The award, for "his outstanding contribution to enterprise," was actually announced -- and criticised -- last year, but many readers still had plenty of spleen left to vent today.
Perhaps she should have sent him to the Tower instead: Microsoft is a convicted monopolist, as software engineer Chris Rankin pointed out: "Bill Gates' business practices have violated antitrust laws in both Europe and the US. This is not something for which he should be honoured in any shape or form." An anonymous reader added "Bill Gates should be imprisoned for Microsoft's business practices, not knighted."
No, tell us what you really mean… "Microsoft has done more than any other company to hold back the development of IT solutions the world over," said Matt Webber. "They have clearly shown with their Internet Explorer software that their aim is to extinguish competition, then drip-feed product updates from their monopoly to the world charging them for the privilege every time. And how did they extinguish competition? By the use of illegal business practices."
If the Queen had listened to our readers, she would probably have had him beheaded: One anonymous reader blamed Gates for harm done by worms, Trojans and viruses caused by "MS' shoddy products and lack of security", and castigated him for the "lost productivity due to MS' difficult, labour intensive maintenance and egregious interoperability with competing tools."
Comparing him to the leader of Al-Qaeda, one reader reckons Gates's harm "exceeds the economic damage caused by the real Osama bin Laden."
"What Gates and his company did between 1993-1998 was a crime, pure and simple. He and his flunkies took a healthy, wealthy, competitive market that was good for everybody and crushed it with OEM agreements, giveaways and secret APIs. This is an established truth from the US trial statement of facts."
Some of you were cynical but brief. "He's a friend of Tony Blair, another corrupt individual, so no surprise there," said lab technician Peter Mitchell.
A number of you commented that it devalues the knighthoods received by other worthy pioneers (such as World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and Clive Sinclair). "What rubbish. That surely devalues the present and past holders of knighthoods. He's a black knight for sure," said managing director Peter Harding, who went on to suggest another title: 'computer systems dictator'".
Other readers said they were put off the whole idea of getting a knighthood: "It's a bit like giving a Nobel Prize for Peace to G.W. Bush. It just takes away the shine," said engineer Gerard ter Beke. "I wouldn't want to be knighted anymore (not that it was about to happen :-)."
Wait a minute though, we did get one positive comment. We were deeply honoured to receive a Talkback comment from a Mr George W. Bush: "Well done the Queen, Well done Bill. Long live the Empire and all who sail in her." However, it is possible that this grammatically correct message did not come from the real President Bush.
Talkback
First of all you would be using a crappy Apple computer 10 generations behind if it wasnt for Bill,
and the BILLIONS (Yes, that much) that he has
donated to feed, immunize the poor and to
research centres has earned him 10 flimsy knighthoods.
You mean Bob Geldof can get one after raising 100 million for Live Aid? Bill donates that much every few months. Stop using MS products then, I seriously cannot believe the hate Im hearing from a country that still clings on to their secretly hated and outdated monarchy.
shut up you american nonce, the difference between Bob Geldoff and Bill Gates is a world appart. And if it were not for Europe there wouldn't be an American population, so shut it.
Bill Gates is every bit as deserving of knighthood as Tim Berners-Lee, Harold Evans, and other "noble" people who came before Bill. I came to this conclusion just recently, having assisted a journalist research a huge scandal that the public is being hoodwinked about by those who ultimately control society and define what "we the people" are told is the truth: namely, the rich and well-connected. That jounalist was forbidden under threat of firing, from reporting the findings.
Yes, Bill Gates is a thief. Everybody knows that. What's new? Yes, all of his current, most beloved projects are stolen; and he is bringing them to China to have them "invented" there, and then conveniently re-imported to the USA and Europe. Yes, he is committing perjury and fraud on a global scale in the process. But Bill never pretended to be an honest man! At most Bill has always said that everyone else is also "doing it" so why shouldn't he?
It's those other knighted pillars of society, those gems of humankind we should all look up to and aspire to elmulate, who have deceived everyone. Tim Berners Lee: the "supremely modest" genius, is neither. What he is, is a man trapped in the public persona he helped forge, while being a closeted Bill Gates wannabee. Tim Berners Lee, oh excuse me, Sir Timothy, having world wide notoriety, if he were a genius for example like Da Vinci, has plenty of opportunity to bestow upon the rest of us mere mortals a cornucopia of breathtaking new inventions. He cannot. He cannot because he is no more than the accidental namesake of what would have come about from technological evolutionary forces -- on their own. Instead, Berners Lee will spend the rest of his days as the rubber stamp custodian of that inane beurocracy that is the W3C. He will live out his life as the Prince of HTML, and hardly the Einstein or Newton or even Edison he has been compared to. Bill Gates, though he steals from the poor and weak and downtrodden for no other reason than that he has a psychopathic out of control male ego, and it gives him great joy in knowing that he can get away with it, because his enemies are too disorganized and stupid to react, is at least advancing society's access to new technologies.
