Comments

HEAVEN bless the Bill Gates of the world - especially in bringing free market distribution to philanthropy - re: hit African ground hard with aid - BYPASS African DICTATOR Swiss bank accounts - viva MS & le City Emerald spirtual giving ENERGY.

Posted by sean at July 25, 2006 8:37 AM

I'm with you Sean! ... that makes a change he says ... :-)

Mr Gates is trying to make a difference in the world through his radical giving. I admire the man immensely.

There was a good report on BBC at this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5197082.stm

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 25, 2006 8:51 AM

Nice observations!!

It's all about Karma, man. For years Gates was an information NAZI. Now he wants and expects what he wouldn't give -- openess and free giving??

Tongue-in-cheek....

Posted by Ken McKuen at July 25, 2006 9:11 AM

It's good for us all that people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet can keep the difference between private competitive interests and interests in the public good clear.

Posted by Tom Coffin at July 25, 2006 12:48 PM

I've never been a huge Bill Gates fan, but this makes perfect sense. If you are giving out the money, you want to see it used as wisely as possible, and having a bunch of silos working on the same stuff, rather than building on each others work is tremendously inefficient.

Hooray for Bill, finally adopting open-source as a model for progress!

Posted by Jason Dolenga at July 25, 2006 4:14 PM

Kudos to the prior comments! It is evident that Bill knows what it takes to ensure that Melinda and his money, as well as that of Mr. Buffet, is spent wisely. Getting the corruption controlled is critical to doing successful business in third world countries (OK, OK... to doing successful business ANYWHERE).

This is completely different than his desire to maintain a competitive edge in a market that is rapidly losing differentiation that customers will value. Even Nicholas Carr is trumpeting the end of technology based competitive advantage.

I believe Tom Peters can relate... it really isn't about the resources per se... it is all about how effectively you utilize those resources... ie, execution makes a difference.

Posted by Matt Thevenot at July 25, 2006 8:10 PM

Let me be clear: In no way was I trying to diminish the wonderful the Gates are doing. And, re research, I think sharing is fabulous. (For those of you in science, you know that the "politics of science" mskes the D.C. variety look tame.)

I also think we've been appallingly bereft of Great Leaps Forward in the personal computer--which stems in part fro the failure of Monopolist Microsoft to be "a bit" more transparent. (If you don't believe me, ask the EU competition ministry.)

Posted by tom peters at July 26, 2006 7:18 AM

Right on post, and spot on comment from Tom Coffin.

Gates III is conforming to the natural laws of competition: in an arena where competition makes for individual success, zero-sum/roller-derby style behaviors are rewarded by the market. So BillG's info-hoarding makes additional $.

In an arena where zero-sum behaviors don't lead to greater individual or overall success (health care delivery, pharma research, military r&d) aren't rewarded by the market. So BillG rejects info-hoarding which would cost additional $.

Makes perfect market sense, IMNSHO.

Posted by jeff angus at July 26, 2006 2:31 PM