A different kind of bug
I’ve had my differences with Microsoft products for years now, and have all but abandoned them in terms of my personal computing, though I always kind of ambivalently liked Bill Gates (even if I found The Road Ahead a little dull and meandering).
Sure he helped conjure a huge, semi-evil multiheaded demon to torment us all, but without that demon, we’d probably all be sitting around banging rocks together. His ideas may not have been entirely original, but he packaged and presented them in such a way as to make them acceptable to the mainstream.
While I’ll never entirely forgive him for 640k base memory cap in DOS that made running DOOM 2 such a pain in the ass on my 486dx2, the stunt he pulled at this year’s TED conference is was undeniably awesome, and earns him some serious cool points in my book.
Since stepping down at Microsoft, Gates has devoted his time to his charitable foundation. One of said foundation’s pet causes is preventing malaria in the developing world. During his presentation to the assembled technological, political and cultural elite, Gates released a container of mosquitoes into the room, reportedly saying:
“Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. I brought some. Here, I’ll let them roam around. There’s no reason only poor people should be infected”
The mosquitoes had been, as suspected, certified malaria-free, though I’ll bet this little piece of showmanship provoked a decent bit of empathy in his audience, and brought some much-needed attention to his cause.
I’m talking about it, aren’t I?