Paradoxically, Bill Gates doesn't lie. He omits the truth and throws up smokescreens like a brilliant magician to fool the public into believing his version of things. Sadly, it's the "honest men" who do the lying. The celebrated historians, the Pulitzer Prize journalists under pressure from superiors, the Ivy League Professors and literally all of Bill's corporate foes.
Thus Bill Gates is no less deserving of knighthood. He merely joins the ranks of scoundrels who have deceived the public better than he has.
{If anyone wants to dig into the truth, try investigating the Eolas case. You won't believe it until you reach a critical mass in your investigations, but it is the epicenter of more than the public realizes. Here is a worthwhile starting point:
http://nip.blogs.com/patent/2004/11/cloak_and_dagge.html
But be warned: you better keep a "help wanted" listing in your hands because you won't keep your job once you start attempting to expose what you find.}
"shut up you american nonce, the difference between Bob Geldoff and Bill Gates is a world appart. And if it were not for Europe there wouldn't be an American population, so shut it."
Now this is funny! OK, the Americans owed France a debt because they helped us during our Revolution. We repaid that debt during World War One. Now, France owes us because of World War Two. So by your way of thinking if it wasn't for us Europe would be speaking German and being ruled by a mad man.
PS: As an aside "A" I am not a coward so will put my real email address.
Funniest talkback I've ever seen! BG deserves a knighthood for prompting this great talkback.
Actually I think a "knighthood" is totally ridiculous.
If you check your history books, you'll see that kinghts usually did very little other than hacking populations into the stone ages, throwing babies over castle walls and so on.
Not nice.
The dreamy stupid vision of knights can be dissovled by reading some Cervantes.
Replace this damn stupid system with an independent commission right now!
"First of all you would be using a crappy Apple computer 10 generations behind if it wasnt for Bill,"
Heck, if it wasn't for Apple, Mixcrosoft wouldn't be where it is today. Microsoft's success has derives from Apple's own R&D.
Of course Microsoft still screws up a good thing with the shite they deliver!
what a joke!!! this drops the former honor bestowed by the english monarchy to a level below the honor one feels when they get a plastic medal out of a box of cracker jacks. What someone needs to do is beat billy up and take his undeserved medal away so that honorable british citizens can avoid the task of creating a new untarnished honorable award for those who deserve the recognition
Good lord! I cannot help but chortle at the apoplectic "outrage" at Bill Gates. Who are these people? What planet do they come from? Not the same one I live on. Millions of none techie people use computers everyday thanks only to Microsoft. Companies have made millions of pounds (dollars if you wish) riding on Microsofts back.
Some of your corresponents should grow up and enter the real word.
Another superb demonstration of why the royal family should be scrapped. Long live the republic!
Whilst some outmoded people honour the MS Empire with titles, millions of IT staffers around the globe (including coprorations that have aleady invested a lot) have honoured LINUX by placing it at the heart of their racks and lately also as a desktop environment.
A Knighthood is just a title that one person can frame and let it gather dust. A justified choice for LINUX keeps the project alive, it does pay the developers and honours every single hacker of the project.
So, let the people distribute titles. Does it make a difference to us? Noop! I am come on lads, what are they going to do, put now a label on Windowz writing "By Appointment..." and expect people to pay more? Windowz will still be Windowz!
As I am no supporter of the monarchy, I'm indifferent to his knighthood. However, do not blame Bill Gates and his crew for the crassness of their software, blame the unimaginitive people who bought it. Anti-trust laws are complete crap and entirely unneccsary. It reminds me of the people who complain about how terrible large retaillers are; they can only exist with customers, if you want something else shop elsewhere, likewise, if you don't like MS use linux etc.
As I am no supporter of the monarchy, I'm indifferent to his knighthood. However, do not blame Bill Gates and his crew for the crassness of their software, blame the unimaginitive people who bought it. Anti-trust laws are complete crap and entirely unneccsary. It reminds me of the people who complain about how terrible large retaillers are; they can only exist with customers, if you want something else shop elsewhere, likewise, if you don't like MS use linux etc.
I have to agree with the American correspondant. Forget how he has made his money, he has donated hundreds of millions to charity. That alone, makes him a worthy of the honour.
