Request to Brightcove: decrease the freakin default volume on your player.

Thanks!

“…Gates argues that “we have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.”

Funny, nearly all Open Source software, including operating systems such as Linux, are completely free - allowing poorer people access to powerful computing. Yet on a routine basis Mr. Gates’ own company threatens, bullies and outright extorts the OEMs to never, EVER offer Linux as an OS ( Re: “Dell feels the heat from offering Ubuntu” )

Where is there capitalism?

I’d love to see it someday.

Todd, open source is becoming increasingly commercial. Sun owns OpenOffice, MySQL, most linux distro’s have large corporates behind them. Microsoft sells it’s OS (with support) for $3 in 3rd world countries.

So, now Sun, Oracle, IBM, HP, Dell, etc have to up their game and help the world.

Its awfully easy for Bill Gates to talk about improving the lives of poor people, now that he forced almost every major PC software company out of business and created a domineering, monopolostic company that puts out slow and buggy software. It’s really a joke that Gates considers himself a philanthropist - Microsoft is the most predatory and unethical company in the high technology industry. I think he’s totally self-serving. There is almost no innovation left in the PC software market, largely because of his personal style of “win at all costs.”

poor people and pc’s are different subjects - were are not talking about poor open source programmers or poor companies that don’t have $21 billion on their books, where are talking about real poor people like those in Africa and the ghettos of America.

philanthropist: ridiculously rich people that have made their money cheating, stealing, and strong arming people, and now feel bad and want to viewed as good people, examples: buffet, carnigie, sorros, gates etc., etc

damm…can we go back to talking about ajax widgets and facebook?

He is right because as global trends begin to form, countries are noticing more wealth, however it doesn’t go to the poor at all. It’s simply creating a larger gap, and that will one day become a major issue.

Hasan,

Ummm, where exactly has Buffet ever cheated, stolen, or strong-armed someone? He made/makes his money by finding undervalued companies and buying them, and sometimes making them even better.

MGZ

From the begining of the video clip:

“Gates… feels that [capitalism] has failed the many of the world’s poor…”

Major problem… the world’s poorest Do Not have economic freedom (read “capitalism”) so there’s no way that capitalism has failed them. The reason they are poor is their lack of economic freedom!

Arrgh. As a developer, it’s frustrating to realize that business and computer intelligence doesn’t necessarily translate into other types.

I have enormous respect for the Gates foundation and their work, and I do not begrudge Gates’ success. But, this idea has little credibility. How about attacking the problem at it’s root by encouraging economic freedom among poor countries?

Gates sold us out. He made all this money from U.S. companies and consumers, and will now redistribute that wealth to Africa, instead of improving healthcare, education, and infrastructure in the U.S. Everyone knows aid to Africa doesn’t improve conditions there.

We need to take another lesson from the ancient Greeks.

The word Liturgy comes from the Classical Greek word λειτουργία (leitourgia) meaning “public work”. In the Greek city-states, it had a different sense: some public good which a wealthy citizen arranged at his own expense, either voluntarily or by law. At Athens, the Assembly assigned liturgies to the wealthy, and there was a law by which any man who had been assigned a liturgy while a richer man had had none could challenge him either to undertake the liturgy or to exchange property with him.

This is already being practiced by thousands of companies that support FAIR TRADE (not free trade) goods and services. You might be drinking some of their coffee right now.

I always forget how much he sounds like ernie from sesame street

The simple fact is that poor people are routinely convicted of the same behavior that rich people have used to secure their fortunes. I don’t know if Bill is calling for a reduction in penalties for (e.g.) fraud, or if he’s looking for someone to invent a way to profit off of a lack of money. Seems the latter, as Quixotic as it is.

This is laughable.
I suppose an example of creative capitalism is Microsoft’s recent plan to sell Vista and Office to the Chinese at $10us for both. (And they still made $300 million dollars out of the deal).
Is this creative capitalism or simply a drug pusher mentality. Get the economy ticking over so you can start skimming off money. How can a poor economy ever get to a level playing field with these ideas.

If Gates wants to use his foundation right, the money should be used to send armies of trained subsistence living teachers. Teach the people how to make the best of what they have and build a subsistence economy that is not reliant of outside help.

