Talk:Bill Gates/Archive 4
This is an archive of past discussions about Bill Gates. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 | Archive 2 | Archive 3 | Archive 4 | Archive 5 | Archive 6 | Archive 7 |
Arrest for speeding?
Just wondering... why is there no reference in this article to Bill Gates' arrest for speeding many years ago? Or did I just glance over and fail to see this?
Fix this please
"Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of salary US$616,667, and US$350,000 bonus totalling US$966,667" "salary of salary"??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.115.28.148 (talk) 05:51, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
Bill Gates is a Knight
Bill Gates was knighted ages ago. As an American citizen I fully understand he is prohibted from using the title "Sir" but he is entitled to put the letters KBE after his name. Why havent they been added?? --Camaeron (talk) 17:42, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
Why can't he use the title 'Sir'?. sorry if i sound stupid but i really don't know. TranscendantX (talk) 09:01, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
Firstly (as far as I know) there is a law in the USA forbidding US-American citizens to hold any titles of royalty or nobility and secondly: He is not a subject of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (the person who knighted him). Should he later choose to become a subject of Her Majesty (ie obtain a British,Canadian, Australian...pasport) he would be able to use the title Sir. See the Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan was appointed a KBE in 1997, and since taking dual British and Irish nationality was made a substantiative member in 2005 and is now entitled to use the name "Sir Terry Wogan". --Camaeron (talk) 19:00, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
Right I'm just going to add it now as noone has said anything. Besides I checked out S. Spielberg and he uses KBE on his page. --Camaeron (talk) 14:30, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
- This has already been discussed here, here, here, here, here, and here. The consensus is to follow WP:NCNT by mentioning the award without using the post-nominal. WillOakland (talk) 08:50, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
Irrelavant Reference
In the summary of the article (the very first few paragraphs) includes and "launch" advertisement from Apple, which is totally unrelated to this topic. Please remove the adverting statement.
The first paragraph of this article states that Bill Gates invented the computer. This is completely false. Please fix. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.108.224.81 (talk) 21:47, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
"Most firsthand accounts bill gates sucks of these meetings portray him as hostile, berating managers for perceived holes in their business strategies or their proposals which place the company's long-term interests at risk.[13][39][40]"
Reference [13] and [39] are not supportive of the claim before them. For one thing reference [13] is an interview with Playboy and not a business discussion with managers. For another, [13] and [39] portray him in a mixed if not strictly neutral light, not particularly concentrating on his hostile personality.
In light of this please delete reference to [13] and [39] because they are irrelevant.
Also, "Most" is POV. Has the writer of this investigated ALL firsthand accounts? I mean come on. Change it to "Certain", or some more neutral term.
- Just to put some closure on this: yes, every writer who has ever written about Gates's behavior in product meetings has described him that way. In addition to the 5 sources given (all of which are relevant, read them carefully) there is also the account in Joel on Software, and this blog article by Tom Evslin, and there was also an report that Barbara Walters did for 20/20 sometime around 1998. Why do they all describe him as hostile and confrontational in meetings? Because he is. Therefore there is no POV issue. WillOakland (talk) 08:49, 9 March 2008 (UTC)
I, by rite of birth, challenge William Gates Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire to a joust! slap
Upon victory I will take the insignia and give tribute when there is King Charles.
Gates's wealth briefly surpassed $100 billion causing him to be referred to in the media as a "centibillionaire"
-G he has 48 billion dolars.
was he really ever worth $100 billion including his gifts? when they refer to his wealth they should include the big gifts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Whitefriedrice (talk • contribs) 08:19, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
WOW MAN!! Can you imagine being his son or daughter? You could practically have everything you ever wanted. Games, money, technology. TranscendantX (talk) 09:04, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
There is no cult of personality at the software giant!
