News: 1595579474

This coming from a nob end who can't even get the software he bought to work properly...

You seem to have the incorrect thread....this is about trying to save peoples lives!

Just created an account so you could insult Bill Gates or do you intend to dazzle us with you insight and wit later on?

Just to clarify, was your comment related to the article, or was it (as I suspect) a meta statement about your comment that you made while you were writing the comment which it was about?

Whilst I loathe and detest the fact that Microsoft-era BillG (and his successor, Monkey-boy Ballmer) got insanely rich by pushing sub-standard products, there's no denying that since stepping down from MS, Bill has put a fuck-ton of money into healthcare initiatives and the like, and it's not just Bezos style 'tax dodge disguised as charity work' lip-service, either.

I don't have to like the guy (I don't, see above) but respect is most definitely due for his charitable efforts.

Not just his own money - Gates, along with Warren Buffet, has been prominent in efforts to convince other billionaires that really, after their second private island and third Lamborghini, they can donate most of their fortune to charity with no impact upon their lifestyle.

And not just any charity, but a charity that has put some very smart minds into getting good value for the cash - ie trying to do the most amount of human good for the least money. This doesn't mean scrimping, it can mean supplying a shit ton of money immediately for 'a stitch in time saves nine' type problems such as infectious disease.

MS software has caused me X amount of frustration over the years, but I don't think anyone can claim that any amount of Windows-related annoyance can compare to the consequences of famine, illiteracy or poor sanitation. I've always been able to turn off the computer and pick up a book or go to the pub.

Whilst I loathe and detest the fact that Microsoft-era BillG (and his successor, Monkey-boy Ballmer) got insanely rich by pushing sub-standard products

It might be sub-standard but it has powered the PC revolution and even the wider IT revolution. Could something better have done that? Sure. Might it have turned out better if another company had been the major driving force? I doubt it. Who were/are Microsoft's competitors? Oracle? IBM? Lotus? Apple? Novell? Sco?

I think we are where we are (which for the most part is pretty damn good) because of how humans develop and exploit technology. Microsoft just happens to have managed to hang on to the beast and even direct it better/longer than most.

And for all that I struggle with MS software (one advantage of working from home is that I can rant and rave at Visual Studio as loud as I want) it has kept me in gainful employment for 30 years and provided me with all the computer fun I've ever wanted.

It might be sub-standard but it has powered the PC revolution and even the wider IT revolution. Could something better have done that?

It was a product of its time - if MS DOS/Windows had not appeared then something else would have.

I remember SCO ODT was quite nice & better than what MS had some 30 years ago; the unfortunate thing was that it cost far too much for widespread adoption -- because they had licensed many components from elsewhere. Pity.

Just the mention of SCO brings back bad memories, not the early SCO who were great, but the later litigation happy idiots that took them over, serves as a reminder that while Microsoft were no angels it could have been much worse if some other companies achieved dominance.

It might be sub-standard but it has powered the PC revolution and even the wider IT revolution. Could something better have done that? Sure. Might it have turned out better if another company had been the major driving force?

If you excised MS from time, the PC revolution would still have happened, perhaps a little differently, remaining a little more fragmented for longer (such as the early Commodore, Amstrad, Sinclair etc era).

That we might be in a better place is just as likely as an a worse.

I think this is the history you're looking for ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JOD1AQGqEg

"This coming from a nob end who can't even get the software he bought to work properly..."

What does that even mean?

Possibly QDOS; Tripod/Ruby; etc.?

It is post Gates/Ballmer Windows I struggle with.

XP was worked on by Gates, the biggest issue with it was the file dialogue not remembers I NEED details.

So the high point of Windows was Gates period.

He was a proper techie as well.

Some first posts are good. Some are by people who blundered into the wrong forum by mistake.

https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4735

Well worth a listen.

I'm sure it's a good podcast, but is it really do we require any additional information to know that 'Bill Gates uses 5G to activate a fake vaccine tracking system' is utter bollocks?

If we do decide to preach to the heathens and not the choir, there some guides online in how how to talk to conspiracy theorists. Sadly, calling them 'fucking nutters' doesn't play a constructive role in pulling them out of their hole.

I know, however, that no matter what you do they will believe it. Conspiracy theories have all the hallmarks of the religions you get when the major social religion collapses, like the JWs and Scientology in America as people were separated from their European cultures. The only way you can get them to change their minds is to come up with a more successful loony conspiracy theory du jour.

But calling them futtwicks, as has been shown by serious research, reduces people's blood pressure and stress levels.

