Re: Brave New World

[Christopher Pall <x97pall@wmich.edu>]

  > Valid comment on the editorial control of the encyclopedia, however on
  > the issue of philanthropy, Gates has given millions to charity.
  > Remember a short while back when Ted Turner gave 1 billion to the UN? A
  > big deal was made that Gates had _only_ given millions.  You can argue
  > about the amounts, but you can't say "What philanthropy".  Of local note
  > (to me), Microsoft, on behalf of Gates' wife has setup quite a computer
  > education program at some of the high schools in Dallas (where his wife
  > is from), both public and private.  So, there is evidence of
  > philanthropy.  I try not to assume what people do in their private lives
  > - those assumptions are usually wrong.
  
  We recently had this discussion about Gates's so called philanthropy. A
  company or person who "donates" with a person agenda is not donating
  anything. When apple gave discounts, it wasn't donating, it was buying
  itself a new base of customers. It's the only thing that has saved Apple to
  this day. I say this because when I worked at "Best Buy", the ONLY and I
  MEAN THE ONLY persons who came in asking for MAC's were persons who used
  them as educators, or had been told by their educator friends to buy them.
  Otherwise, Mac, outside of the graphical artist market, probably would have
  succombed by now. (maybe not, but this is my experience)
  
  Quote from Kendall Clark
  ----------------------------------------
  That's about as socially-conscious as heroin dealers ``donating'' smack to
  addicts in the name of good will and charity.
  
  Even you won't defend this as altruistic, will you? It's a fairly
  transparent---even though no mainstream newspaper reporter can evidently see
  
  through it---ploy to increase the use and familiarity of MS products among
  the
  younger generation.
  
  I submit that if MS were truly interested in helping schools, they'd donate
  cash. Then schools could make their own determination about what they should
  
  use and what they should teach. That would be ``empowering'' (God, I hate
  that
  word) freedom of choice.
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                Christopher Pall
  Delphi Programmer & Western Michigan Student (CS)
                   ThinkBiz
                Kalamazoo MI USA
               X97PALL@WMICH.EDU
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