Squeak said:And he sure made completely sure people knew about it.
If it had been real philanthropy, he would have done it quietly, without any press releases and proclamation, for precisely the reason that it might be seen as not entirely out of the goodness of his heart but rather smart PR.
Going into fake philanthropy is probably one of the smartest PR moves ever of microsoft. The money given out will most likely come again due to increased goodwill towards the company amongst the general consumer.
It's all nice and dandy that microsoft gives money to charity, no matter the reason. But that doesn't change the fact that it has a generally very bad behavior and influence in the industry.
All the money earned from ridiculously high license contracts for governments and PC manufactures, would have helped the poor much better through better-budgeted welfare programs.
This is so ass-backwards. People should be recognized for charitable donations. A foundation that donates $30 billion should be celebrated. Who cares if MS gets some good PR? Certainly not the people whom the Gates foundation has helped.
That said, it looks like MS will almost be profitable in 2007. Perhaps they will be in the black as soon as '08, or perhaps that optimistic number is just due to the eventual Halo 3 launch.