Goodbye Apple?

January 25, 2008 at 10:16 am · Filed under Apple, Bill Gates, Giving, Hope, Microsoft, PC, Philanthropy, Steve Jobs

Well not just yet, but Bill Gates is starting to make me question my brand loyalty these days.

In case you haven’t heard Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates announced that he just pledged $306 million in grants to develop farming in poor countries at a major meeting of business chiefs.

“If we are serious about ending extreme hunger and poverty around the world, we must be serious about transforming agriculture for small farmers, most of whom are women” –Bill Gates

Gates is leading the way in philanthropy these days. It warms my heart knowing that there are billionaires out there that actually care about people and aren’t just looking for tax advantages.

Your move Mr. Jobs.

30 Comments »

  Mattman wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 10:50 am

I’m certainly not against philanthropy, but when somebody has almost as much money as God, it’s not hard to give some of it away. The fact that most of Gates’ gifts require his name to be attached to something show the real reason he is giving his money away – it’s good PR. Hopefully we’ll forget about the shameful and illegal ways he got his monopoly money since he’s now giving to the poor around the world.

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  mudpuppy wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 10:53 am

@Mattman – Solid thoughts here, but two things: 1) At least he is doing something, where too many others are doing nothing (or very little in comparison). 2) Suppose he got his money shamefully. Can a person not change his value set later in life? I truly believe people can change.

Bill Gates is by no means a perfect person, but I respect him for his efforts in changing the world around him.

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  clodkicker wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:03 am

With the charitable foundation he will be getting a tax benefit.

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  mudpuppy wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:08 am

@clodkicker – No doubt. He didn’t make a bizzillion dollars by being stupid. What I was referring to were people that do it only for that reason.

@macsurfer readers – I’ve been a Mac man my whole life. This post was more of a call to action for Steve Jobs to get in on the philanthropy game. His name has been noticeably absent from that arena.

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  davewasson wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:13 am

I’ll root for anybody who gives out of their own wealth for the good of their neighbor.

And i’ll do it from a Mac. :)

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  Robert B wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:33 am

It’s admirable that Gates has found charitable work inspiring; or is it his wife. It’s also wise to remember that many wealthy “givers” do so anomyously. While Gates is retired, with time to polish his image, Jobs is hard at work making profits while improving our lives with technology innovation. The tax breaks combined with the increasing wealth of those at the top, has lead to more interest in “legacy” giving. This reinforces the impression that those with wealth are also blessed with higher moral standards.

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  Adam Y wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:34 am

Steve Jobs gets a salary of $1.

Granted he’s not in the poor house or anything, but Job’s charitable contribution is NOT in the form of grabbing all the cash he can, and then doling it out as necessary, but rather he just doesn’t take as much as he can at every opportunity.

The only time he gets perks, aside from his stock options (which, to be fair, he DID found the company), are when the company and shareholder representatives vote him compensation for doing an excellent job.

I think you’re comparing apples to oranges between the millionaires. At the very least, if you start basing your purchasing decisions on people’s PR, you just become a tool for PR reps to try and manipulate.

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  Fishyone wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:43 am

Caring for people, caring for tax advantages, or caring for Publicity, Frankly we can’t determine his motives. There are many extremely wealthy philanthropists who don’t seek the publicity, perhaps Mr. Jobs is one of those.

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  Peter O wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:53 am

I find it rather odd that one would base computer buying/using on the philanthropic pursuits of the head of a particular company. Using Mac OS or Windows has nothing to do with Bill Gates spreading the wealth and Steve Jobs not spreading the wealth. That’s not to say Jobs shouldn’t be called out, but it has nothing to do with the Macintosh.

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  william wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:54 am

I think that a lot of the charitable work that Gates and his foundation do is just great (not all of it is, but it’s his money.)

As for Jobs, these wealthy folks are not required to tell the world about what they do with their money. I wouldn’t assume that he is or isn’t spending great sums on charity.

I don’t think Jobs is a religious person (I know Bill isn’t), but Christians are not supposed to make any show of the good works they do.

