Have to give Bill Gates credit, even though I loathe Microsoft
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Have to give Bill Gates credit, even though I loathe Microsoft
Here's a link to an article about Bill Gates pledging $250,000,000 to the World Health Organzation, on top of $200,000,000 his foundation has already given, plus the other millions the foundation has given to other health causes.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/17/gates_health_pledge/
I truly loathe Microsoft software, even though I use it. But I have to give credit to this man for being so generous with his wealth.
He sure has given a lot of money!!
Ginny, why do you loathe Microsoft? I am not trying to start a debate (I have no feelings about Microsoft either way!) I just wondered why your feelings are so strong!? 
He & his wife really do give a lot to charity.
Ginny, my DH is so anti-Bill Gates that he bought an Apple laptop and insisted that we switch to Mozilla Firefox from Internet Explorer. However, I did read some significant things about Gates' philanthropic efforts and he is pretty impressive. Check out my blog dated March 7, 2005 (you'll have to scroll down) and there's a link there to his giving.
blog
I loathe Microsoft because it is not really user-friendly, and it is condescending. Most Microsoft programs have all kinds of "defaults" built into them that are difficult and time-consuming to get around if you want to do something different from what Microsoft thinks you should be wanting to do. And that paperclip thingy - it is so "cute" my teeth grate, and it is a darned nuisance (yes, I know I can get rid of it and I do whenever it turns up in a new program). The paperclip "help" is no help at all if you don't want to do what Microsoft thinks you should want to do, and it takes more steps and clicks to do what any reasonably experienced word processor can do without it. And Microsoft makes it reallly hard for program developers who want to make their programs compatible with, say Windows or IE, I believe in an effort to discourage them and to discourage users from using anything but Microsoft ware. (Not to mention, of course, that Microsoft is, effectively, a monopoly, and it is always scary to have one company having so much control over something that has become as necessary as computer use.)
Not to mention all the bells and whistles built into every Microsoft program in an effort to be all things to all people. Many of those features are absolutely useless to the average user, take up memory, and have the nasty habit of getting in the way while you are trying to do what you want to do. And, for example, if I turn off the automatic download of updates and patches, each time I turn on my computer I have to click to turn off a message that says my computer may be in danger because I don't have automatic download turned on. Sheesh!
For years I used WordPerfect at work, and I am now in an office that uses Microsoft Word. There isn't a day that I don't cuss out Microsoft for the defaults and snags they have built into Word. Just a couple of examples: In WordPerfect, when I want to insert a symbol into my document, I click Insert, Symbol, select the symbol, and can choose between Insert or Insert and Close. In Word I have to take two steps - first Insert, and then Close. In WordPerfect I can use their "QuickCheck" document checking (spell check, etc.) system to set up a list of typos I commonly make so that each time the word is in a document the spell check function catches it so I can cure the typo. Examples: coy for copy, int he for in the, doe snot for does not. Word doesn't have that capability at all. In WordPerfect if I make a formatting error I can use the reveal codes function and it will show me every single formatting code in the document. Word only shows very basic codes and usually not the one I want to delete so that my formatting is corrected. In WordPerfect, if you set up a table you have the ability to do "quick sum", which will total a column of numbers. You can't do that in Word's table function - I think because Microsoft wants you to use Excell, which is not nearly as easy to use as a table in WordPerfect (example: the find function only works in the column you are clicked into instead of the whole document). In WordPerfect there are several ways to do numbering, which I use frequently because I am in a law office and legal documents require numbered paragraphs. In Word I am limited to a couple of pre-programmed methods that insist on doing it their way - so when I hit the "enter" key, the next number pops up - and if I want to doublespace and hit Enter twice, the next two numbers pop up. I can go back and delete the unwanted number, but why should I have to? Why doesn't Microsoft make using their word processing program as easy as Corel (WordPerfect) does?
I could go on and on. At one point I did. I had the basic, slimmed down version of Word on my old computer and my old shop was planning to change from WordPefect to Word, so I upgraded to the full Version of Word. After a week I had experienced so many frustrations, default problems, etc., that I sent a four page letter to Microsoft (prepared in WordPerfect) detailing each one, and asked for my money back. I did get the refund, and that shop decided to simply upgrade their version of WordPerfect. In my new job I don't have a choice, and I cuss Microsoft every day.
I had no idea... that is very interesting. I remember a famous charity accountant organizer bad mouthing him in the New York Times for not being generous about ten years back. So it is interesting to know this.
LOL Ginny! You are right, though. I've used both, and while I prefer Word to WordPerfect, there ARE certain functions of WordPerfect that I like better, and actually have both installed on my work computer, for the sole reason that WordPerfect has a great label program and Word doesn't. As a user of both programs, I can totally relate to each and every example you've given.
Sorry, I've gotten off topic here, the topic was Bill Gates and his contributions. DH first mentioned this to me a couple days ago, and my first reaction was *he won't even know he gave it*. But he IS one of those who at least tries to give something back.
I have to think that even Bill Gates knows when he has given a quarter of a billion (yes, billion) dollars away.
Oh, I am sure he *knows*, in the literal sense of the word, but you can bet your bottom dollar, it won't affect his standard of living one iota! And that's what I meant by that. LOL
LOL my brother loathes Microsoft and Bill Gates, i always thought it was him being critical (as he is with a lot of things). He is a Mac/Apple person all the way and has converted the whole family to Macs! Which imho are much easier to use than Microsoft anything.
I have only ever used Wordperfect so I had no idea all of the troubles with the other. I sure can see why your feelings are so strong!!!
How do I get ahold of Bill Gates to tell him that if he needs to give a quarter of a billion dollars away again, I sure could use some if it!!!
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