As but one more piece of testamentary evidence that the old guard at Microsoft needs to be shown the door, Bill Gates has demonstrated conclusively that he has exactly zero understanding of open source, or at least zero desire to have an intelligent discussion about it. Speaking to a pharmaceutical industry group, Bill Gates took time out to utter irrelevancies and inaccuracies about the GNU General Public License:
There's free software and then there's open source," he suggested, noting that Microsoft gives away its software in developing countries [largely in response to open source, I might add]. With open source software, on the other hand, "there is this thing called the GPL, which we disagree with." Open source, he said, creates a license "so that nobody can ever improve the software," he claimed, bemoaning the squandered opportunity for jobs and business.
Ahem. It's the exact opposite, Mr. Gates. 100% the exact opposite.
... Read moreI have to admit that I found the irony stifling in this CNET article on Bill Gates and his efforts to bring compassion for the poor to capitalism. Gates, who for years resisted pricing Microsoft's software lower for developing markets has suddenly become a big believer in helping the poor.
In every industry, Gates said, businesses need to start thinking about how they can use some of their energy and resources, say 6 percent, to expand their reach to poorer segments either in their own country, or globally. Food companies need to focus on micronutrients, while drug companies should devote some energy to diseases that affect largely the poor, such as malaria and tuberculosis.
But not in software, apparently. It wasn't until 2004 that Microsoft - more in response to the need to fight Linux and piracy than any increase in the size of its heart - started to lower its pricing for markets like Indonesia. Until that point Microsoft continued to price its software above the annual wages of people in these developing markets.
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Bill Gates welcomed the world to a new breed of "kinder capitalism" at Davos this week. Conveniently forgetting his past, Mr. Gates declared:
We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.
We have. It's called open source. Open source is "kinder" by design, no matter how capitalistically/self-interestedly it is used. Here's why:
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