There is NO money in that so capitalism has no place. And it looks like Gates and his foundation has no place either.

James

you guys are just jealous because Gates is rich and you are not…..HATERS!!

Those with ideas about how to better the world are always attack by the cynics (@James). Gates is trying to bring the idea of Bettering the World as a goal for business, instead of just profit.

There are plenty of ways to change the world but he is presenting a way for capitalism to contribute to the cause.

I may not be a big fan of Windows OS but this guy has good ideas and a lot of resources to make things happen. I say kudos to him.

I had the pleasure to meet both Bill and Melinda at the international Aids Conference in Toronto…Wow! I love these people and hope to one day give them all my money too!!!!!

its not hate - no one doubts the impact or benefit the gates foundation is bringing to the world - it just a bit contradictory to the source of funds and of gates pre “do gooder”.

I wouldn’t be so quick to count Bill Gates out with his ideas. After all, regardless of the business practices Microsoft uses; his products have revolutionized computing and contributed to the growth in home computer usage. He could help revolutionize in an area where there is immediate need.

It is refreshing to see that such high profile individuals like Bill Gates (et al.) are committing themselves to places where they see need. They may not have the ideas that fix the problem, but they bring greater awareness to the issue. (Al Gore hasn’t quite found a cure to global warming yet has he?) I don’t think there will ever be a single solution to any problem, but rather a combination of ideas.

Being closed minded about new ideas will only stifle the opportunity of them being successful. If we consider all ideas as open-minded as possible, the greater chance we have at finding solutions.

What’s hilarious about this is Gates is actually advocating a more traditional “hidden hand” form of capitalism - he’s just reemphasizing that immediate profit isn’t actually “utility.”

Or, rather, he’s trying to broaden the definition of utility to include the thriving of the human race, a terrible thing to do.

It’s funny to watch the intertrons smart, rational crowd rabble around, often claiming to be libertarians, without a basic understanding of how Rational Choice works.

Fun times.

Please recognise that Bill Gates, the big guy in Microsoft, and Bill Gates the philanthropist do not have the same goals.

What’s your suggestion here - Microsoft DOESN’T act in its own interests, goes bankrupt, putting thousands of people out of work? From Radiohead to Jimmy Wales, these people are all doing the same thing: earning as much money as they can. Bill Gates just happens to be very good at earning money.

When we have Bill Gates the philanthropist, we have those talents that made Microsoft such a powerful company being put to ending malaria, tuberculosis, starvation, drought, and perhaps even some of the never-ending wars. Sure he’s doing it because he wants to feel good about himself - why do you give to charity? Or do you consider releasing a free plugin for Ubuntu to be on the same level as helping to end AIDS? Wouldn’t it be great if he taught Somalians how to be a ‘Microsoft’ in the face of an ‘IBM’?

If you people can’t just give someone credit for actually doing something to change the world then you should take a long hard look at yourselves.

I as an African born citizen whom now resides and spent the second half of my education in the uk totally supports bill on this move.

Unlike people like Bono , G8 summit leaders etc whom come up with either false promises or short term effects bill actually has looked into the problem.

The problem in helping poor people is that too much aid is given and the bulk is stolen by corrupt leaders or wasted whilst the other half has to be earmarked for western companies. Unless the poor nations earmark that money for western companies to receive in sub par contracts then the richer governments refuse to give aid. its a silly world we live in.

Its the whole concept that oxfam have always had ” give a man a fish and he can feed his family for a day , give him a fishing net and he can feed and educate / lift his family out of poverty for a lifetime “.

Bill unlike most of the worlds billionaires ie google founders, yahoo founders , oracle etc wants to help people instead of fly round in jumbo jets and have expensive toys.

Techcrunch , thanks for covering this issue , it better than that fickle crap you reported on about google giving out a few million.

———–
http://www.xencasino.com

Ah, Gates. The same Gates who used that “old kind of capitalism” to ensure that his monopoly continues to thrive and make him rich, while denying riches to countless other companies that worked their asses off, only to get steamrolled by this robber baron asshat who used his monopoly to churn subpar products down consumers throats.

