A lot of people hate Microsoft and Bill Gates, well the policies of Microsoft and some of the marketing tactics that they used were of undeniable refute, however even the geeks will agree that he had an amazing vision, at a time when mainstream companies were really looking for Mainframes and Deep Blues, he believed that common people need access to the device called computer which can enrich their lives. Today all of us spend a considerable amount of time juggling between 3 screens, the TV, the Mobile and of course the computer, and the popularity of the computer and the internet has a lot to do with it, arguably Microsoft has a lot to do with it as well, when they made the computer accessible to millions with software that could run on most hardware. His vision of the future published over 15 years ago, called The Atlantic – A Road ahead, predicted a lot of todays tech then when it was difficult to envision these concepts.

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Well the World’s richest man for quite a few years unlike some of his flamboyant counterparts that decide to blow the money off on super models half their age, Bill Gates has kinda decided to try and single handedly save the planet, or atleast sort of. The Bill and Melinda foundation founded by him initially in 1999 with a donation of $94 Million, well over the years the foundation strives really hard, globally, to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and in America, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. According to Wikepedia

The Gates Foundation has quickly become a major influence upon global health; the approximately US$800 million that the foundation gives every year for global health approaches the annual budget of the United Nations World Health Organization (193 nations) and is comparable to the funds given to fight infectious disease by the United States Agency for International Development. The Foundation currently provides 17% (US$86 million in 2006) of the world budget for the attemptederadication of poliomyelitis (polio). Other Global Health Initiatives include:

• The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
• Children’s Vaccine Program
• University of Washington Department of Global Health
• HIV Research
• Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation
• Visceral Leishmaniasis Research

In fact, the Bill and Melinda foundation have in total over $22 Billion in financial endowment for the world: After the Health Care and the Foundation, Bill Gates himself has been involved in a lot of work around the world in terms of climate change and clean zero – carbon energy. He did a talk on TED as well and that can be seen here below.

From companies dealing in spent nuclear uranium for the sake of producing energy in underground nuclear reactors, to others trying to create Artificial Clouds That Could Stop Climate Change or Ocean Pumps that could Thwart Hurricanes, Mr. Gates is now investing heavily in trying to change the planet. Bill Gates, the name that was made fun off and is still considered by many as a bad word in the software industry, is overshadowing all of that with deeds that are helping change the world. Hope that more businessmen or Millionaires / Billionaires were like him, the world could do with a few more.

Here are some sites with interesting reading if you are interested :

• http://www.thegatesnotes.com/
• http://gizmodo.com/tag/billgates/
• http://www.gatesfoundation.org/
• Wikepedia