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Gates Donates $15M to Preserve Computing History 291
Dan-DAFC writes "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is donating the sum of $15 million to the Computer History Museum in California, according to the BBC. The money is the biggest single gift in the museum's $125 million fund-raising campaign, which is still $50 million short of its target. The funds raised will be used to add more exhibits and educational programs."
WIth just a few minor alterations, mind you. (Score:4, Funny)
Middle Age Clockwork Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Punch Card Programmable Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Analog Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Digital Electronics: Invented by Bill Gates
Atanasoff Berry Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Z3 Universal Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
ENIAC: Invented by Bill Gates
EDSAC: Invented by Bill Gates
Integrated Circuit: Invented by Bill Gates
Personal Computer: Invented by Bill Gates
Internet: Invented via a joint effort from Bill Gates and Al Gore
Or maybe because.... (Score:2)
Re:WIth just a few minor alterations, mind you. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WIth just a few minor alterations, mind you. (Score:2)
In other words... (Score:5, Informative)
Don't take that the wrong way. Whatever his reasons (and I believe them honest), you can't help but respect the Foundation. A quick look shows they've donated over $28B [wikipedia.org] and over $1B each year. That's a lot of money doing a lot of good, and is probably better spent than most Government-sponsered projects.
Re:In other words... (Score:4, Informative)
Still a boatload of cheddar. Hey Bill! Care to give to the "Atario Solvency Fund"?
Re:In other words... (Score:3, Interesting)
Further, the whole thing started at the time he got sued by the govt [wsws.org]. It was originally a PR exercise.
Still, it is doing some good work.
Re:In other words... (Score:3, Interesting)
The offensive idea that you can trust a corporation with the future of society when everybody knows that for the majority
Re:In other words... (Score:5, Funny)
I hear that. Getting down off your high horse just to climb up on the bandwagon does seem like a lot of trouble.
Re:In other words... (Score:2)
Re:In other words... (Score:2)
Re:In other words... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In other words... (Score:2)
Another donor? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Another donor? (Score:2)
That's like oil companies donating money (Score:2, Insightful)
But... (Score:4, Funny)
Batter up: Mr. Steven P. Jobs (Score:3, Funny)
Will Dos be on display? (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyway wonder how a software can be displayed in a museum. Would they have old computer terminals running DOS on which people can play around or would they just have a number of big boards with writeups abbout the software. A museum of
computer history seems to me to an unique challenge for a curator.
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
I think you meant, the first WIMP [wikipedia.org].
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
So, in a way, yes. The rest is just mercury memory and so on.
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:3, Insightful)
No, the IBM PC did that, because it was an open platform, of which any manufacturer could create compatible clones. DOS was just along for the ride. The PC platform succeeded despite DOS, not because of it.
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
Compaq and others cloned the bios, and they would have cloned dos too had microsoft not just conveniently sold it to them.
Re:Will Dos be on display? (Score:2)
Computer History Museum website! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Computer History Museum website! (Score:2, Informative)
Bill gates on computing history (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Bill gates on computing history (Score:2)
FYI, the quote you're thinking of is an urban legend; Gates didn't actually say it. (If anyone here believes otherwise, please cite your sources.)
Re:Bill gates on computing history (Score:2)
BG: "Microsoft was playing a much broader role[laughs] than just doing software for this machine. I mean whether it is the keyboard, the character set, the graphics adapter, or even the memory layouts. I laid out memory so the bottom 640K was general purpose RAM and the upper 384 I reserved for video and ROM, and things like that. That is why they talk about the 640K limit. It is actually a limit, not of the software, in any way, shape, or form, it is the limit of
Re:Bill gates on computing history (Score:2)
You want them to preserve a fictional history?
he never said that... (Score:2)
(Actually, some searching on the internet says the Victor 9000 could do up to 896KB of RAM. No one I used had that much. Perhaps that much RAM cost more than the onwers of the machines I used could afford?)
Re:Bill gates on computing history (Score:2)
"Knife the baby"
"Cut off their air supply"
"F**king Eric Schmidt [Google's chief executive] is a f***ing p****. I'm going to f***ing bury that guy. I have done it before, I will do it again. I'm going to f****ing kill Google."
"Open source advocates are communists"
"Open source is un-american"
"Open source is a cancer"
"If they want to sue me they can get in line"
There are so many gems from the sleazy MS executives, somebody ought to dig them up and make a list.
Re:Bill gates on computing history (Score:2)
Scobleized? (Score:3, Interesting)
well worth a look if you can't make it there yourself.
Re:Scobleized? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
School Donations (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:School Donations (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:School Donations (Score:2)
Have you contacted any charities or foundations for help? Or are you just sitting there whining away doing nothing about the real problem?
Re:School Donations (Score:3, Interesting)
By the way I glad you found a way to circumvent using the software Bill Gates is shoving down your throats. Teach your fellow students the same thing. It would be a shame if your school graduated a generation of children who didn't know anything that wasn't made by MS.
