Bill Gates is intelligent and educated. If he knows evil is wrong, why is he?

[lockecole]

Bill Gates is intelligent and educated. If he knows evil is wrong, why does he?

If people much more intelligent and educated than myself choose to do evil, they must have a good reason to do it. What do you think is this reason?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Why do you think Gates is evil?

 

[Lisa!]

You stole my question,Ivan!

 

[Pengwuino]

Why do you think Gates is evil?

Maybe this has to do with the new Microsoft .Net 2006 Death Ray program

 

[moose]

So wait, are you attacking Capitalism or what?

 

[yourdadonapogostick]

MS is crap...especially IE...

is that it?

 

[arildno]

Hmm..he makes a mockery out of ordinary people's sensibilities by wearing that awful pair of glasses of his?

 

[neurocomp2003]

$$$ Power mmmm watching other people squirm because of your products.

 

[Pengwuino]

Blame the people who buy it then.

And as far as people squirming, people are idiots. When most people walk up to a computer, all concepts of common sense depart the brain. People seem to forget computers need to be plugged in and that printers don't work simply because they are placed close to a computer.

 

[zoobyshoe]

And as far as people squirming, people are idiots. When most people walk up to a computer, all concepts of common sense depart the brain. People seem to forget computers need to be plugged in and that printers don't work simply because they are placed close to a computer.

My God! That's it! Thanks, Penguino!
Gotta go do some printing now...

 

[Pengwuino]

lol i went to this website where people contribute their "computer stupidities". There were about 2 dozen instances where they were trying to help people and the problem ended up being that they didnt know their computer had to be plugged in.

There were also a few "my printer has to be plugged into the computer?" cases. Some thought they hooked up the tower to a TV (yah you technically can do it but there computer wasnt equipped for that). Some people, as cliche as it sounds, thought the cd-rom was a cupholder.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Some people, as cliche as it sounds, thought the cd-rom was a cupholder.

Cd-rom? Cd...rom...? Not a cup...?? Omygod!

 

[lwymarie]

Bill Gates... hmm... as far as i know, not many geniuses are interested in money.
So he belongs to a special type ;)

 

[BicycleTree]

Blame the people who buy it then.

If Gates hadn't produced the poor software, people wouldn't buy it. If people's nature changed and they became interested enough in buying prepackaged software to research alternatives carefully, then people might not buy it.

Now, which is the more plausible change--a change in the nature of millions of people or a change in how Microsoft produced software? Clearly if Microsoft's software is bad, then it's much more sensible to blame Microsoft than to blame millions of people who act predictably.

 

[Smurf]

And should we also, then, blame slaves for being slaves, and not the slavers for enslaving them?

Who's fault is it really? The exploited, for being weak, or the exploiter, for being corrupt?

 

[the_truth]

People can do things which are evil in the full knowledge that what they are doing is evil. They simply don't care.

...

I cannot believe where this conversation has progressed everyone seems to be peddling the obvious and the answer is so simple, also the title is rather silly..

 

[devil-fire]

microsft is known for cutting corners where ever they can to save costs, including pushing unsecure products out the door. this wouldn't be so bad if the general public knew more about computers and would judge for themselves about what's worth buying but as said above, a lot of people are spending money on products they know nothing about. microsoft has been all to happy to take advantage of this market

thats just reasoning iv been givin as to why bill gates is evil

 

[Pengwuino]

microsft is known for cutting corners where ever they can to save costs, including pushing unsecure products out the door. this wouldn't be so bad if the general public knew more about computers and would judge for themselves about what's worth buying but as said above, a lot of people are spending money on products they know nothing about. microsoft has been all to happy to take advantage of this market

thats just reasoning iv been givin as to why bill gates is evil

How does that make bill gates evil? He makes a product, people buy it and don't care, and he's evil? Is he putting a gun to their heads and say "buy this or die"? Thats like saying the creator of McDonalds or Burger King are evil because their food is bad to eat in large amounts.