“But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”

The idea being that if you seek praise for your good works in this world, you get your reward in this world. If you keep them secret, you get your reward in heaven (hopefully.) A more pragmatic reason for the atheist/agnostic/non-Christian deist would be that once word gets out that you’re parceling out money, every charity and great many deadbeats will start hitting you up. You can imagine the sort of mail the Gates Foundation gets.

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  mudpuppy wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 12:01 pm

@Peter O – It would take much more to get me to switch from my love for Apple. It was more of an attention getter (and it worked quite well).

@william – Most excellent comment my friend, although the use of King James is hurting my eye balls. I’m certainly not in favor of everybody making announcements of all of their good deeds (I practice anonymous giving myself). And Steve may very well be giving like a mad man. It’s just that in this day in age, it’s very hard for someone of his status to do something like that without it going noticed by the media in some fashion …. and I haven’t seen any coverage on Jobs’ philanthropy to this point.

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  Nicholas wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 12:03 pm

I would argue it is still hard to give that money away, he gives somewhere in the ballpark of 51%. Moreover its okay to still root for apple since he really isn’t “at” microsoft anymore and especially since that philanthropy never made it into a corporate model. MS still screwed some poor people.

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  worshipguitarist wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 12:08 pm

$306 million is a lot of money. However, when you consider that Bill Gates is worth over $51 billion, it’s not really that much. It’s less than 1% of his wealth (.6% to be precise). Steve Jobs is worth $3.3 billion, not exactly pocket change, but it’s not even close to Gates.

Of course, Gates’ contribution will almost certainly do a lot of good, but he could afford to do so much more. He could give in the billions, and it still wouldn’t affect his standard of living.

For another thing, I don’t see how the generosity of Bill Gates makes Vista any more appealing. I’m sticking with my Macs. Steve Jobs can do whatever he wants as long as he continues to make the best computer/OS for me.

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  Victor Panlilio wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 12:16 pm

You need to take history lessons. Long before Bill Gates did anything remotely considered philanthropic, Jobs donated computers for a health care project in Nepal – in 1980. Watch Larry Brilliant’s inspiring speech on eradicating smallpox on http://www.ted.com. And while we’re discussing money being donated to good causes, Google “Bill Gates Planned Parenthood” and you’ll discover that Bill also gives money to the largest abortion provider in the U.S. Now If you like forking over your money to someone who facilitates the disposal of unwanted babies, that’s your business. Just thought you should know.

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  Uncle Paul wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 12:17 pm

If memory serves, Mr. Gates’ philanthropic activity did not start until the first anti-trust activity began against Microsoft. It coincided with a laughable commercial campaign where Bill and Steve Ballmer sat in a classroom setting in cardigan sweaters (a la Mr. Rogers)talking about how they were building the best software for the future. Also, much of the giving is tied to the use of Microsoft technology.

Nothing against philanthropy in general, but there are many other people/organizations who give freely of their money to causes without such restrictions.

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  Hester wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 12:18 pm

It reminds me of J Paul Getty handing out his dimes. The man amassed his monopolistic fortunes with Standard Oil in the same way Gates did his with Microsoft. He became one of the most despised men in America. He then goes on a PR campaign to soften his image – becoming a benefactor through various private charities, and at every PR event handing out a dime. What Gates is doing is the same thing.

The interesting historical parallel, however, betrays something probably most of Gen X or Gen Y don’t understand or wouldn’t understand: private charitable giving has historically not been as successful as large-scale governmental spending. To wit: the Roosevelt generation’s generous distribution of wealth made a profound impact on poverty in America (not to mention post-Marshall Plan Europe). The Reagan generation’s tax-cut/privatization proposals (like years from Coolidge to Hoover) has brought the most inequitable distribution of wealth since the founding of this nation.

We’ll see whether the latter does better by the poor than the former, but historically it has not.

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  mudpuppy wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 1:23 pm

@Everybody – REALLY loving the dialogue here. Two more quick points: 1) I’m not going to make any of my points more than once. Please read through the comments to find my thoughts. 2 ) I find it odd how a gesture of good will can be made into something bad. Is he not giving money to those in need?