The frontpage of Microsoft.com right now prominently features a young age black-and-white photo of his majesty William Henry Gates III, Emperor of the Galaxy, Order of Merlin first grade, BCE, PhD, MSDN, DoA. Flock to the above named shrine and pay your reveration duly! 82.131.210.162 08:45, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
- The talk pages are for discussions regarding improvements to the article. Please take this irrelevant rant elsewhere. Thanks. Phiwum 13:03, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Dude what does this have to do with Bill gates, ??, oh and by the way its order of merlin first CLASS
Wealth
A while ago I read that those in the know once thought Gates would probably be the worlds first trillionaire. If he hadn't spent/given away any money and hadn't listed Microsoft on the stockmarket, how close would he have come? Are there any statistics? Bobbacon 11:48, 16 May 2007 (UTC)its true chinese ninjas came out and attacked him again
- At its all-time peak, Microsoft was valued at $574B. Microsoft continually issued new shares to cover options, so if Gates had never sold a single share his ownership would still have declined significantly from the original 60%. Gazpacho
Dyslexia
Is it at all true about Gates having dyslexia, if so should this be mentioned. 82.23.202.5 22:03, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, it isn't true. Gazpacho
Atheist or religious person?
some people say bill gates is an atheist, and some people say bill gates is a believing christian. only one of these 2 possibilities can be true. atheists often get attacked by religious people, they get told that atheists have no values and are dangerous/evil, and then often bill gates is used to defend atheism because bill gates has no religion and still donates billions for charity. so, no matter if he really is an atheist or if he is a believing christian, this has to be looked up and should be put into the article. - simon guggenberger, munich 87.174.157.42 13:53, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
edit: i looked it up, there are some quotes that imply that he is an agnostic. but the sources of these quotes are not reliable enough to meet wikipedia standarts, so i dont know what to do about it. 87.174.157.42 17:45, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Gates was interviewed November 1995 on PBS by David Frost. Below is the transcript with minor edits.
Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount? Gates: I don't. I'm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something I'm a huge believer in. There's a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it can have a very very positive impact. Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, you'd say you don't know? Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I don't know if there's a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.
Since an atheist is a person who is 'without belief' in a higher power, agnostics are now considered atheist. Gates describes himself as an "agnostic/atheist" - he lacks belief based on a lack of knowledge.
- Wrong. I am an agnostic, not an atheist. There is a big difference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.148.97.160 (talk) 19:53, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
- According to comedian Dana Carvey, Gates has sold his soul to the devil to become the richest man in the world, on the downside, he has to live with the face of a turtle. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.180.120.238 (talk) 09:45, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
As a seer
The Seattle P-I is running an article here about how accurate are Gates' predictions on future technology. Since it seems Gates does seem to make a considerable amount of predictions, it seems to me the material should go in the article. Does anyone have an idea of where it could go? hateless 03:25, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
- What a load of crap! Some years ago Billy Boy announced the PC would be dead in favour of smart phones, fax-machines and tv-sets, all running on windows. The center point of his "vision" was the idea to cash in for every single appliance running in a household or office. But his plan backfired and so Billy flocked to the idea of the PC as a media center. For predictions check what his rivals in the market are already having in the pipeline and be sure, that MS is to copy it the very next year (of course announced by their "seer" as the latest improvment in technology). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.180.120.238 (talk) 09:58, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
Philantropist
Is it accurate to call Bill Gates a philantropist when on the one hand donates money to charity but on the other hand fights free software fiercely? --Taraborn 21:46, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
Yes. Gazpacho 09:10, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
If I may add to that answer, any capitalist must fight competition to their products. Only by doing so can they ensure significant profits. While the US government gives relatively little foreign aid, the United States is by far the largest source of private philanthropy, only possible because of people like Mr. Gates. 68.228.75.6 19:11, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
Bill Gates in no longer richest man in the world..
Recent news has shown that Ingvar Kamprad is now richer than bill gates. If you dont belive me look it up on google. Its a fact. So can someone edit Bill Gates page as i dont know how to. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Camz2cool (talk • contribs) 17:23, May 25, 2007
- The Ingvar Kamprad article lists him as 4th richest in the world according to Forbes. Do you have a more recent source? The rule of thumb is that those wishing to change information need to find the source, not those wishing to keep it the same. Leebo T/C 17:24, 25 May 2007 (UTC)
The Kamprad claim has been around for a few years now and is pretty questionable. Since Kamprad shelters IKEA through a complex tax avoidance scheme, it is difficult to determine just how much of the company he owns and how much that is worth. The claim that Kamprad is worth more than Gates is based on assuming that he owns all the assets of the company.[1] Gazpacho 09:05, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
- I heard that Bill Gates had more than 58,000,000,000 USD, with something like 7?,000,000,000 USD. Could that be true? Bill Gates might be the man with the most money, but heads of some countries (kings, prime ministers, presidents etc...), have TRILLIONS of dollars (or pounds, euros etc...), but it doesn't mean it is theirs, it only means they may use it for their country. androo123 14:00, 7 January 2008 (EST)
What about Bill Gates ads?