 

[brewnog]

How does that make bill gates evil? He makes a product, people buy it and don't care, and he's evil? Is he putting a gun to their heads and say "buy this or die"? Thats like saying the creator of McDonalds or Burger King are evil because their food is bad to eat in large amounts.

Absolutely. If people can't be bothered to research a product before they buy it, then more fool them.

My Citroen doesn't have nearly the build quality of a BMW, but you don't see Citroen owners gathering in their masses around the factory shouting "Citroen, you supplied me with a car which isn't as good as a BMW, therefore you're evil!"

 

[Pengwuino]

And should we also, then, blame slaves for being slaves, and not the slavers for enslaving them?

Whoa whoa whoa, horrible analogy. Slaves were forced, AT GUNPOINT, to be slaves. Bill gates does not normally go out and put up guns to your typical soccer mom and demand she buy windows xp.

 

[FredGarvin]

microsft is known for cutting corners where ever they can to save costs, including pushing unsecure products out the door. this wouldn't be so bad if the general public knew more about computers and would judge for themselves about what's worth buying but as said above, a lot of people are spending money on products they know nothing about. microsoft has been all to happy to take advantage of this market

thats just reasoning iv been givin as to why bill gates is evil

The car companies have been doing that for decades. Do you think every car that rolls off the line anywhere is perfect? Do you really think that a car maker would not hold back on items to make a car better to cut costs?

I am failing to see the point here.

 

[fileen]

lets look at this morally. I don't know much about computers or bill gates, but if what you say is true, then he (or his company) takes part in things which he knows to be wrong. he does this to gain (Im assuming $$) for himself. though evil is a rather strong word, to me this is really wrong and doesn't show very good character. I am thinking rather simply on this. if you do something even if you know its wrong.. well that tells me that your not a good person. obviously I can't judge bill gates. I've never met him. I know he is very very rich, but I also know that he gives to a LOT of charities. he makes lots of money, but he gives lots too. as far as people being stupid for not investigating things before they buy them, its rather difficult to research everything all the time. someone like me who only uses their computer for msn, e-mail, pf, and solitair can't be expected to know all about computers. some peoples brains just can't organize that kind of information. it doesn't mean they deserve to be ripped off or mistreated. I don't like sneaky people. I don't like it when innocent people are taken advantage of. its wrong.

 

[brewnog]

lets look at this morally. I don't know much about computers or bill gates, but if what you say is true, then he (or his company) takes part in things which he knows to be wrong. he does this to gain (Im assuming $$) for himself. though evil is a rather strong word, to me this is really wrong and doesn't show very good character.

So in this manner, how is Gates any different from the CEO/Chairman of any other large, successful company? I don't see why Gates keeps being singled out for being "evil".

as far as people being stupid for not investigating things before they buy them, its rather difficult to research everything all the time. someone like me who only uses their computer for msn, e-mail, pf, and solitair can't be expected to know all about computers. some peoples brains just can't organize that kind of information.

And for these people, MS products are generally fine! But I'll entertain this one, too.

This issue is not unique to computers.
Cars, electronics, home appliances, new houses, pretty much anything you can pay money for has been made via a series of compromises. Sometimes, the morals of these compromises are questionable; my car isn't nearly as good in a crash as a massive Jaguar, but if it had been made any differently then its cost would have prohibited its manufacture, and nobody would buy one. Most people buying a car don't know the first thing about crashworthiness tests, they buy it because they like the colour, or because it's got air con, or whatever.

I've still not seen any evidence to suggest that Gates is evil.

 

[BicycleTree]

Yeah, Gates isn't evil--after all look at his charity donations. Just apparently he was somewhat immoral with respect to directing his company.

Saying "other executives do it too" doesn't excuse him however. He wasn't making wise design compromises in the interest of a better product.

 

[FredGarvin]

it doesn't mean they deserve to be ripped off or mistreated. I don't like sneaky people. I don't like it when innocent people are taken advantage of. its wrong.

Please point out where Bill Gates has taken advantage of people. You have a leg to stand on if you talk about his business dealings with other companies, but to say that Bill or MS rip people off intentionally is completely unfounded.