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  Dwartz Farquhartz wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 1:31 pm

How do we know Jobs isn’t philanthropic? Maybe he just doesn’t need the pub.

Iirc, Jobs said in that side-by-side interview with Gates a few months back that he admired Bill for his charitable work, and that Bill had figured out something to the effect that “it’s meaningless to be the richest guy in the cemetary.”

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  Mister Ron wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Hey, Al Capone used to donate heavily to charity as well…

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  Scott wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 4:40 pm

Two things to note:

1. Apple offers Project RED iPods and iTunes gift cards.
2. Dell just started offering a Project RED machine. Have you read about it? The machine is the same as the “regular” machine but costs $300 more — it contains a different version of Vista, apparently.

That’s not particularly charitable if Dell gets more money — albeit the Project Red cut would be a little more.

No question that Bill Gates is a giver. Nice guy. But he should focus on that and leave the computers and media devices to the company that actually gets it.

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  Matthew wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Just a thought, but if Steve Jobs is personally giving money to charities and not telling anyone I say bravo. Just because he isn’t announcing it, doesn’t mean he isn’t doing it.

Think about it.

MN

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  Bizarro Ballmer wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 6:52 pm

why single out SJ and go for the many, many other Billionaires who are richer than him, and call them out, if that’s your goal. Collectively these people can change things that would take millions of regular people to do.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires_Rank.html

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  mudpuppy wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 7:33 pm

@Bizarro – Legit question. Short answer is I’m known as a Mac apologist around these parts, and this story had to do with the arch nemesis. It makes sense to those who hang out around here (I hope).

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  twps wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 9:56 pm

Anything that causes Apple to move one step further into non-existance is a great thing in my estimation.

Thomas

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  Victor Panlilio wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:50 pm

@twps: “Anything that causes Apple to move one step further into non-existance is a great thing in my estimation.”

So bravely stated behind a cloak of anonymity. It’s spelled “existence” — in case you didn’t know. Anything that causes you to stop spewing your bigoted ignorance all over the Net is a splendid thing, in my not so humble opinion.

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  Victor Panlilio wrote @ January 25, 2008 at 11:57 pm

@twps: I wrote too soon. So you’re not anonymous after all. What a lot of people like you perhaps don’t realize is that if it wasn’t for Apple, personal computing would probably not have become as easily accessible to ordinary people, or as pleasant. I’ve worked for IBM and Compaq, and what Apple brings to our industry is an almost relentless focus on greatly improving the user experience — not just for sophisticated computer users, but also for people who know little or nothing about computers and just want to get their work done. For example, colour management and typographic accuracy is pervasive in MacOS X, and it’s poorly implemented in Windows.

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  Victor Panlilio wrote @ January 26, 2008 at 12:25 am

@mudpuppy: “I find it odd how a gesture of good will can be made into something bad. Is he not giving money to those in need?”

Many people benefit from the donations of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But we should also ask, what is the true cost to business of the inadequate security architecture of Windows? I checked my work email the other night — part of our business network had been infected and 2000+ computers had to be cleaned of malware that evaded detection by both Trend Micro and McAfee. Bill Gates may be giving away billions, but he’s also forced corporations to squander even more billions in lost productivity. So part of his philanthropy is perhaps to salve his conscience for foisting such mediocre products on the world.

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  Victor Panlilio wrote @ January 26, 2008 at 1:36 am

http://www.reason.com/news/show/30292.html
“Apple’s Steve Jobs started a charitable foundation in the 1980s but abandoned it soon after he discovered how time-consuming such business can be” — looks like he’s not ready to go full-time into philanthropy just yet. In the meantime…

http://www.muckety.com/Seva-Foundation/5021833.muckety
lists Steve Jobs as a benefactor of the Seva Foundation

More about Seva: http://www.seva.org

Now you know.

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  Victor Panlilio wrote @ January 26, 2008 at 1:44 am

Deja vu time:

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2006/01/70072

Published exactly two years ago.

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  Adam wrote @ January 26, 2008 at 10:54 am

It is also Mr Warren Buffet’s money.. .who know maybe it is all Mr Buffet’s money since he GAVE it to their foundation

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