Now let's get this into some sort of level headed reality.

1. Like MS or hate it, fine....now let's move on.

MS has made Bill $$$ - Fact, love it or hate it.

But as one of the worlds richest people, he has put is money to good work, saving millions of lives across the globe. (Fact, love it or hate it)

I would rather he works away at various health issues / plans / vaccines than the vast majority of other people.

But as one of the worlds richest people, he has put is money to good work, saving millions of lives across the globe. (Fact, love it or hate it)

Fact? FACT!?! Its all about MIND CONTROL. 5G. deepstate. COVID. "Foundation". Obama. Soros. Clinton. SleepyJoeBiden. OBL. Pizza. BLM. Follw the $$$. Do not be fooled (((folks))). This is B-I-L-L-G-A-T-E-S. M$ Windoze was de(s)igned to take over the world. Wintelvision made us MELISSAS and BILLZ SHEEPLE. Its CON-spir.acy. zOg. No denying it, FACT - "love it or hate it". LOLLUMS. Your the PRODUCT. Theirs NO escape. Smart PEEPs know the true facts. MAGA.

I'd upvote Jason Bloomberg, but you can never be 100% sure he didn't actually mean all that.

One thing that the medical researchers appreciate about the Gates Foundation grants is that they are funded for four or five years. When a researcher is only funded for two years, half that time is spent getting a team and lab together at the start and looking around for more funding towards the end, leaving less time for actual research. Funding for longer periods is simply better value.

There should be a WTF vote after the upvote and downvote buttons - c'mon Reg, it's PERL

There no WTF there, he's just doing a competent parody, albeit in a time when no satire or parody is as bizarre as what many nuts are saying.

However, this being the Reg, I just see it as a third-rate impersonation of Amanfrommars, whose own parody of Qanon nutters predates said nutters.

If pre event planning is evidence of conspiracy then

I have sticky plasters > I'm planning self harm?

I test my smoke alarms > I'm planning to burn down my house?

Giving the nut job '5G conspiracy' time on national TV is beyond insane.

I was just explaining similar things to my oldest kid (age 9). She was getting a orthodontic appliance (retainer) check and may move to some kind of "brackets" sooner than originally planned; this is all before the actual braces.

I told her: "Some folks may look at the doctors changing solutions quickly as evidence they don't know what they're doing. But we know different -- it means these things are actually working, and working so well that we need to move forward quicker than expected. This is a good thing! Those other folks just look at what's going on and come up with the completely opposite reasons. Don't call them stupid or idiots; they just were never taught how to truly think about things."

(Not an actual quote, but clearer for you other folks, and note the bold section that calls out the logic Wellyboot first decried.)

I then explained the (correct) critical thinking that proper pre-planning for any emergency would make it appear less than the disaster it could have been, because that is the true intention. Capped off with, referring to those anti-thinkers: "What, you WANT people to die just to know something bad happened? Wasn't the whole point to prevent deaths?"

His problem is that these conspiracy theories are so outlandish, and Bill Gates is such an intelligent man (IQ = 160 reportedly), that the stupidity behind them is something that he just doesn't get. To me the cause of these conspiracy theories is obvious: A bunch of people intentionally creating mischief, supported by a much bigger bunch of freaking idiots.

Or maybe Gates is just too polite to say it. I'm not. If you believe that 5G towers spread a virus, or that vaccines include microchips, you are nothing but a freaking moron.

Well lets take stock on some widespread beliefs in the US :

1. Angels are real

2. UFO's are space aliens

3. The Earth is flat

4. The moon landings were faked

Just a small sample of the more popular ones.

The problem is the internet now acts as a way to popularise anyone's crazy private theory and make it widespread, apparently flat earth theory was dreamt up around 100 years ago and was all but dead, but was revived just a few years ago, to the extent one true believer in the US just killed himself in a home made rocket (silly when most commercial jets fly far higher, and you can see the curvature, but obviously they think they have something over the windows to hide the flat earth lmao).

Just under half the population in any country seem to have a very poor grasp of reality and objective research, and what they think (or someone in a book or internet thinks) quickly becomes their new reality, and when they band together in groups it's like putting petrol on a fire.

I feel sorry for people like Bill Gates who constantly have to deny crap spouted by the loons

in your body? No, it's in your phone or lappy.

Seriously, Bill's money works hard, not a fan of M$ for various reasons, but good work after MS Bill!

