Opinion: Microsoft More Altruistic Than Gates Foundation

June 19, 2007

Opinion: Microsoft More Altruistic Than Gates Foundation

The software created by Microsoft does more for the good of the world than any philanthropic effort its leader, Bill Gates, might undertake through his foundation, according to an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal.

Robert Barro, an economics professor at Harvard University, estimates that Microsoft has created nearly $1-trillion in societal benefits by creating software that consumers value — benefits that the Gates Foundation, with assets of $36-billion, cannot hope to approach.

Furthermore, Mr. Barro argues that China and India — the countries most successful at easing poverty in the past 30 years — did so through economic development, not by relying on charity: “Although Mr. Gates is probably smarter and more motivated than the typical World Bank bureaucrat, he likely won’t do much better.”

Mr. Barro’s article is a response to the commencement speech Mr. Gates gave at Harvard two weeks ago, during which he encouraged graduates to embrace philanthropy.

However, at a recent technology conference, Mr. Gates did echo Mr. Barro’s comments, indicating that software remains his passion. “The most important work I got a chance to be involved in, no matter what I do, is the personal computer,” Mr. Gates said.

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s coverage of the future of the Gates Foundation.

(A paid subscription is required to view the Journal articles, and a paid subscription or temporary pass is required to view the Chronicle article.)

Comments

If anyone feels truly philanthropic they should look deeply into the malaria epidemic of Sub-Saharan Africa. Why isn’t more being done for the children there? If DDT is the answer, we should bring it back just for the fight with the mosquitos. The question lingers: Is there not a similar substance effective against malaria-spreading insects or is there even research being funded in this direction?

— Berklee Holm Jun 21, 12:39 PM #

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