Like the Coke commercial.
what the heack is doing in here???????Lone Fox the last of the foxes 13:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
Who do you thing you are? Bill Gates also appears in commercials. What's wrong with that?
This is a 'Good Article'?
I don't think so. In fact, it's quite a mess. Among other things, much of the text is placed under the wrong headings. The flow of the language is quite poor. Please clean this up. Fabualia 02:10, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
- To be fair to those of us here who have actually done something to this article, it is a *lot* better than it was a year ago. Why can't you help? — Wackymacs 18:48, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
- I am interested in helping, but this is a protected article and I apparently don't have the required credential to contribute. I hope my comment was not taken as a criticism of the contributors. Yet, I will say that this article is difficult to read. It is informative, but it is not cohesive or organized. From looking over the history, it seems as though so much attention was paid to the inclusion/exclusion of very minor details that focus was lost on whether the remaining article is readable or not. Fabualia 20:04, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
- Any specific suggestions you can make? Maybe you could do a peer review for us and point out the exact sentences/paragraphs that stick out as being bad. — Wackymacs 20:19, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
- I am interested in helping, but this is a protected article and I apparently don't have the required credential to contribute. I hope my comment was not taken as a criticism of the contributors. Yet, I will say that this article is difficult to read. It is informative, but it is not cohesive or organized. From looking over the history, it seems as though so much attention was paid to the inclusion/exclusion of very minor details that focus was lost on whether the remaining article is readable or not. Fabualia 20:04, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
so true so trueLone Fox the last of the foxes 13:43, 8 June 2007 (UTC)
why doesn't this article mention that bill allegedly borrowed $50,000 from his father to buy the rights to DOS ??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Whitefriedrice (talk • contribs) 08:26, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
Criticism and Controversy
This article could probably use a single section devoted to this. After all, even Oprah has one. I suspect that this page would benefit from this kind of a section. Googlyeyesultra 22:08, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
- There is already a Criticism of Microsoft article. Is there much sourced criticism of Gates that isn't just personifying Microsoft? Gazpacho 19:58, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
- There is probably some relevant to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation but that should be covered in that article IMHO (where some already is). So you're probably right, I don't think there is need for criticism of Bill Gates at this time. However we probably should mentiont the criticism of Microsoft in slightly more detail in this article. Currently we only mention his business practices have been criticised without any discussion at all in the article. We should mention it briefly in the article and with main articles as criticism of Microsoft Nil Einne 12:14, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Arrest
What was Bill gates arrested for as it does not seem to say in the article, there is just a photo.
- The arrest was a traffic violation and Bill did not have ID card that is why he was arrested.
- According to Smoking Gun, the details are not clear. (Also, please sign your posts with four tildes!) Phiwum 12:57, 25 July 2007 (UTC)
Why would he need an ID Card. His Bill Gates for gods sake. What kind of idiot wouldn't know him? TranscendantX (talk) 09:07, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
- It was a long time ago, not many people new him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.232.56.244 (talk) 21:36, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
Scottish American?
Does anyone know if bill gates is mostly of Scottish ancestry?