I guess it always good to see former assholes reform. Maybe because Microsoft is getting kicked in the ass by Google, Gates figures he’s to old for this monopoly stuff. Might as well try to save the world with all the money he’s obtained through that “old kind of capitalism”.

I am not from America but I agree with Anontroll’s comments about Gates & Buffett selling you out. Gates became as rich as he did predominantly because of the US people, their technology & their economy (which then spread his products to the world to make further profits). Sure Buffett is a guy I have a lot of respect for but he put $32 billion odd (or plans to) in to Gates foundation. A lot of the companies Buffett bought, the likes of Coke, Gillette, railroads, insurance etc have earnt his shareholders & developed huge wealth purely because of the US people & the importance they placed on these long standing brands. Now a lot of this money is being given to the 3rd world. How much of this will actually help the people or even find its way to them as opposed to their corrupt leaders? Why not put more back into the country from whose people you made such large profits in the first place & for which many are still living in poverty & subjected to crime?
To me, ‘creative capitalism’ will just mean companies finding creative ways to make more money from the 3billion odd people that make up the 3rd world. Its not about bettering their lives - capitalism is still about greed & it is the people that are happy to screw you over for a buck that do well at it (Buffett excluded on that).
Anyway, sorry, back to the technology!….

I love it , rich people do not become rich off the back of anyone unless they steal the nations natural wealth ie russian oligarchs , businessmen whom get rich by being corrupt etc.

Gates made his money as far as I know by being shrewd , clever and acting in a proper business manner. Nobody handed him anything , he worked his arse off to build microsoft , he paid taxes , offered jobs and even made hundreds millionnaires. Gates does not owe the US people anything. He could go and spend all his money on big toys like larry ellison or sergey and page but instead he wants to help people.

If larry and page blew their money on stuff will the same people be saying they sold out on the US people ? hell no.

Bill did business and he did it better than the rest . Good for bill . Yours all jealous asses if you say bill sold out. lets see you all go and build and empire and still refrain from being shrewd and instead being nice and considerate to your competition. then lets see what empire you build.

Its a dog eat dog in business people. get real

Well Gentlemen, if were going start hurling vitriol around about robbers, lets look at Investment Bankers! Look at WS today, Goldman Sachs was the only profitable player and gave their top guy $$$$, while the rest of the street are losing their jobs and homes…Talk about Macro eating Micro!

I don’t care what anybody writes about Bill Gates, the Gates Foundation will make a difference in the world, where disease and starvation is killing millions of people who frankly don’t give a toss about pc’s. What does money, oil, fame mean when you have an hour to live?

Oximorron?

looks like the interviewer cut up the tape to re-do his part. jerk.

bill gates will be the most productive philanthropist of all time.

what is going on with this capitalism and the technology topic! doesn’t it mean gate is a bad evil and his company is a evil empire? or gate foundation is a angel group that saving people out of hell?

capitalism will not change not matter what gates saying cause the world can’t be change by a computer guy!

It is easy to criticize those who are in the public eye, and Gates is certainly often there. Many can criticize the way he built his company, but the fact is that his skills took him from a rat pack of 10 developers into the largest software firm in the world. Sure, he used the power of his firm to bring deals that otherwise would have been out of reach, but everyone does this in some way. the only difference between Microsoft and his former competitors is that Bill Gates understood the power he had, and then used it to build his company.

Now focusing on the world’s ills, Gates has simply turned those ills into his competitor and he is bringing his money, his connections, his innovation, and his passion to win to the table.. and I look forward to the day where his efforts bear fruit.

oh, wait a second. they have….kids in Africa are now getting malaria pills and mosquito nets, children in China are getting AIDS meds, researchers all over the world have received funding to tackle both issues, etc etc.

What Gates is preaching is not a new capitalism, or even a new economic model, his is trying to bring economic benefit to the bottom of the pyramid by showing his peers (the people who make decisions that impact the world) that there is good money there.

It is not a new concept by any means, but neither was DOS when he saw the value there.

r
http://www.china-crossroads.com

All you people who are critical of Gates should feel ashamed of yourselves. Gates is one of the richest men in the world, and is stepping away from one of the most successful companies in the world to take on philanthropy full time. You should quit criticizing someone who is devoting his life to improving the lives of others and do something other than sit here and bitch.

china@crossroads - I agree.

