In comp.os.linux.advocacy, nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on 23 Aug 2006 02:26:39 -0700
<1156325199.277354.170910@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> Bill Gates lends cash to buy newspapers
>
> This is really repulsive. Three of the newspapers mentioned are
> important ones in Silicon Valley. Wonder why he's targeting the media
> in Silicon Valley?
Why not? He didn't get to where he was just by sitting there
and eating it. :-)
It is a slightly disturbing development.
> I'm sure it's just because it's just a good
> investment. Or could it be that he wants to make sure that no one says
> anything negative about him? The San Jose Mercury has some of the
> best tech coverage in the US. Expect it henceforth to have a Microsoft
> slant.
Aye.
>
> And the use of the Gates foundation is insidious. (And I do mean
> insidious, if the reports are correct that Gates's role in the
> purchases was hidden and behind-the-scenes.) I'm willing to give him
> all the credit in the world for his work with AIDS in Africa and other
> philanthropic work, but to double this up with attempts to limit a free
> press (as free as it is in America, anyway) is just despicable.
Oh, it gets worse. There was at one point an interesting attempt
to donate Windows software to India.
Microsoft itself is a bit enigmatic on the issue:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1997/apr97/indiama.mspx
but I suspect that some of those skills are Windows-specific.
It's not all bad. A Google coughed up a number of interesting
pages, detailing among other things:
- a rescued orphan
- AIDS help
- ocean tsunami relief efforts.
There's also Interconnection:
http://www.computers.interconnection.org/donations.htm
which ships used computers around the world and lists
Microsoft as a partner. It is far from clear what software
is placed on these computers. The website mentions
refurbishment so a likely possibility is "whatever was
on them at the time", but Linux would be a logical choice
for some of them.
So I don't know. I can't point to anything specific, but I
get suspicious.
>
> It must be said, however, that there has been an ongoing consolidation
> of ownership of the media in the US in recent years, newspapers, TV
> stations and radio. This has been encouraged by the Bush
> Administration, although it obviously runs counter to the best
> interests of a democratic society.
>
But not to a dictatorial New World Order one. :-/
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
|
|