- Doesn't seem to be [2] Nil Einne 11:15, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
- Oh my word, look at all those dozens and dozens of English surnames going back many generations. I thought everyone in America was descended from the Irish? Looks like he just might be one of the handful of Americans who actually shares some blood with those two or three hundred settlers and immigrants who came from Blighty - along with the 50-60 million Irish settlers..... [/sarcasm] 62.25.106.209 18:19, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
He's no longer first
He was surpassed by Carlos Slim. See [3] . 193.6.17.174 09:41, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
- I second that 67.100.76.93 21:26, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
- Let's just note in the article that.. "In some media, it has been said that Carlos Slim has surpass the wealth of Bill Gates." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yes24 (talk • contribs) 01:30, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
- Carlos Slim Helu surpassed Bill Gates in wealth according to an online Mexican financial publication called Sentido Común. Forbes still maintains that Bill Gates is the richest. I have edited the introductory paragraph in the article to reflect this. --Pavithran 13:24, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
- I am sure that some "neutral" language can be used to express the idea that Gates is *at the moment* one of the richest men, if not the richest. However, I find that going into too much detail in the intro paragraph makes that section too heavy. That section should give a simple summary of the article. The discussion and references to information regarding Gates comparative wealth can be better presented in a section. That way, if a reader is not really interested in that area, they can skip it easily. Jsarmi 19:53, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
I just read the new 2008 Forbes list of the richest men in the world, they are as follows:
1. Warren Buffet $62 billion
2. Carlos Slim Helú 60 billion
3. Bill Gates 58 billion
7:43 pm(GMT-4), March 5, 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.167.210.217 (talk) 23:43, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
Slanted pro-Bill
Periodically, it is helpful to note that the article about "Bill Gates" has been edited to maintain a pro-Bill slant, and balanced information has been removed that questions Bill's impact. The article beams and glows, "Although he is widely admired,[6][7][8] his business tactics have been criticized as anti-competitive and in some instances ruled as such in court." However, many strongly negative reports exist about Bill Gates. In fact, a search of Internet sources reveals much negative analysis as follows:
- He promoted MS-DOS to IBM, which was based on a low-quality system called Q-DOS "Quick and Dirty Operating System";
- He proclaimed, "The Internet is a passing fad" (in 1995);
- He proclaimed, "Spam will be a thing of the past in 2 years";
- He has been described as a "software pirate" (numerous sources).
Some of his opinions are so disliked that websites post comments such as "I wish Bill Gates would stop making predictions." However, the current Wikipedia article has been edited to remove any statements that question his intelligence or debate his contributions to computer technology. This article should have a banner that the "neutrality of contents are disputed" with a note stating, "In 2007 Microsoft was caught paying people to slant Wikipedia articles" and cite several sources, including:
- "Microsoft Busted For Paid Wikipedia ‘Spamming’" by Loren Baker, Search Engine Journal.
This talk page is archived periodically, but the topic of "Slanted" should be re-added as a continually current issue to alert concerned readers. Thank you. =209.214.44.19 05:54, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
- That's a very novel suggestion, but how about you just explain how you think the article should be different, and based on what reliable sources? You'll note the article you mention says nothing about the Bill Gates article. Gazpacho 02:50, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
- Gates also has publically stated he wants more foreign workers allowed into the United States due to the "shortage" of qualified American workers. Some of his views put him right there as a globalist, ironic since some anti-globalists from his Seattle area helped disrupt the 1999 WTO meeting held in Seattle. WordsExpert 21:44, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
- Because some Seattle folks are anti-globalist, it's "ironic" that Gates wants to allow more foreign workers in the US? Is he supposed to agree with every opinion found in Seattle? Phiwum (talk) 18:11, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
Awards and recognition
The "Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation" for 2006 is listed twice in this section. The first time the award title is in Spanish. I'd recommend someone with access removing the first version.
Gates and China article in recent Fortune magazine.
It would be great if someone summarized what Bill Gates's visit to China is about.72.161.99.120 05:07, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
How much does he have?
NYTimes claims he's worth 82 billion
source: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/business/20070715_GILDED_GRAPHIC.html#
- That article's source is a book that was last updated in 1996. Gazpacho 18:05, 16 July 2007 (UTC)
Protected?