Gates success has been to sell defective, time consuming products based upon monopolizing the market –and getting away with it. Microsoft –such buggy viral product, always insisting at great costs that you will have to relearn their antics –or the whole thing will just not work.

Helping the poor ? Why the heck does anyone by himself need to own as much as millions of others ? How about capping individual wealth such as that of Gates at 100 million and redistributing the rest? That will truly get the world economy moving and release unstoppable creative forces that will ring in our new millenium in a positive way ! It will release the poor from their slavedom. Re-boot !!

It’s funny to read the comments on here from so-called capitalists and free marketeers who seem to know very little about how capitalism works to create great wealth. That they actually believe the familiar rhetoric confirms their middle-class status and assures they will never be the next Bill Gates.

I’m sitting in a house that I own, on a computer that I was easily able to afford because I gained employment in an industry and field of my choice because through the knowledge I achieved through the education I was provided as a child. Everyday is a new opportunity for me and the boundaries on my success are limitless. I’m free and I feel great =)

From this position it’s very easy to criticise. I’ve no true idea of the hardships others face. I can only try and imagine but I’ll never really know what it’s like for someone, living in a poor developing nation, with no hope of an education, with a future they don’t control and a government that exists for the benefit of themselves not the people. I have no idea of the true magnitude of how that would crush me, I can only assume.

What Bill Gates is suggesting is giving the opportunity and choice I have in my life, and you in yours, to those people really in need. Whatever argument you use about how Bill Gates got to where he is today, you cannot for a second seriously argue that our form of Capitalism isn’t better to the poor than a cruel dictatorship and no hope of freedom at all.

What we need is to learn how to ‘hold’ money & create a ‘climate’ for money to thrive. For example, a simple Christmas Club Account is a great way to start.. when you make your first deposit, you are immediately putting something on ‘hold’ in your imagination. Also, ‘climate’ is one of Holiness, & is very personal.
In the end we all need to use our strongest imagination in order to make things work like before, because imagination, at its strongest, shows the way to believe in an idea whose time has come- which usually requires some form of effort- to convince yourself & others.

I foresee the end of profit. When all the Corporations have all the money, and no one else has any, there will be no money left to buy their corporate services and products. So, then, there will be no profit to be made.

When Corporations, like GW Bush is now realizing, begin to “Prime the pump” a bit, then profit can be made again. Jesus of Nazareth had the best idea. Sell all you have and give it to the poor. You think, what?!?!? That is an alien concept. But, He’s saying, if you take care of the poor that buys your products, prospertity will be had by all.

I won’t criticize Bill Gates. Despite my many blue screen errors, I like Microsoft Windows. I also like Ubuntu.

Bill Gates will do great things with his foundation.

I see him running for president someday.

Peter Barnes wrote a great book on this subject: Capitalism 3.0. It is available for free in PDF format here: http://capitalism3.com/

It is good to see someone so prominent as Bill talking about these issues. but we still have a long way to go.

Capitalism works. The market itself corrects such problems if certain regulations are kept in check.

If companies aren’t paying people enough, those people are unable to buy the products and services that those companies provide, and everyone suffers. Contrary to popular belief, the rich don’t benefit from the rest of the population being impoverished.

In the US, our problems lie with an out of control credit industry. A high availability of credit - the ability to easily spend money you don’t have - pushes down wages and pushes up prices.

However, in the third world things are not so simple. Their poverty stems from political and, ultimately, cultural flaws (just as bribery is culturally acceptable in Mexico, etc.). And no amount of “new capitalism” or aid money is going to mend a culture.

Bravo to Gates. Many of the comments here floored me with their lack of insight.
First, to suggest Gates is not sincere is nonsensical. His record of philanthropy is clear, focused, and brilliant. Whatever you think of Microsoft’s history of sometimes ruthless corporate dominance you simply are not paying attention to think Gates vision of global prosperity is not genuine. I’d even go so far as to suggest Gates fortune was made largely through the purchases of other affluent people, and now he’s giving most of it to the poor. That is a virtuous cycle if I ever saw one.