Comedian Mike Drucker on the bil gates/tracking/covid silliness:

BILL GATES: I need a way to track everybody

ASSISTANT: Well there’s always cellphone data

BILL GATES: Hm. Maybe I’ll make a virus that requires a vaccine

ASSISTANT: Phones have GPS already

BILL GATES: And then we inject everyone with microchips

ASSISTANT: Ok but phones exist

One of them is as many times richer than the other as they are cleverer.

One of them is doing a lot of good.

One of them is a serial liar.

One of them is well respected for their charitable work.

One of them is known for their shady business practices.

Drumpf was the family name before it was changed to T-rump

"Drumpf was the family name before it was changed to T-rump"

Oh well he is still a Suralan* tried to be.

* Now Lord Sugar of Amstrad.

I think you’ll find both are equally known for their shady business practices... BillG-era Microsoft practically wrote the book on it.

No, Bill G's dodgy practices were preceded (and massively outdone) by Thomas J Watson.

Can someone with a good grasp of English go over this article and sort it out please?

> O’Donnell said Gates-related coronavirus conspiracies have been rated “the most widespread coronavirus that exist”...

There's a missing "falsehood" there for starters.

Well of course he's going to deny it. It's only in the films that the evil genius confesses his plan well ahead of time when there's still enough of an opportunity to stop it. Not to mention, if he wanted to implant his 5G mind controlling chips in people he could just take a leaf out of Samuel L Jackson's book in Kingsman, and just give away free internet to everyone as a ruse.

Seriously though, I'm not quite sure a conspiracy theory can be "debunked" just by the guy that the conspiracy theory is about claiming that it's not true, as it would be a pretty straightforward process otherwise.

And for those who say it's such a far-fetched plan it just doesn't make sense... well done, you're already doing Bill's work for him.

Two words: plausible deniability.

If something is obviously wrong or problematic (untested [takes 8-12 years] vaccine, which alters genome), they provide their own critics. They drag all well-founded criticism in the mud by adding absolutely ridiculous theses.

It's like protesting against female circumcision, and then there's someone standing next to you who screams the loudest while jerking off. That's when you know that they want you to leave it alone.

Not sure why you've got so many down votes, but then ... looks at glowing endorsement for Gates .... yeah, that's why.

I’m impressed he even bothered to waste his breath to deny this claptrap.

I’m no fan of Bill Gates but really! You have to be a complete moron to believe this stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump believes it, for example; yes I’m talking THAT moronic.

Trump doesn't believe it, but he knows that many in his voter base do. Just as Trump knows that many of his base are white evangelical Christians, but he himself isn't a God-fearing man.

- actually, many of the proported 'values' of the Christian Right were adopted in the seventies because they could no longer be overtly racist. Strewth, they voted in Reagan, a divorcee, over Carter who was an actual practising Christian. They've used various codes since the seventies, such as 'silent majority', but with Trump they no longer need the window dressing.

Carter's Christianity is deeply opposed to most Southern "Christianity". That may be a factor. Were Jesus to come back again [I know, not going to happen] he'd need a rather large world-spanning megaphone to reach every church member to whom he needed to say "Depart from me, ye liars and hypocrites", and a rather small church to contain all the politicians who actually tried to follow his ideas.

Will the vaccine crash randomly? Will I lose functionality in the next update? Will I need a physical upgrade to run the vaccine properly? How much memory do I need?

Please sit down quietly for a bit, an update for your 5G Mind Control chippery is in progress. This could take some time. Please do not attempt to operate machinery or drive a vehicle whist the update is in progress. Please remain seated until the update has finished. Please close all of your current absent-minded thoughts and memories - failure to do so may result in memory loss and/or the onset of dementia. Thank you.

UPDATE FAILED - Please remain calm and remain seated. You may be feeling a bit blue and you may experience the visual illusion of random hexadecimal bits of text floating in front of your eyes. Please do not be alarmed. Please take pen and paper a write down as much information about the thoughts and feelings you are experiencing right now and send it to: Evil Bill, 10 The Secret Volcanic Lair, California. Please also include as much personal information about yourself as you can. Our engineers are working on a solution. Thank you.

My hope is that if I spread 5G Corona theories on Facebook five times a day, then the New World Order will already know that I am a nutter and know my location and inside leg measurement - thus negating the need for them to inject me with a mind-reading, location-tracking vaccine.

/S

FFS, Robert Anton Winston was a tonne of fun, but really, some people took it seriously.

You have it worng, Covid 19 is spread by Musks Starlink satellites and to protect yourself put a plastic bag over your head and cable tie it around the neck.

Don't worry feeling faint is normal.

won't work around here as the 5G signal is poor to non-existent'

shit - I think I heard a helicopter