Why is this article protected? Glancing at the history, I'm not seeing many vandalisms. There are plenty of articles that get lots of regular vandalism but which are also not protected (e.g. L. Ron Hubbard. The vandalism is removed quickly and new or unregistered users add necessary citations and information easily and are encouraged to continue. Perhaps I'm missing something, but if neither the history nor the talk page reveal any real problem, then I think it should be unprotected.--Heyitspeter 19:24, 19 July 2007 (UTC)
- When this page has been unprotected, the vandalism has quickly (i.e. within a week) increased to 25 per day. Gates is much better-known than Hubbard, particularly among internet nerds who come here to vandalize. Keep this in mind in deciding whether to request unprotection. Gazpacho 08:31, 20 July 2007 (UTC)
- We've dropped it for now. Let me know if vandalism levels rise again. GRBerry 21:52, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
There was a Very VERY big vandalism some time ago, where bill gate's photo was altered -(hehe, that guy had nerve). Hence this article is protected —Preceding unsigned comment added by Addy-g-indahouse (talk • contribs) 12:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
I added a fact-based paragraph with references about what Forbes says
I added a brief paragraph at the beginning that talks about how Forbes still says Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. Forbes also points out tht they will not recalculate the wealth of Carlos Slim until next year. It is also worth noting that the wealth of Carlos Slim is in the stock market, which means it could vastly decrease in value at any time.
To answer the question of someone else, I think it's worth pointing out that Bill Gates has donated over $30 billion of his personal wealth to charity. The value of the Bill & Melinda Gates charity organization is not included when Bill Gates wealth is estimated at 56 Billion dollars. I personally think it is incredible that Bill Gates is the only man in history to be worth over $100 billion dollars, and he has give such a huge percentage of that money to charity. I believe the same can be said about Warrent Buffett. Ted Turner also gave one-third of his personal wealth to charity. I wish the same could be said about Carlos Slim, because that would help the world even more. Mike mgoblue 22:07, 17 August 2007 (UTC)
yes, they must include his gifts as part of his wealth. sorry slim. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Whitefriedrice (talk • contribs) 08:21, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
Pictures
IMHO, the first picture in the section "Early life," showing Bill Gates with the president of Colombia does not seem to match that section. Can someone find a better pic? If not, at least as in the case of other pictures the year of the picture could be mentioned. Btw, why is this picture "a work of the United States Federal Government"? as described on Wiki commons? Jsarmi 20:02, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
Notable?
Is he notable? I've never heard of him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.15.229.198 (talk) 14:29, August 27, 2007 (UTC)
Link to Greek wikipedia
May I ask someone to add an interwiki to the greek wikipedia? It goes like this: " Μπιλ Γκέητς " while the code for greek is "el".
Thanks a lot —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.74.65.130 (talk) 19:31, August 28, 2007 (UTC)
Isn't he actually "William Henry Gates, Jr."?
According to the article on his father (William Henry Gates II#Biography), his father was born "William Henry Gates III", being son of "William Henry Gates II" and grandson of "William Henry Gates I"; then upon entering the Army he legally changed his name to "William Henry Gates", and then later began using "William Henry Gates, Sr." to differentiate himself from his more famous son. Therefore, isn't Bill Gates is either "William Henry Gates, Jr." or "William Henry Gates IV" -- depending on your point of view, rather than "William Henry Gates III"?
Thanks, BCorr|Брайен 14:44, 29 August 2007 (UTC)
- It's his name, so his point of view is the one that matters. He has never gone by "Jr." or "IV" at any time in his life. Gazpacho 10:25, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
- When I wrote about Bill Gates about 8-9 years ago (not in Wiki), I came across “Gates names hierarchy” – in one of the books about him in my collection. I can’t remember the book title because I have more than 9 thick books about him, not including books written by him - Im too lazy to go through the books all over again. The hierarchy is as follows:-
- Great-grandfather - William Henry Gates
- Grandfather - William Henry Gates II
- Father - William Henry Gates Jr
- Him - William Henry Gates III
- Hope it helps. People around him address his father as Sr because it is a bit odd to call the father as JR since he has a son with the very same name. - Jay 09:26, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
- When I wrote about Bill Gates about 8-9 years ago (not in Wiki), I came across “Gates names hierarchy” – in one of the books about him in my collection. I can’t remember the book title because I have more than 9 thick books about him, not including books written by him - Im too lazy to go through the books all over again. The hierarchy is as follows:-
Man whats with all the 'William Henry Gates'. I don't see why they should keep naming their children 'William Henry Gates'. It's kinda confusing —Preceding unsigned comment added by TranscendantX (talk • contribs) 09:13, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
- Yes, but it's also cool. Kings usually are named this way, so, he is like a king - rich. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.232.56.244 (talk) 21:41, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
When did Gates stop being CEO of Microsoft?