Re:School Donations (Score:3, Interesting)
The crack dealer at the front gate has the same policy. If Bill can make sure that all schools use his software, then a generation grows up that knows nothing but Office on Windows. A great way to cement a monopoly, ne? Better yet, it costs Bill nothing to stamp out some more Windows CDs for schools, but he can claim his generosity against tax at full market value!
Isn't it great to be a s
Re:School Donations (Score:3, Insightful)
Cut me a break. If the Gates Foundation were about being a "crack dealer" for MS products, they wouldn't spend most of their money on providing basic health in third world countries that neither buy not can even
Re:School Donations (Score:3, Insightful)
Then again, this is Slashdot. Perhaps I was being a bit optimistic to expect otherwise.
memory upgrade? (Score:2)
Missing Fellow? (Score:2)
Re:Missing Fellow? (Score:2, Interesting)
good start, now open-source DOS...? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:good start, now open-source DOS...? (Score:2, Funny)
Thats called foresight (Score:2, Funny)
Reserving space before its too late
Re:Thats called foresight (Score:2)
It figures (Score:2)
Fantastic news, sincerely. (Score:4, Informative)
they also hold a number of symposia with very significant speakers. i saw a tim berners-lee there. pretty humbling to see the man who is largely responsible for the invention of the internet. try to catch some of their lectures by people who have made history. it's really enlightening.
Re:Fantastic news, sincerely. (Score:2)
So Al Gore was with him?
Re:Fantastic news, sincerely. (Score:2)
On November 5th and 6th the CHM will host the 8th West Coast Vintage Computer Festival [vintage.org] which is a conference/expo of sorts of vintage computing enthusiasts an
They could buy this massive eBay collection... (Score:3, Interesting)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Classic-Vintage-PC-Collection
(And no I'm not the seller, or related to him/her in any way)
Brits in the south of england may be interested.. (Score:2)
That's actually kind of nice... (Score:3, Insightful)
Turnabout is fair play! (Score:2)
For two decades, every available dollar has been put into making US upgrade to newer and more expensive computers....so now he invests millions to lock some in time? That's kinda ironic.
Give me $15 million and I'll go on eBay... (Score:3, Funny)
I wonder if they have the W.O.P.R. (War Operation Planned Response) computer system?
Do they also have the M-5 from Star Trek? It sounds like something right up Microsoft's alley:
from: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TOS/
The U.S.S. Enterprise is chosen to be the test ship for the new M-5 multitronic computer system, a computer meant to be able to run a starship without human intervention. Also aboard for the test is Dr. Richard Daystrom, the inventor of the M-5 and an obsessive and unstable individual. Initially the M-5 performs well, but when it decides to destroy a robot freighter, Kirk orders the test canceled. The M-5, however, protects itself and makes it impossible for it to be disconnected. The computer becomes increasingly erratic, a result of Dr. Daystrom's decision to impress his engram onto the computer as part of its programming. Starting a scheduled war games drill, M-5 uses the full arsenal of the U.S.S. Enterprise to attack four other Federation starships.
In a last-ditch appeal to the M-5, Kirk makes the computer realize that it has committed the sin of murder. Since Dr. Daystrom would be ethically abhorred at such an act, the M-5 is equally penitent and tries to commit suicide by leaving the U.S.S. Enterprise defenseless against a counter-attack by the remaining other starships. At the last moment, Spock and Scott are able to finish disconnecting the M-5 unit. Kirk keeps the shields down, gambling successfully that the attacking ships would not fire on an undefended vessel. Restoring communications next, the fleet is called off.
Hall of fellows (Score:3, Interesting)
For over a decade, the Computer History Museum has been publicly recognizing individuals of outstanding merit who have contributed to the development of computing. Chosen on the basis of accomplishment--formal education is not a factor--are nominated by a panel composed of Museum staff, industry peers, and former Fellows.
At least 10 years must have elapsed between a specific contribution and an individual's nomination in order to properly assess the historical importance of his/her achievements. The contribution must thus be of a foundational nature, one that has strongly influenced the intellectual, disciplinary, or industrial underpinnings of computing.
Bill gates is not on this list, because he has stifled development more than contributing to it... I imagine part of the terms for this donation will be that he gets listed..
Actually Gates is donating five copies of Windows (Score:2)
He found five copies of Windows which are the only known copies which never crashed during their time in service.
These are so rare that eBay auctioneers have determined their value to be in the millions...
All five are, however, known to be riddled with spyware...
Gates Donates $15M to Preserve Computing History (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Because it's good PR. $15 mil. is pocket change to him, but it buys never-ending advertising in a place sure to only ever be visited by the target audience.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Insightful)
I think not. The visitors to this museum are hardcore computer geeks that are already well aware of their choices and are likely not going to dump their current setups for Microsoft's latest and greatest based on their experiences at this museum.
Microsoft's target audience is corporate executives and average consumers, not enthusiasts
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Yeah -- look, it got him mentioned on slashdot!
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Would donating more money have bought more advertising? Really?
