On Saturday 02 Jul 2005 20:50, Martyn wrote: > I didn't catch his entire "speech", but to me, it just gets my goat that > someone whos company spends such an amount on advertising products, > spreading FUD about Free alternatives to expensive software which keeps > people in poverty or piracy is claiming to be against poverty.
It was quite short, but although the message was one of general support for Live8 I did find the comment "if you give people the solutions, they will use them" (or something like that) a bit strange, given the extent to which Microsoft have tried to limit solutions. But I suppose I shouldn't let personal prejudice blind me to the fact that a captain of industry like Gates might be able to swing things a bit in the US (and possibly gain an entree for his company with Third World leaders, but I'm sure that's not his main aim). > I can appreciate that the big names lending their support might impact > on the G8, but to me it just reeks of a publicity stunt to make people > think that M$ actually have morals. For me, it actually devalued Live8 a bit, in the sense that if the organisers haven't bothered to research this sort of thing (and speak to countries like Brazil), it makes you wonder how well-founded some of their other points are. In particular, the emphasis on procuring a level playing-field in trade, etc, seems to sit oddly with support from Mr Gates. There's not much point saying this, however, since you will probably be accused of whinging. -- Pob hwyl / Best wishes Kevin Donnelly _______________________________________________ Fsfe-uk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-uk
