add some weight to my argument, but in no way detract from the fantastic job that the BG Foundation does....


Four, and perhaps most important, is also the point I'm not positive on,
as I'm not a tax expert. But as I understand it, changes in the tax code over the past decade or so, made to encourage giving,
allow one to deduct the full current market value of stock given, while the income from that stock is valued at the purchase price.
This bypasses capital gains.
Since Gates' Microsoft stock was originally purchased for approximately $50,000, and is now worth billions, the value of each dollar's worth of stock is essentially nil. This, and correct me if I'm wrong,
would mean that if he donates Microsoft stock worth a million, he lists as income the purchase price of that stock -- this would be what, $50?
Yet on the deductions side of his return, he takes a deduction of $1 million, which in a high tax bracket is worth $250,000 or more.
Sounds to me like a nearly quarter of a million dollar profit for "giving" to charity.
and he is also guilty of discriminating against white children, and not giving any white families scholorships. whats that about, in 2005 i think we should be able to all live together, no?

[Tristan Gray]

I don't know, he obviously get's a tax break out of it but I don't think it is significant enough nor his sole or primary motivator in donating that it should be taken too seriously. But hey, I'm with you on that scholarships and I have gotten in a lot of trouble throughout university trying to argue against the clear bias that now exists against white students. In my highschool there were 200 grads two of which were black and only one of which who had honours. Yet, both their entire university expenses were paid for because there are african canadian scholarships that MUST be awarded each year.

I had a 92% average, never took a single off class, took every advanced course we offered had a 1465 on the SATs and got $500. Sweet, good thing I now pay about $20, 000 a year for my education. My friend Ennis is from Kuwait and he had a 96% average and took the same sort of schedule, and he got $1000. Too bad he is middle-eastern not African. Both of us could have gotten money from Universities had we chosen to go to different ones but even though it has been an incredible financial burden I stand by my choice in going to a university where standards actually mean something. (sometimes)

Anyway, a bit off topic I realize but it is something that bothers me. I also don't really believe that just giving money to charity is the measure of a man. Realistically a lot of the places that are plagued by starvation and disease need more than just money and food. Without a responsible and stable government in place there is often little than can be done about making sure the food and money gets spent in the right places. But at the same time too often people use the difficulties involved in charity to try to belittle the act in itself. It is true that charity is not all good but it is not all bad either. I also do not believe that people should be obligated to be charitable either though because mandatory charity is really just another form of taxation. It's no good if there's no charity in charity.