Second, the notion that unfettered capitalism is the most expeditious way to feed the poor and improve the infrastructures of poor countries is naive and dangerous. Even Adam Smith noted that types of intervention are needed to preserve the integrity and power of free market forces. In nations that suffer from corrupt or short sighted leadership and cumbersome bureaucracies (that is to say, all nations), we need to bring modified capitalism to bear ASAP if we want to stabilize prosperity and lift the billion+ people who are simply out of the virtuous globalized capital loop. Gates point is that more innovative approaches to capitalism will benefit everybody, and he’s spot on.

Where is capitalism – indeed? Cj is right. There is no true capitalism, anywhere.

Bill Gates proposes a move toward capitalism for the lower 1/3 of the words population. It will be interesting to see how well this works.

His wants businesses and individuals to help people and nations out of poverty and grow into contributing members of a true capitalistic world economy.

So here is my contribution. This is a six part solution to the world’s problems. This outline was developed by determining the root cause of the problem and looking for a path to solve the problem. It identifies what needs to be done.

1. Solving the energy problem is the first step. Declare energy and its infrastructure as an essential necessity of life. Without energy you can’t have true or new capitalism. If you don’t think so then you are part of the problem. Try becoming part of the solution and figure out how to better solve the problem.
a. We need to make energy as inexpensive for the world as possible. By making renewable and ecologically responsible energy in vast quantities to drive the cost of energy down to the lowest possible price.
b. This will reduce the need for non-renewable energy sources like oil, gas, and coal. These will now become resources for products that can satisfy the increased demand that will be generated by the new capitalism.
c. We have the technology to make all the renewable electricity the world needs today and for the foreseeable future. True capitalism will reward those that invest in and develop the new innovations and technologies that will satisfy the ever increasing demand for more energy that will always be present.
d. We need true capitalism to move this technology out into the world and start building the infrastructures that will be needed to support all the new world prosperity that will be created by this one step alone.
e. As the cost of energy comes down, the cost of producing and providing goods and services is reduced. The cost of moving goods is reduced.
f. The cost of goods and services will be based on its value to society and less on its energy content.

2. Solving the water problem is step two. Water and its infrastructure are essential to life. Solving the energy problem will make this possible. Using inexpensive energy to make water available when and where it is needed.

3. Solving the food problem is step three. Food and its infrastructure are essential to life. With energy and water you can produce food wherever you need to.
By driving down the cost of the first three necessities for life – you will develop a foundation and infrastructure that will allow you to solve the remaining problems. The first three solutions are sequential – the next three are not.

You can’t have true capitalism without the infrastructure gained by solving the first three problems. Solving these six problems lays a social foundation needed for people to maximize their potential, focus on satisfying social needs, personal fulfillment and the pursuit of happiness.

Greed and self fulfillment at the expense of others would be the same as steeling – immoral and criminal.

Jobs will be created to satisfy solving all the problems outlined by this solution. Value will return to jobs and positions that have been eliminated by the high cost of energy, food and water. The cost of manufacturing will be normalized by reducing the shipping cost to a world valued price. The price of labor will start to normalize around the word. Prices will start to reflect social value instead of energy value.

Any economy that refuses to solve the first three problems will not be able to compete with the economies that do.

4. Solving the housing problem is step four. Having a place to live is a necessity. Making sure that adequate land and resources are available for the people to live and grow. Goods and services will adjust in cost and value. The cost to produce new energy efficient housing will go down. The cost to renovate and update existing housing will go down. There would be a need for more trade skilled workers to build and maintain housing and buildings. As the cost of housing is reduced and people are able to find jobs that are valued by society – they will be able to afford housing.

5. Solving the medical coverage problem is step five. Access to medical coverage is a necessity. As the cost of living comes down, the cost of good medical coverage should also come down. As more people are competitive employed in the world economy and more jobs are created in the technical, social and medical sectors of the local economies. It will become more expensive to not provide health care.

6. Solving the education availability problem is step six. Education is a necessity. People need to be able to go to school to develop to highest level they can achieve. We need to make education readily available to everyone.

Help define and solve the problems that will make the necessary changes. We each have the ability to make a difference.