Bill Gates (Microsoft)

Gotta give credit where credit is do.

Go Boy!!

Rich nerd

Great philanthropist! How can you knock that?

obviously it works lol

I don't know any other Distinguished individual that can compete by level of his contribution for the US economy and US leadership in the world with BillG(In time span of last 30 years). Thanks to Microsoft's push of technology, the average productivity of American worker skyrocketed, while many processes that were quite costly before - now thanks to technology significantly drooped in capital required. The dream of having PC on every table in the world, that what to my understanding made in possible. I believe without Microsoft and BillG that dream would still be far from being achieved.... Now, look at BillG and Melinda Gates foundation - BillG donated more cash for aids research than any nation in the world...

I'd marry him. Rich ass g33k.

Gotta love the Monopoly man!!!

Mike Bradley

he's my hero, what would i do without microsoft?????

FUCKING HOT!

Nerd-who-became-gozillionare gawd of thunder- how can this be less than a 5?

Will probably be seen as one of the most important people in the second millenium. First millenium would have to go to Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable/moveable wooden or metal letters in 1436.

Formed the world's most profitable monopoly in the 80s/early 90s. Hasn't done much of anything since, except ruin perfectly good programs with endless useless 'critical' updates.Update (not critical):  The benefits of philanthropy shouldn't be calculated by how much money is given away, but rather by the results.  Carnegie and Rockefeller gave their money away wisely-and not just to avoid taxes, or because their wives pushed them to do so.  They also spent their money primarily where they made it-in the United States.  The same can be said of many contemporary philanthropists, but not Gates:The main problem with the approach of Mr. Gates is that those he wants to help suffer from lack of productivity, which in turn is related to their benighted forms of government. The best thing he could do with his fortune would be to try to create jobs in the Third World, not put the social welfare cart before the horse of economic growth. But then he would face the real problem: lack of property ri... Read more

It's too early to tell how significant he is in world history. I'm sure that when all is said and done, he'll at least have a place in the history books. But two or three hundred years from now, it's really hard to say what importance historians will give him.

He keeps technology moving forward.  Without him I wouldn't have Vista to cuss at.

A technological inevitability with smarts: the time and place were righjt for him - and us. Other requirements for true important status remain to be seen.

Bill Gates is a conservative? Since when?

Gates is to be reviled for his rapaciously monopolistic practices. As I said elsewhere, capitalism is a marvelously efficient economic system. It functions by appealing to that most basic of human instincts, self-interest, or, more properly, greed. It provides incentives for hard work and innovation, but also for dishonesty, immorality, ruthlessness, and corruption. Thus it needs strict and constant regulation to curb its natural tendencies, in order to protect the larger society. Gates conveniently ignored the fact that we have antitrust laws and tried to skirt them by any means possible. On the other hand, he has been a generous philanthropist. Whether this redeems him is a question I leave for others.

Since his company violated the privacy of users in China by ratting them out to the Chinese government (one can only imagine what those poor folks are doing right now), he's lower than whale shit to me.  It's Macintosh or nothing, baby.His success came largely by leveraging his mom and dad's--he hardly born into poverty, I assure you; his dad operates/d one of Seattle's top 3 law firms--money, shaking down IBM, and by using the genius of others; maybe that's a genius in itself.  Another ego-driven corporatist who'd outsource the labor that makes the rope we're going to hang him with.Listen up, he donates most of that money because doing so will save him a lot more in taxes.  I do credit his mother with teaching him (and his father) about the importance of being responsible citizens of the planet.  Like all humans, he has moments of greatness along with moments that make others gasp in horror.

If you rate him by money, then fine, he isn't over rated.  I want to rate him on his technical achievements.  He did not write DOS, he bought it.  Windows 1.0 was stolen from Apple (who stole it from Xerox), and he didn't write any of this.  Windows conquered the desktop market of the 90's because of illegal monopolies, not technical superiority.  Smells like overrated to me...

Windows 98 is so screwed up why did they put in that lame Safe mode anyway, it screwed up my computer by freezing it. Gates should put out better products. gates is just some geek who got rich by stealing other peoples ideas.

Curse this nerd and his blue screen of death!

He's a nerd alright, but not my favorite. The only thing he gives me are viruses.

Bill Gates is the ultimate nerd :) He's paved the way for generations and generations of nerds to stand up and be proud of their neirdiness. And he is rich beyond belief and a humanatarian...well I am not totally convinced he is a humanitarian yet...I'll get back to you on that one :)

Being a nerd got him where he is today; I doubt he's complaining :)

He may seem like a "big fish" now,but on the radar of world history he's barely a blip.

brought us microsoft windows but if he didn't you can be sure that some one else would have. the market he supplied so successfully would merely have been supplied by some one else

Not a day goes by in school that after telling the kids that the best way to insure their future's is go to college, I don't hear the words, "Bill Gates didn't go to college." I guess if money is the be all, and end all of a person's existence, then it's o.k. to look up to this guy. At least he doesn't make rap records.

