[Am-info] Reuters: Microsoft: Asia Windows Rival Would Raise Concerns

[Erick Andrews]

On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 12:57:49 -0700, T. Guilbert wrote:

>In a message dated 2003 September 08 (Monday), timestamp 10:23 PM, 
>   on the topic Re: [Am-info] Reuters: Microsoft: Asia Windows Rival
>Would Raise Concerns,
>   "Erick Andrews" <eandrews@star.net> wrote:
>
>"|I recall some "bumper sticker" or pronouncement from the early
>"|1970s: "He who has all the toys when he dies, wins", or some such. 
>"|That's Gates. It's a game for him.  He has enough money and does
>"|less patriotically or societally useful with it than all his
>"|monopolistic predecessors.
>
>Give BG his due.  Compared to Carnegie and Rockefeller and Ford, he
>started philanthropy at an early age, and his pace has been
>accelerating.  One can despise his business practices and yet admire
>his social conscience in all areas where Microsoft is not a player or
>potential player. 

Well, to be fair, I have never seen a side-by-side comparison of
Gates v. other "good deed doers" for public investments in terms
of their disposable income percentages.  (Or maybe "un" disposable,
if yesteryear's tax laws could be fairly compared/interpreted).

Maybe I can be proven wrong, but I somehow doubt that Gates' 
percentage of personal Gigabucks in such noteworthy investments 
is as philanthropically high compared to others.  Others?  I'll try 
to make a reasonable guess:  others of the top 10% of wealthy 
individuals, then and now.

-- 
Erick