From: Peter Sawatzki 

Apples and Oranges.

Peter

In article , warthawg{at}austin.rr.com says...
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/28063.html
>
> Gates gives $100m to fight HIV, $421m to fight Linux By Thomas C Greene in
> Washington
> Posted: 13/11/2002 at 04:22 GMT
>
> We do hate to rain on a high-profile corporate love-fest, but we have to
> point out that in addition to the much trumpeted $100 million Billg has
> donated to India's fight against HIV, he's funding the Microsoft jihad
> against Linux to the far more impressive tune of $421 million. That means
> that Linux is more than four times worse than AIDS to Billg and his happy
> Redmond family. God forbid any of them should learn the bitter truth the
> hard way and start talking sense.
>
> Billg's personal $100 million goes to health initiatives over ten years,
> while $421 million of Microsoft's money goes, over a mere three years, to
> support MS-friendly development and 'educational' initiatives. And being a
> monster MS shareholder himself, a 'Big Win' in India will enrich him
> personally, perhaps well in excess of the $100 million he's donating to
> the AIDS problem. Makes you wonder who the real beneficiary of charity is
> here.
>
> Oh, and let's not forget the five, count 'em, five, vanity puff-pieces
> appearing in the New York Times this week glorifying Billg's generosity,
> one of which he wrote himself. That's worth quite a lot too, in PR brownie
> points for both him and his company. It's far better than free
> advertising; it actually looks like news and therefore has immensely more
> persuasive value.
>
> Interestingly, the NYT neglected to mention the gargantuan MS marketing
> tie-in and obvious bribe against, and obstacle to, Linux adoption in
> India. Certainly they've been falling all over Gates in their eagerness to
> give him ink, so we're at a terrible loss to explain why they could find
> no place, among those thousands of words, to plug in a brief mention of
> the $421 million in anti-Linux ammo he's delivering.
>
>
>
>

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