Noooooooo .......... (5.00 / 2) (#38)
by medusa on Tue Dec 3rd, 2002 at 04:20:24 AM EST
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My friend, you have the wrong version of history on Bill Gates. Bill was never an inventor, he never wrote any significant piece of code; in fact, Paul Allen was the smarter guy at M$. Before Windows(TM), M$ had DOS, which it stole from the guy who invented it. Then, it stole the Windows idea (2D user-interface widget system) from Apple, who stole it from XEROX PARC. XEROX developed many brilliant ideas but never really patented/marketed them; PARC is a research center. On the other hand, Bill, who was really not a geek, was a brilliant marketer (he was also a brilliant thief). So, you see, a "merit" might not be what it seems.
Regarding M$ donation to educational organizations, it was/is mainly a move to counter future profit loss. An education on Windows is needed to make sure future generations use M$ product, and hence keep the profit tap flowing. The reasons I know this are because firstly, it's a standard propaganda technique; secondly, M$ never gave much donations before open source movement came about (there was FSF where GNU originated but they never got a working OS); and thirdly, well, I was a hard-core UNIX user; I've fooled around with variant UNIX versions on HP, IBM, SGI, etc. for the past 11 years.
And another thing--which was my main point in my previous comment--is, the concept of "meritocracy" is continuously evolving, and is actually a social construct. For example, the "geek" term in mid-90s was different from today's term, and whether they should be regarded highly depends on the current social structure. Another example is famous people, film stars, sport players, etc. The reason they are famous is because the people choose them to be famous (if nobody watches them, they aren't gonna be paid a lot), and how the people choose can be manipulated by, for example, the entertainment industry--the industry can rip a lot of profits by driving people to watch/buy certain stuff.
So merits are dependent on how societies view them. Different society values different thing. Which is one reason why certain type of globalizations are not good. However, one can also be a thief and people will view them as god.
About the Africa thing, well, I was just thinking about the irony of fate and life. But I AM the Ultimate Cynic. Because I don't trust human beings. One reason I never base my thought on humanity problem solution on human beings. Hahaha ...
About trolls on Slashdot, I'll tell you one thing. The trolls on Kuro5hin at this point in time is worse than the trolls on Slashdot when Kuro5hin splitted from Slashdot--around 97, I think. I've been Slashdot and Kuro5hin lurkers before all today's geeks and trolls came on board. Actually I just recently posted because I felt like disrupting the right-wing groups on Kuro5hin, but maybe it's too late now.
I feel old. Capital wouldn't solve a thing. I think, a good night sleep will.
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