Pretty smart man. His contribution to the computer world has been impressive. Yes he is uber rich, but he has been very generous about his contributions in charity.

I would say Gates is a bit harder to define as strictly conservative or liberal. He certainly would side with the right on many economic matters, but his opposition to the estate tax does not jive with that very well.

I must concur with Irishgit here. I had no idea he was conservative or liberal for that matter.

He gives me the impression that he considers himself above the conservative/liberal, left/right debates. Seems to be too busy recreating the world according to Microsoft to be bothered with us ants.

Although he was by no means the only pioneer of what we call today's modern computer, Bill Gates has made it possible for the average person to own a computer and in general has made life better for everyone. Sometimes though, Mr Gates becomes so caught up in his own legendary status that he loses perspective and seems to think that the rest of the world should be like him and his company. This was brought to light several years ago when, at a computer expo, Mr. Gates compared the computer industry with the automobile industry. Mr. Gates said "If General Motors had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that get 1,000 miles to the gallon." This remark did not go unnoticed and in response to his comment, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics. 1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day. 2. Ever... Read more

Not so much an all-round Conservative as a hardcore capitalist. Given that he's the richest man in the world, this isn't terribly surprising.

ALL SHARP THINGS ARE SHORT! A STITCH ON TIME SAVES NINE ! MR. BILL GATES DESERVES THE HIGHEST CONGRESSIONAL AWARD !

How can you overrate one of the most successful individuals ever.

He didn't become a billionaire fo' nuthin. He worked his @ss off, brotha!

Another guy that acts self-made. Family are rich bankers for the last 100 years in Seattle area. If I were 15 years older and my mother had been on the board of the Red Cross with the CEO of IBM I could have bought and OS and sold it too them. The guy that created the OS could have never got the CEO on the phone. Pays to know people in high places. Then I could have bought even more peoples ideas rather than create and stole others. People also forget MS is not without several failures. MS BOB! Gates said in the mid 90's 70% of people would be banking online within 3 years and using some microsoft service (MS banking not the OS) to do it. Wrong. Gate was in the right place right time. Now his stuff gets pirated by China so what did he do when they demand MS hand over the source code before being allowed into the market? He did, what a surprise that an evil government like China Pirate his product about 16 hours later. I wonder how much of his charity money has been ripped off. You give... Read more

He is the richest man in the world but he has probably also donated the most to charity and medical research of any person who ever lived. I know he once donated 24 billion dollars to one foundation(I think it was his and his wife's foundation).

Came up with some very good ideas and surrounded himself with ultra-talented help, but engaged in some very ethically dubious business practices along the way, and hasn't shot bolts of lightening through the sky of the philantropy world given all the dough he has. This guy's company specialized in putting smaller companies out of business, and in doing so, wrecked people's careers and inflicted financial hardship on countless thousands. This also had a profound negative effect on the competitive atmosphere of the programming industry, actually retarded the growth and development of that market sector, and reduced consumer choice and freedom. This is a demonstration of the economic idea that is the darling of the conservative set: endless dollars flowing into the hands of the select few, with reduced options open to a captive clientelle. Furthermore, many of Microsoft's products truly suck, but because the thugs and racketeers under Gates' aegis were so effective in wiping out, bull... Read more

Some of the posters here seem to have strange definitions of capitalism, that it is inherently based on violently (in the business sense) squelching competition, and thereby, innovation, and that a monopoly, which would seek to perpetuate itself at the expense of what might really benefit consumers, represents capitalism. Gates, in an interview by Bill Moyers, deemed the AIDS crisis in Africa--his pet charity--the failure of capitalism. Bill Gates, and his truly obscene wealth, is the failure of capitalism.

I don't understand why so many people carry on badly about Bill Gates. I think it is very obvious that he is highly intelligent, and deserves all the good things that come with his success. I think jealousy could play a huge part in it, but who knows or truly cares? I don't !

I know I'm a heretic, but I like him. He plays the game well. He's a hero for all nerds and geeks. Plenty of people hate him, but underneath it is invariably envy.

Bill gates is the greatest! I love Bill gates!!! Hes so cool and interesting and all the ladies love him!!! And no his company doesnt run the world! No his microsoft isnt watching me all the time! No Microsoft isnt plotting world domination! No microsoft doesnt own the governemts of the world and all these wars and laws arent just covers for their big plan!!! So Im not saying this cuz hes WATCHING US AT ALL TIMES AND WOULD KILL ME IN A SECOND IF I GIVE HIM 1 STAR!!!! Cuz hes not. Thats just silly!

a great one to to see what others didn't see and didn't realize.

Bottom line - Theft is how Gates got started. Searching out the right people (for a price) to surround himself with has kept him going...He alone is no more intelligent than the employees providing the backs that he is standing on.

A person who dares to dream!