It doesn't matter if the honours system is a joke, he deserves recognition for what he has done to help others.
Bono, Geldof and Gates - Doesn't matter if you hate their music, or software, they actually give a damn, I doubt if any of you do!
Were it that the monarchy had any influence over the honours system then I think it would highlight just how out of touch t'Queen and associated family/flunkies/hangers-on are with society.
However, it's clear evidence of how pointless the whole thing is.
Anyway, the Lord will be the final judge of how much of a worthwhile contribution BG has made....;-)
Giving money to charity is a good thing. And if I was as wealthy as Mr Gates and was making it faster than I could spend it, I'd do the same
So, the great British debate on why someone should not be recognised for acheivements. Although I personally think it makes no difference what you or I think about the situation, which can be demonstrated by the recent events with Iraq and Tony Blair, George Bush. As a country with supposidly freedom of speech and public servants elected to do the will of the people, it does make you wonder why Tony Blair is still insistant that he and Georgy Porgie were right. But if you want to make sure that the Politicians are kept in their place and reminded why they are there, in the next election, vote for NONE of the ABOVE. A NON vote would give a clear indication to the politicians that they should take heed of the people who they are supposed to represent. As for the Honours (Honoury Knighthood - Bill Gates), think of it as 4th prize in a beauty contest. He will not be able to take a seat in the house of commons, or house of Lords (thank god), but can have a "Sir" put in front of his name (as opposed to Mrdemeanor).. But let this be a lesson to all. It's about a valid as a microsoft License......
"...millions of IT staffers around the globe (including coprorations that have aleady invested a lot) have honoured LINUX by placing it at the heart of their racks and lately also as a desktop environment."
Anyone want to start a "Knight Linus" campaign? When you think of the amount of his life he has devoted to what is essentially a community, perhaps he ought to get some form of official recognition for it...
Arguably, the whole Open Source movement is an awful lot more ethical than the way Microsoft throws its weight around. True, Gates has done wonders with the amount of money he's devoted to charities through his Gates Foundation (something for which I _DO_ respect him), however I'd guess just as much - if not more - has been donated time-wise by talented Open Source volunteers around the globe in developing GNU/Linux and it's associated suite of apps...
Its time everyone starts respecting Bill Gates - come of it - instead of slogging him try an do something yourself and develop a company as big as Microsoft. Today the development of PC and its related industries is all related to Microsoft success and all those who slag him - their carrer is also due to microsoft
I have found Microsoft to be very helpful. They have given our voluntary organisation a lot of software for free. This has enabled us to reach a much wider area in the community. This has helped a large percentage of youth to get a feel for the most common used software on the planet. I am not saying that Microsoft was right in their business practices, but the plain truth is the software is used by a large majority of businesses and if you do not know how to use their software you do not stand much chance of employment. Also think about the amount of money that goes to different charities through out the world.
I get caught up in spasms of Linux zealotry, but in the end I know that Mr Gates has done good in aiding various needy causes, true intentions or disposition aside. On the other hand, watching his company attempt to crush some of my favourite free software projects for the sake of money tarnishes the whole Knight image. Lucky for all of us, the title is no more than an honorable mention and has no bearing on the software or the company.
Gatesey boy needs the same soloution as Blair and co Lining up against a wall and eradicating pronto no fannying around no second chances just bang DEAD ITEM they are both TWATS and that is bioeng polite
What difference does it make to anyone anyway.?
Why bother even arguing about it, no one has any control over anything, just the elite rewarding the elite as usual,
nothing ever changes...
Say WHA! I think what this dweebe means is actualy that if it were not for g\tesey boy the world would be a far better place with an O/S that ACTUALLY works not goes BSOD all the time one that does'nt have a benny when an app goes tits up ONE THAT DOES NOT USE STOLEN CODE (scoXE are just jealous)
you want a name yea pete .
Quite appropriate to get a KBE for anti-virus work (HIV that is)
The award was for "his outstanding contribution to enterprise". Are people seriously saying that he has not done this? Name some companies that have not been using Windows on a non-apple desktop in the last 10 years.
Linux is playing catchup because it has only been usable by a few techies. Now it is almost there but there is not the same product range to use when it is installed. The gaming market uses Windows, business use MS Office because it is vastly superior to anything else on the market.
Microsoft are not coning us into giving them money we give it to them because they make programs that work as well as most others but more importantly they make products that are so simple and intuitive to use.
The only real choice has been Apple but are you going to buy a Mac or a PC?
Things are changing now but this award is not for what is being done today or tomorrow, it is for what has been done in the past.
