Hacker News Reader

Comment by whyenot | Hacker News Reader

Look at what Gates has done since he loosened his grip at MS. The Gates foundation's global health and global development programs have done tremendously important work to reduce human suffering in the 3rd world. Nothing Gates could do at MS would come even close to what he is doing now to make the world a better place.

Compare to Steve Jobs who knows how to make wonderful shiny devices that cost more than what many in the third world will make in a lifetime, but who has done very little when it comes to philanthropy.

View on HN

I see people write this all the time, and it makes me sick.

Bill Gates decided he made enough money at Microsoft and wanted to pursue other things. That's fantastic, for him and millions of others. Steve Jobs has decided to do what he loves until he can't any more. That's also fantastic, for him and for millions of others. They're both making positive changes for lots and lots of people. Who are you, or anyone else, to criticize that?

I don't see why these two need to be directly compared this way, as if Gates is finally showing his soft side means Jobs should too.

Steve Jobs releasing some new shiny thing that makes the lives of some very affluent people (on the global scale for wealth) magrinally better, doesn't compare, is not even in the same ball park, as ensuring that hundreds of thousands of people don't go blind in central Africa. That is my belief, and of course I understand that not everyone else shares it.

I can appreciate that point of view, though I don't totally agree.

The problem I have is that they're no longer doing the same thing - it's like comparing Bill Gates to Donald Trump. It might have made sense to compare Bill and Steve while they were working in the same field, but why bother any more?

> Steve Jobs releasing some new shiny thing that makes the lives of some very affluent people (on the global scale for wealth) magrinally better, doesn't compare [...]

Aren't all people equal?

My moral compass has always been tilted towards meeting the needs of people before their wants.

That said, I have read some awful things about the Bill Gates foundation so I'm a bit wary of taking his side.

I actually believe that the iPhone will have a _huge_ (indirect) impact on subsaharan Africa, in a manner similar to traditional cellular technology.

Principally, the iPhone seems to have hastened the development of low-cost hand-held medical diagnostic equipment, including digital stethoscopes, portable ultrasound, eye examination, remote disease diagnosis, etc

Sometimes it takes a revolutionary product targeting affluent individuals to help drive innovation for everyone else.

I really hate this comparison for one reason: Gates has a lot more money than Jobs - IIRC the amount of Gates' wealth that he put toward the Gates Foundation is more than Jobs entire net worth.

There's also the matter of whether Jobs isn't pursuing philanthropy or if he's just not doing it publicly.

This point seems to come up every time Bill's name is mentioned these days. It is really funny how he has gone from Darth Vader to Mother Theresa in a few short years. I mean its nice that he is giving all his money away and making a difference, but everyone seems to skip over the fact that his money was made by running an evil empire and being one of the most reviled figures in the computer world.

everyone seems to skip over the fact that his money was made by running an evil empire and being one of the most reviled figures in the computer world

Just because you believe this does not mean everyone else does.

"Evil Empire" you are funny and misinformed.

Exactly. It's been a really effective PR-campaign though.

This isn't about which CEO is the better human being. It's about which management style is more effective.

I didn't claim that it was. I do think it is worth considering all the costs and benefits of Bill G staying at MS. The benefits might be a better Windows. The costs are all the work he wouldn't have time to do outside the technology sphere.

Ah. I don't believe mrshoe was talking about Bill Gates remaining CEO of MS. He was suggesting that Gates should have managed more like Jobs back when he was CEO.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com