I defy anyone who has ever had anything to do with a production environment to tell me that they have never seen a product go out the door that wasn't perfect or right. Most of the time it is in the effort to meet deadlines and avoid delay costs. MANY companies will put out a known defective product under the guise that it can be fixed later. At least with MS you go out and download something and you're usually taken care of.

 

[brewnog]

I defy anyone who has ever had anything to do with a production environment to tell me that they have never seen a product go out the door that wasn't perfect or right. Most of the time it is in the effort to meet deadlines and avoid delay costs. MANY companies will put out a known defective product under the guise that it can be fixed later. At least with MS you go out and download something and you're usually taken care of.

Indeed, all consumer products have to be built down to a price. If companies built completely perfect products which were far better than their competition, with no risk of faults, they would be so ridiculously expensive that nobody would buy them. Designers will use spot welds instead of bolts, mild steel instead of stainless, plastic fixings instead of metal ones, with the full awareness that these will compromise the quality and life expectancy of the product. Sceptics will say that this is done such that the product will fail outside of its warranty, and the customer will have to buy a new one. In reality, tight pricing competition dictates that compromises must be made to keep the cost of manufacture down.

I fail to see why computer software is any different.

 

[BicycleTree]

Designers will use spot welds instead of bolts, mild steel instead of stainless, plastic fixings instead of metal ones, with the full awareness that these will compromise the quality and life expectancy of the product. Sceptics will say that this is done such that the product will fail outside of its warranty, and the customer will have to buy a new one. In reality, tight pricing competition dictates that compromises must be made to keep the cost of manufacture down.

If the products had much greater longevity, they could be priced higher. Tiny savings like using welds instead of bolts are only going to save a few dollars on the cost of production even in a large product. What would make you think that profits from customers replacing broken products is not a force influencing design strategy?

 

[brewnog]

They wouldn't set the price so high that nobody would buy them.

That's the thing. It's impossible to guarantee that anything other than an incredibly simple product will not have faults. The more you try and approach perfection, the more the cost of production soars, and it goes way past the point where the company can profit from the sale of its goods.

If the products had much greater longevity, they could be priced higher.

Yes, this is true. But this is one of the reasons why certain companys' products have better reviews, and a better reputation, than others. This is one of the (but not the only) reasons why a Denon CD player costs more than a brand you've never heard of.

Tiny savings like using welds instead of bolts are only going to save a few dollars on the cost of production even in a large product.

You'd be very surprised here. It's not just the cost of bolts, it's the cost of fastening them.

What would make you think that profits from customers replacing broken products is not a force influencing design strategy?

I dare say that sadly, sometimes it is. However, many companies maintain that a reputation for reliability is more valuable than being able to sell the customer the same product, over and over again. If you've bought a product which has failed prematurely, what are the chances you're going to buy the same company when you replace it?

 

[Andy]

I think the reason bill gates is evil is because he is stupidly rich, successful and ultimately he's american. Doesnt matter that he has put 20 billion of his own dollars towards charities in africa, or so i heard neway.

 

[BicycleTree]

That's the thing. It's impossible to guarantee that anything other than an incredibly simple product will not have faults. The more you try and approach perfection, the more the cost of production soars, and it goes way past the point where the company can profit from the sale of its goods.

Yeah, that was a misunderstanding that I edited out by the time you posted.

Yes, this is true. But this is one of the reasons why certain companys' products have better reviews, and a better reputation, than others. This is one of the (but not the only) reasons why a Denon CD player costs more than a brand you've never heard of.

I agree with everything.

You'd be very surprised here. It's not just the cost of bolts, it's the cost of fastening them.

Come on--a few cents a bolt, a couple seconds for a machine to fasten it.

I dare say that sadly, sometimes it is. However, many companies maintain that a reputation for reliability is more valuable than being able to sell the customer the same product, over and over again. If you've bought a product which has failed prematurely, what are the chances you're going to buy the same company when you replace it?

If most companies follow the strategy of producing to sell again when the product breaks, then you wouldn't not buy again from the same manufacturer just because your product wears out earlier than the company could have made it to. The product would be wearing out at a time you've come to accept as normal.