'There's No Year That I Didn't Love My Job'
In your new role, how will your public side be different?
Well, we don't have a CES [Consumer Electronics Show] on malaria. So you don't get 50,000 people converging on a city and saying, "Oh, the keynote is coming, Bill is coming to speak on malaria!" With a lot of things we do--new seeds, or new vaccines, things like that--you don't get quite the large gathering of humanity. Now, some of the discussions like my [2007] Harvard commencement speech, that was fantastic. My Davos speech was quite well-attended and covered quite well. So I'll have big venues, but I won't have a rabid user group.
On the positive side there may be fewer attacks on you by Microsoft haters.
The new world is more controversial than the old world. We do family planning. We fund research on crops that will help the poor, not starve them. Some people think that type of droughtproof genetically modified seed causes environmental changes and you shouldn't take science and help the poor people. In terms of controversy, this whole thing about which operating system somebody uses is a pretty silly, limited thing, compared to starvation and death.
How much is this move motivated by responsibility--the message about giving back that your mother left with you--as opposed to doing what is really fun for you?
With the foundation stuff, doing health breakthroughs for the poor has a very broad, beneficial impact, and so those are values that my parents deserve a lot of credit for establishing in me. But the day-to-day part of it is fun, going to India and seeing, "Are they planning these cities, do people get water, where is the health-care thing not working, do vaccines have to be cold, how do you get enough refrigerators, is that expensive, who pays for that, who measures that, when does it work, when does it not work?" I love the fact that I get to meet with scientists who are devoting their lives to these things. So in no sense would I say, "Oh, I'm making a sacrifice to do something my mother told me I ought to do." I am doing something my mother told me I ought to do, but I'm doing it because it's going to be a lot of fun.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: pchip @ 06/27/2008 12:52:16 PM
Comment: What a great man. Thinking about humanity and the world. "In terms of controversy, this whole thing about which operating system somebody uses is a pretty silly, limited thing, compared to starvation and death". It's thinking like that, which separates great minds from the petty ones. Despite all that wealth, all I hear in this man is humility and the desire to do good. I think that is the most amazing thing. I have always been an admirer of BillG and although I'll miss him being at the CES keynote and other tech conventions, I think the rest of the world deserves to know what he can do for them. For all you Gates and MS haters, it's time to acknowledge BillG's great contributions to the industry and now to the rest of the world. Had it not been for MS, we would have still been waiting to get our turn on some stupid behemoth of a mainframe, or paying $5,000 to get an over-hyped crapintosh.
Posted By: pchip @ 06/27/2008 12:51:13 PM
Comment: What a great man. Thinking about humanity and the world. "In terms of controversy, this whole thing about which operating system somebody uses is a pretty silly, limited thing, compared to starvation and death". It's thinking like that, which separates great minds from the petty ones. Despite all that wealth, all I hear in this man is humility and the desire to do good. I think that is the most amazing thing. I have always been an admirer of BillG and although I'll miss him being at the CES keynote and other tech conventions, I think the rest of the world deserves to know what he can do for them. For all you Gates and MS haters, it's time to acknowledge BillG's great contributions to the industry and now to the rest of the world. Had it not been for MS, we would have still been waiting to get our turn on some stupid behemoth of a mainframe, or paying $5,000 to get an over-hyped crapintosh.
Posted By: unwashedmasses @ 06/24/2008 6:06:03 PM
Comment: Dear Bill,
I have no money, so I belittle the wealth you've created.
My pet project isn't funded by you, so I belittle your investments.
I have never created something of great worth, so I don't understand what value a company brings to society.
I haven't been able to rise above my situation, and some of it has to be your fault.
So would you like to meet? Or maybe you're doing something less valuable with your time than reading this..
Sincerely,
Prideful from below