Paul mentioned one of the things I have to point out. Was Bill being knighted for services to humanity thanks to his charity work none of us would have a problem. The problem we have is that he's being knighted for abusing his monopoly.
Now if Steve Ballmer got knighted then we'd all be screwed.
To balance things out, Marj should make Scott McNealy a Knight of the Garter. Just a thought.
"Still using an Apple 10 generations behind"...that makes me laugh!
I remember using an Apple Lisa computer (pre-runner of Mac) in 1985 - and it had graphical desktop (ok not great resolution), mouse, drag and drop trashcan etc.
That was 10 years ahead of Microsoft's Windows 95 - but Microsoft out-marketed Apple's far superior products.
"...donated millions to charity..."
Whose millions is he generously donating?
Whilst I am not denigrating the causes he supports, most individuals and companies would prefer to make their own choices for charitable donations rather than Sir Robin of Redmond
I think Sir William should be given more honours - how about making him Sheriff of Nottingham?
Of the few pro-Gates talkbacks, most seem to miss the point that Bill Gates through Microsoft crushed a thriving industry. Yes, you can't buy a Intel-style desktop machine without MS Windows, but that's the result of the illegal, anit-competitive deals with the Original Equipment Manufacturers. DR-DOS, BeOS, OS/2 were superior contenders that got crushed by OEM deals. BeOS got as far as suing and winning a pyrrhic victory. BeOS won the right to be distributed parallel with Microsoft's alternative, but somehow got left out of the bootloader menu ...
These Gates apologists, if they are not just astroturfers, need to check in on reality more often
Greetings cousin's.
My great-grand father, T. J. Bailey, was an architect and faithfull servent to Queen Victoria. During his career he designed and oversaw the construction of hundreds of schools in England and implemented many innovative ideas into his work such as passive, non-mechanical air conditioning.
His reward upon retirement, he was honored by the Royal Institute of Architects, of which, he was not a member. Oh, and he SHARED his ideas and welcomed competition.
Just my opinion but I think he deserved more than that.
I'm just an Okie near Muskogee.
I believe many people are missing the main point, which is in essence, historic. To have an idea of how positive, or negative, Bill Gates' contributions to the world have been, the only thing you have to do is to imagine the world during the last 25 years without Bill Gates. The world had already 25 years ago, a multi-user, multi-tasking, and multi-programming operating system running on a 5 MHz PC with 192 KB RAM. This OS was called M/PM-II. This OS was already many times better than the first version of PC-DOS, re-created from a copy of C/PM (the single user version of M/PM-II). MS had to pay years later a settlement for this. The OS that came with the first IBM PC made the whole world to go back, at least 10 years. Also, MS was an applications SW company, they didn't know much about OS's, as other existing OS development companies at the time.
My guess is that ifone of the OS companies at the time would have been given the opportunity, the world of IT, applications, and computers in general would have been much more advanced at the present time. Bill Gates and Microsoft have done a great disservice to the world in the name of greed. What is amazing to me is that the IT world has been able to advance despite BG and MS!
Business need tools to compete in the world. To me, Microsoft OS and applications are defective tools, like buying a whole set of chinese wrenches for $10, instead of a much more expensive, and valuable Snap-on set. The problem is that because Microsoft has always been a MARKETING company, instead of a true SOFTWARE company, the world has gotten the cheap chinese tools but paying for the Snap-ons. Marketing companies appeal to the masses who don't know better. If you add the very well known unethical, if not illegal, business practices that MS has done from the very beginning (go ahead, do your own research) you'll understand better the present situation. Fortunately, for the whole world (or at least for the people who understand), the open-source movement is providing more options, most of them much more clean and reliable. They are created under a collaborative community effort, motivated by the desire of doing things right and helping others.
This "passive, non-mechanical air conditioning." - was it based on windows?
Sorry -couldn't resist that.
90% of this talkback was "Bill Gates might be a bastard but he helps with his money..He helps with AIDS." If 90% of the readers knew the truth behind Sir Gates backstabbing philanthropy then they would have one less reason to kiss his @$$! If anyone cares to be enlightened about the sneaky Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights rules that not only helps Gates maintain dominance but also raises the prices of AIDS drugs! Just ask Nelson Mandela if he thinks Gates is helping his people or not. Read this story if you are not scared of the truth : http://www.bigeye.com/billgates.htm
I have a feeling some will still make excuses to praise a devil, never fails. :-) Love, Peace, and Power to the people!
I can't believe that the queen did this! This is outrageous! If I were president, I would fix this. Under the current inept presidency, this is only a foretaste of the future!