I can't believe this isn't addressed in the article. When did Bill Gates give up his job as Microsoft CEO? --JHP 04:45, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
- Well, there were two separate events. There was when he announced he was leaving the position, and the day Steve Balmer took over the duties. I'll try to get a verifiable source on those dates as soon as I can. i kan reed 05:06, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
Why don't you ask him? billg@microsoft.com 70.235.227.197 (talk) 20:22, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
Birth place
Which is which? Tokyo or Seattle? -Sham 199.89.64.178 09:33, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
- Thank you for spotting that vandalism: someone changed that, and his age as well. I've reverted the changes. · AndonicO Talk 13:00, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
GA Sweeps (Pass)
This article has been reviewed as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles/Project quality task force. I believe the article currently meets the criteria and should remain listed as a Good article. The article history has been updated to reflect this review. Regards, Parent5446(Murder me for my actions) 19:00, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
- Please ignore the previous user's review, as he is not an experienced reviewer and is not invited to participate in the sweeps. Thank you. OhanaUnitedTalk page 21:17, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
Relationship with Steve Ballmer
What was Bill Gates' relationship with Steve Ballmer like?--Keerllston 04:03, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
- Passionate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.55.231 (talk) 03:11, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
- The Wikipedian in me says "That is not an appropriate comment to make here". The human in me laughed out loud. Xmoogle (talk) 19:57, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
Most expensive house in the world?
This claim isn't cited, but starting with the stated value of $125 million a quick look on www.rightmove.co.uk for houses in and around London gives three properties with a guide around £70 million (around $140 million) and one 25 bedroom house in Highgate which is probably worth more. Is there a citation for BG's house being the most expensive new build house? Apepper (talk) 20:23, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
- MTV Cribs has done a show with the Top 10 most expensive houses, I was expecting to see Bill Gates' house on the list, but it wasn't shown, but it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't one of the top 10 most expensive, it just means Bill Gates hasn't invited MTV to view his house. androo123 14:11, 7 January 2008 (EST)
- I'd argue it's an unprovable claim; that's why I wondered if when it was built it was the most expensive private house that had been built; but even so - in real terms [Sandringham||Sandringham_House] (also a private house) must have cost more. How about saying "owns a house valued at $125 million" that carries the required meaning (that he owns a really expensive house) without the unprovability. Apepper (talk) 21:08, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
Retirement
How come the work retirement isn't even on this page yet? This is big news... Altonbr (talk) 16:07, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
Did he used to work for Macintosh in some way?
I found this video of Gates praising Macintosh in 1984. According to the video description, he was writing software for Macintosh at the time. Is this true, and if it is, should it be added to the article? What's the story behind this? --DearPrudence (talk) 01:22, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
- The story is that Microsoft was a Macintosh software partner and Gates did promotional appearances. He wasn't writing the software.
- Ah, thank you! How interesting. --DearPrudence (talk) 03:36, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
- Gates was writing software for Apple Corp. ever since they announced the Apple II. MS even manufactured cards for the Apple II line. To this day they're still writing software for OSX. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.105.42.178 (talk) 03:42, 4 February 2008 (UTC)
Someone vandalized the page (I can't fit it)
Edit by 131.107.0.101 on 02:06, 11 August 2007 changed Gates' salary to $192,918,222,966,667. There referenced information shows that it was the last 6 digits ($966,667) prior to the change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.107.0.101 (talk • contribs) 00:08, 5 February 2008
No mention of Windows in the article
I think one of the major contributions of Bill Gates to the world of computing is Windows and the article would be significantly enhanced by the introduction of this topic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.91.193.50 (talk) 08:17, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
Update info
According to the latest official news, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. He is the third, after Warren Buffet and a Mexican man. I'd update it myself but the article doesn't allow me to do so. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.239.2.176 (talk) 23:46, 5 March 2008 (UTC)