MSNBC: Bill Gates to Transition Away From Microsoft

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13348456/' target='_blank'>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13348456/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates announced Thursday that he will transition from day-to-day responsibilities at the company he co-founded to concentrate on the charitable work of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates will continue on as the company’s chairman after transferring his duties over a two-year period. “This was a hard decision for me,” said Gates, who founded the world’s largest software company with childhood friend Paul Allen. “I’m very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever.”"</i><br /><br />Interesting, and not all-together surprising. Bill Gates has been focusing more and more on his charitable work, and after reading the Time magazine article about him earlier this year, I can see he has a real passion for it. I think it's great that someone with so much money wants to focus all his time on helping others - we need more people like that in this world.

[dommasters]

A truly great man.

[Raphael Salgado]

I agree wholeheartedly.

At the same time, it sickens me when I see multimillion-dollar celebrities get up on stage and TV after the terrorist attacks and natural disasters we've had, and ask the public to contribute to a worthy cause. After we've thrown our hard-earned money at them for the movies and music they make, most of them just do yet another "song and dance" while revelling in the media spotlight, making them look like champions.

How about matching dollar for dollar or doubling whatever was contributed by the public? If they can throw $1000 at a barmaid, waiter, or a craps table, they can certainly afford to give back to society more than just singing us a few bars or smiling in front of a camera in a rallying cry for us to donate.

Give me a break. You go, Gates. You do your thing. ;)

[dommasters]

Bill gives away BILLIONS 8O :D

[bystander]

According to Forbes Magazine, his giving of $28.2B was, at the time of the article, 37% of his net worth.

He seems to have a genuine concern for others needs.

Just MY opinion.

:D

[Tierran]

You know what's sad? A few years back I had a discussion with a 'friend' and she was harping on and on about how unimpressed with his charity she was since he could give away so much more. Talk about missing the big picture.

I'm very sad to see this but the good he will be able to do will be unmatched and probably unprecedented..

[Jon Westfall]

You know what's sad? A few years back I had a discussion with a 'friend' and she was harping on and on about how unimpressed with his charity she was since he could give away so much more. Talk about missing the big picture.

I'm very sad to see this but the good he will be able to do will be unmatched and probably unprecedented..

If she starts harping again, ask her if she thinks that the work he did at Microsoft wasn't worthy enough to earn the money he has. He worked hard (For a lot of smaller companies, too hard ;) ), he deserves to spend his money as he sees fit. Bill Gates' master plan, from what I've read, is to give away most everything he has by the time he leaves this world, leaving only a fraction of his current wealth to his children, so that they don't become the next Paris Hilton.

So world's richest man has given billions + plans on giving away almost all + just wants to space it out so he can enjoy the giving = Great plan.

[joker]

how unimpressed with his charity she was since he could give away so much more.stupid person's typical babbling.
she doesn't understand anything.
surely she is one of the first to fill her own pockets but not to give anything back.

[martin_ayton]

You know what's sad? A few years back I had a discussion with a 'friend' and she was harping on and on about how unimpressed with his charity she was since he could give away so much more. Talk about missing the big picture.

She's not alone: Lots of people understand intuitively that it is very easy to spend somebody else's money or decide how much somebody else is worth or how much they need. Where the rubber hits the road is in your own pocket. Like Raphael says, the issue is how much it costs you, and that isn't measured in straight number terms. I'm a lot more impressed by the pensioner on welfare who gives a few $/£/whatever and therefore has to go without meat that week than I am with the celeb who drops 10k and doesn't miss a penny of it.

Bill's desire to give pretty much all of his money away, which will cost him the sort of lifestyle he could have if he kept it, is inspiring and, thankfully, he isn't the only one out there with that attitude.

Go givers!

[kimylawson]

I think it's great when someone like Bill Gates comes along and just simply has the moral capacity and the intestinal fortitude to want to be a giver. Good on ya, Bill! your a rarity :wink:

[Patrick Y.]

Bill Gates is truly a great man. He did work hard to make Microsoft such a successful company. :D

[lapchinj]

Say what you want about Bill and his company, Jokes, rants, raves etc but I think that this is nicest thing anyone can do. He makes a bundle of money, becomes the richist person in the world and then takes 'MOST' of that money and gives it to needy causes. With the amount of money he intends to give away that's not going to be so easy. This is really a terrific example of the spirit of giving. People may not like his business tactics (etc) but I can't see anyone complaining about this.

I've read articles about some of his causes and they're really impressive. Your talking about a massive amount of money going to needy causes.

Jeff-

[TheMouseMan]

I will NOT question the greatness of the enormous and unmatched donations by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is truly a noticeable contribution to providing especially health care to the poorest and marginalized people in the world!

BUT, I can't help finding it a bit funny, how all of a sudden Bill is everybody's best friend and hero. In general, Microsoft and Bill (and especially his business and licensing tactics) are on almost every tech forum the favorite icon of loathing. And now it's almost like reading an obituary: anything negative is forgotten and only the positive remains. A bit strange he had to 'die' (= 'announce his plans to retire') in order to become an instant hero. His huge contributions to the world through the Foundation have been ongoing for many years.

I wonder if forum posts like Micro$oft now will be replaced by Bi££ and M€£inda Gate$ Foundation http://wap.srb.co.yu/forum/images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif
Great that there are still real philanthropists like Bill and Melinda... http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/midi/froehlich/d028.gif

- TheMouseMan

[lapchinj]

...BUT, I can't help finding it a bit funny, how all of a sudden Bill is everybody's best friend and hero...
As far as I'm concerned one thing doesn't have to do with another. I don't approve at all about Microsoft's tactics but that shouldn't reflect at all on his personal life. The guy is not a criminal he just plays hard, hard, hard ball in business. I'm sure some people might say his business dealings are criminal but his tactics are typical in all large corporations and I haven't seen anyone go to jail because of them.

He is definately not my hero where business is concerned but he is sort of a hero to me for being the type of person who puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to charity. I for one am very impressed by that. Very surprising is that most of the stuff that his foundation gets into doesn't even make it into the news. He's giving away some really serious bucks 8O . His charities only become news when he steps down from the podium otherwise we don't hear about it. As with the newsworthiness of most philanthropic endeavors charity just never seems to make the front page (or back). It seems that the only time we hear about big charity givers is when they fall overboard and drown :?

Jeff-

[Johnathan]

I don't want to tall about this, because I have too much to say that I don't know how to start! :?

[lapchinj]

I don't want to tall about this, because I have too much to say that I don't know how to start! :?
Give it a shot. This is a friendly place to help jump start a discussion.

Jeff-