Sunday, June 29, 2008

What Are We Thanking Bill Gates For?

Since Bill Gates retirement from his full-time job at Microsoft, I read a few articles praising him for his role in making PC a commodity today among others.

Indeed, rise of Microsoft caused PC sales to increased significantly to become affordable enough to reach billions today but so did access to human right organisations and other pro-justice groups is easier today as a result of horrific events of the past. Maybe I'm exaggerating here but I hardly think people thank cruel kings and dictators for causing revolutions to form or inhuman employers for making people cry for unions.

My point here is not to say that Bill Gates is just as evil as Saddam Husein but I like to question his motivations that helped Microsoft to become evil monopoly. Did he really wanted PC to reach is every classroom in the world just for the sake of education? Or was this the plan he engineered to earn billions?

In my opinion, poeple's motivations are far more important than simply the result of their actions. You might disagree but computers becoming a part of everyday life was inevitable with or without Microsoft. Well, no doubt that it could be a bit slower but we would get there in a healthier environment.

Bill Gates indeed was the reason for many changes but like invention of nuclear weapons, changes were natural consequences and shouldn't be credited to those who don't deserve them.

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