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2, Funny)
mod parent up.. its about time someone on
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know if I'd say that, though. Many people's first experience of computers were with DOS (still Microsoft, I know, but not Windows), Apple II, Apple Macintosh, Commodore 64, Amiga, and probably a plethora of other platforms from the late 70s and 1980s that I forgot to mention. And then we have some old-timers here who were introduced to vacuum tubes, punch cards, IBM mainframes, PDP-11s, and some other ancient stuff.
Computers have been around for about 60 years now, and they have been in Joe Average's workplace for about 25. I'm pretty sure that except for the youngest generation, most people have been exposed to computing prior to Windows dominating the market.
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:3, Insightful)
There is a bit of a difference between being exposed to computing and actually having one in nearly every home. Don't forget that programmers aren't the only ones that make a living with computers. Most (if not all...) of the 3D artists I know, for example, got their start because they learned skills in 3D at home on their PC.
In any event, it's silly to deny that Wi
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know. It would be just as silly to claim that it is just because of Windows. I thought more people had computers, because they have gotten cheaper, and more necessary for work. Windows makes computers more expensive, and not as easy to use.
There is simply not the data to prove whether or not Windows had a significant effect on computer adoption. most people were going t
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
Still not convinced. It's the open IBM platform more than the Windows OS that made the PC take off in popularity and leave the Mac behind, but that was never really a mass home market.
Ten years ago the most basic home PC cost about a grand, and might have as its big s
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
Does that make more sense to you?
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
BBC Micro model B, followed by RiscOS on Acorn Archimedes. I might add that when I moved to high school I switched from RiscOS to Windows 3.1. A painful experience.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2, Informative)
queue and cue are two different words... (Score:2)
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
He's not Hitler by any stretch of the imagination however he should be remembered both for his charity and the methods he used to obtain that money.
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:2)
I realy do wonder just whats going to happen to the heirs to his fortune... i mean realy... does any one have any clue what the Jnr Gates s are going to do with the worlds largest inheritance...
Re:Too late for PR stunts BG (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Only 15 Million?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
kid, I already have a computer history museum (Score:2, Funny)
Maintaining classic pieces in the museum's collection has grown difficult lately, not for lack of funding, but due to a dark and sinister force known as my wife.
Re:Only 15 Million?!?! (Score:2)
Re:Only 15 Million?!?! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Give me a break! (Score:5, Funny)
Specifically, he was quoted as saying, "$15 million should be enough for anybody."
Re:Give me a break! (Score:4, Informative)
Having gone through the museum twice, I can tell you that the collection on display (less than half their actual inventory) is irreplaceable. The very first Apple I, with Woz's signature, is there. Several other artifacts are similarly unique. You may be able to double the inventory, but you would lessen its actual value in the process.
However, the funds are not all for the collection. The Museum also needs operating funds, such as very strict climate control (typical for a museum), building maintenance, insurance, and material expenses for cataloging, handling, and restoration of the artifacts. The material expenses are unique, due to the Museum's unique inventory and the stringent policies regarding restoration.
Re:tax (Score:2)
1) Proportion. If the red cross came to my door asking for donations and I gave them a quarter am I being generous? In a way yes because I could have shut the door but in another way no because I can certainly afford to give a little more generously.
2) What's left. If I have a million dollars to live on for a year and I give 50 thousand dollars to a charity I can still live pretty comfortably on what's left. If a person has 75 thousand and gives away he only has 25 thousand
are you familiar with tax breaks? (Score:2)
So, he gives $15M, and saves the taxes on that $15M. Those taxes could be 40% or so. So he saves $6M in taxes.
But he's still out at least $9M no matter how you slice it.
I'm glad he donated some money. And yeah, I'm sure some MS stuff will show up there, but that's okay.
Now perhaps Google should to pony up. They're only like 200 yards away from the museum.
It'd be great if Steve Jobs would too.
I've been to the museum. Nice place. Really empty. Let's hope for the best.
Re:are you familiar with tax breaks? (Score:2)
Already done. They donated one of their first production servers to the museum a while back.
Re:are you familiar with tax breaks? (Score:2)
Already done. They donated one of their first production servers to the museum a while back.
Jesus, that's pretentious. At least Bill didn't give a copy of every OS they ever made along with the $15 mil. Google hasn't been around long enough to have influenced "computing history".
Re:tax (Score:2)
If you put it in a current passbook savings account that is getting 0.5% interest you will make $75,000.00 a year with it sitting in a do absolutely nothing account. It would be brain dead easy to get 2.5% interest on that size of money so you are looking at not just living a comfortable lifestyle at $75,000.00 but possibly living the rich lifestyle on that $375,000.00 interest.
Fools that get a windfall spend it, I can see spend
Re:tax (Score:2)
Re:$125M?? (Score:2)
Re:15 mil is like 20 bucks to you and me (Score:2)
Now had he made his fortune via proper business ethics and just "being nice" that would be different.
Just because he has acquired a lot of money doesn't mean he's done it in a respectable manner.
I mean, would you applaud a drug dealer or kiddie porn leader who donates to charity?
Tom