[WSIS CS-Plenary] Bill Gates's "gift" to India

[Rui Correia]

The list is relatively quiet, so I thought I'd sneak this in, but I do
apologise for taking the liberty. Nonetheless I think it is a worthwhile
piece.

Rui

Counterpunch, October 27, 2005
In India, Bill Gates Does Well By Doing "Good"
License to Bill

By LILA RAJIVA

To his fans, a Randian free-market hero, an Atlas barely quivering under 
the Himalayan chain of operating systems, software packages and security 
patches with which he feeds the hungering cyber-masses. Or as one Indian 
model squealed orgasmically, "Mr. Gates, you are my idea of the ideal man. 
You are rich, and you are powerful."

And a philanthropist to...er.. boot.... The Gates foundation, which is 
worth $30 billion, (£17 billion), is now the largest charity run by a 
single philanthropist or private company And Gates says he intends to give 
away 90 per cent of his $50 billion fortune.

On September 22 this year, Microsoft made its latest corporate raid on 
humanitarianism, pledging to partner with the Indian Ministry of 
Communication and Information Technology in seven crucial areas. The deal, 
largely unnoticed by the media, was struck at Microsoft's Redmond, 
Washington headquarters with Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Microsoft offered a new Windows XP Starter Edition licensed and built just 
for India in nine Indian languages as well as English; it "adopted" 100 
schools in 6 states to provide an interactive learning environment and 
pledged to support an Indian government program to establish 100,000 rural 
kiosks with a range of affordable products and services; it also pledged to 
deliver a broadband and PC package targeted to first time users at an 
affordable monthly installment, to set up and fund with 2 million dollars 
an E-governance Center of Excellence for pilot programs, and to collaborate 
with Indian agencies and scientists to research Indic language computing 
technologies and increase security. (1)

Shades of Rockefeller, who spent the latter part of his life guiltily 
giving away the fortune he'd amassed. Maybe His Billness has taken to 
reading the geek blogs with their unkindest cuts. Or Greg Palast and that 
crack of his about Blackbeard the Pirate has gotten to him. (2)

Who steals my purse steals trash ...etc. etc.

full: http://www.counterpunch.com/rajiva10272005.html