These computer things are great! Have you ever seen something that falsifies voter registrations so well? I never said that!
I congratulate Bill Gates for the first knighthood worth giving. The Queen made an excellent choice. This is one great day towards peace. But just wait! You will see the president take it away for himself yet!
The Honorable Senetor John Kerry
Peter, re: greetings cousins:
;) - More like open-source, really.
The A/C system T. J. Bailey designed used warm air gathering plenums connected to a series of vertical ducts with dampers which, when opened , force the circulation of cooler air in the building. Because of the dampers, you could say it wasn't completely passive.
I once had a pamphlet of an essay grand father Bailey read before the Royal Institute of Architects but it was stolen by a family member, if you can believe that, and, presumably, sold.
Somebody wrote:
"I think Sir William should be given more honours - how about making him Sheriff of Nottingham?"
No, I say. He would rather prefer being the Governor of Munich or Bergen :-) !
Somebody also wrote:
"come of it - instead of slogging him try an do something yourself and develop a company as big as Microsoft. Today the development of PC and its related industries is all related to Microsoft success and all those who slag him - their carrer is also due to microsoft"
OK, let's follow your approach, and extend it in time, since I get the feeling that you might be rather young, otherwise you have selective memory. If we accept that everyone ows to Bill Gates, then Billy boy should be grateful to IBM, for letting him bugger them over because they did not have an OS. Where was Micro-soft before the IBM deal? And in fact the PC revolution took place because everyone wanted decentralized systems, moving away from time sharing and mainframe..., all the way back to the days of ENIAC and Manchester M1.
And believe me, there are companies that ARE big and there are not dwarfed by Microsoft or any SCO puppets...So, I wonder why they ditch their own systems in favour of LINUX...Hmm?
So, what you are saying sounds purely....Microsoft :-)
It seems to me that you are very bitter. Well, as for me there are plently of other websites to read. Good Luck and Good Bye.
Aren’t we missing the obvious, the honour is “Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire”. Wasn’t the British Empire a monopolistic empire bent on taking over the world and imposing it’s own standards. So the “Order of the British Empire” must honour those who aspire to it’s own principles, therefore I don’t see why it didn’t happen sooner.
Laughable situation - Gates is arrogant and was never an entrepeneur anyway, came from money and has been exploiting people and bending the law ever since. A nasty man who is despised by many and liked by unimaginative IT bods. A sad state of affairs.
If the British empire wasn't already gone, this surely would have been the nail in the coffin. A few questions:
Has the Queen been checked for alzheimers? -Perhaps she thinks Gates is her long lost son... or something.
How much does a knighthood cost these days? -Does the Queen recieve a free update to Longhorn, or at least coupons to give to all her friends?
Is this the booby prize?
-Certainly GWB and Gates were in contention over this gem.
Sorry Bill,
Karma is just bologna in disguise afterall. I'm pleased to see that a person can rise to the top using the ideas of the competent. So it goes...
On the bright side, at least, your proof of incompetence is being spread each day. And years from now, when you have gone the way of windows NT, your name will be defamed to the likeness of sidewalk gum.
The wheels are already turning. Bill, can you feel the danger creaping under your bed?
The Queen is blameless in all of this: as a constitutional monarch, she fully understands that her duty is to do what she's told to do by the Prime Minister.
The real question is: doesn't Tony Blair have anything better to do than to toady up to amoral American billionaires?
Well, I don't understand what... ever'body's upset about. *shrug*
I'm sure this Bill Gates guy did something good for the Enterprise... or else he wouldn't be getting a knighthood. I'm sure the HMS... Enterprise is a fine ship.
What's wrong with giving a Customary Engineer... an award for cleaning Windows Extra Professionally on a battleship? Why I think the Janitorial profession should be uplifted every now and then. I wouldn't clean toilets, but a Customary Engineer does, so I owe him something for that.
And thank you for all you chads... I mean votes.
All this talk of Bill Goatses charitable donations from apparent proffesionals?? How much does it earn? How big must it's tax bill be? Doesn't uas have a similar 'write off taxs against charitable donations rule to GB?
Pure PR exercise.
Thank goodness Bill is American, we do not need to call him Sir.
Maybe not on the same scale as Billy Gates...
But I too have spent more on my own house than I've given to charity.
It's nice to know that every time I buy a new OS, 0.0001% is going to help the less fortunate.
Those that know the history, also miss the future he stifled.
I couldn't agree any more, how long do we have to pretend that anything that comes from Buckingham Palace means anything. Bill earned his money, the Queen sits on her ass and waves.