From: Tom Whore (tomwhore@inetarena.com)
Date: Tue Oct 31 2000 - 09:58:52 PPET
A biilion here a billion there....yea hes hasnt doen anything with his
cash. Pullthe other one.
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/business/gate19.shtml
'"Let's be serious. Let's be serious," Gates said, sparring with moderator
Scott Shuster , a Business Week editor. "Do people have a clear view of
what it means to live on $1 a day? ... There are things those people
need at that level other than technology. ... About 99 percent of the
benefits of having (a PC) come when you've provided reasonable health and
literacy to the person who's going to sit down and use it."
Asked whether he views the rural poor as a business opportunity for
Microsoft -- another major theme at the conference -- he answered, "I will
admit that in our business forecast, we don't have a significant
percentage of our future growth even coming from people who live on $3 a
day." Then he was off again.
"Do people have a clear view of what it means to live on $1 a day?" he
said, repeating himself. "There's no electricity in that house. None. Is
someone creating computers that don't require electricity?"
"There are solar-powered systems," Shuster ventured.
"No! There are no solar-powered systems for less than $1 a day!" Gates
insisted. "You're buying food, you're trying to stay alive. You live in a
different world!"
Giving up, Shuster replied meekly, "I'm just the moderator."
Gates is an ardent capitalist and technophile who also founded the $17
billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He said the foundation puts 60
percent of its revenues into improving health and 30 percent into
education.
It donated $30 million to a vaccination program in India last month and
has committed more than $1 billion worldwide toward fighting disease and
developing reproductive health care.
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