Zuckerberg and Gates contribute to coding tutorials initiative

[kyrathaba]

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[Renegade]

Interesting. Not sure what to think. The donors page (http://code.org/about/donors) and having an MS chief counsel on the board... Hmmm...

[wraith808]

Everything that MS and Gates do isn't bad...   There was an outcry because MS contributed to Ghost, which was complete BS.

[Vurbal]

Here in the US we have a rich tradition of robber barons who decide at some point in their life to become someone important in a historical sense and that the best way to do that is public service on a scale only they can accomplish.

Take Andrew Carnegie for example. His steel business was perhaps an order of magnitude worse than Microsoft ever was when it comes to underhanded dealings with everyone from the public to his own employees. But the impact of that pales in comparison to his generous donations to build more than 2,000 public libraries, improve colleges, and even today in funding public television programming. Whatever evil he may have perpetrated during his business career are nothing compared to that.

Based on Gates' philanthropic undertakings over the last few years I think it's clear that's his goal and I say good for him.

[Renegade]

Everything that MS and Gates do isn't bad...   There was an outcry because MS contributed to Ghost, which was complete BS.

Most? /jk

Here in the US we have a rich tradition of robber barons who decide at some point in their life to become someone important in a historical sense and that the best way to do that is public service on a scale only they can accomplish.

Take Andrew Carnegie for example. His steel business was perhaps an order of magnitude worse than Microsoft ever was when it comes to underhanded dealings with everyone from the public to his own employees. But the impact of that pales in comparison to his generous donations to build more than 2,000 public libraries, improve colleges, and even today in funding public television programming. Whatever evil he may have perpetrated during his business career are nothing compared to that.

Carnegie was also a staunch eugenicist. The Carnegie Foundation was instrumental in bringing about the Council on Foreign Relations. Etc. etc. etc.

Nothing is free. The same kinds of people that you're talking about have continually forced concessions on educational institutions in exchange for their "support".

Prior to the robber barons support of medical schools, there was far greater variety. They essentially restricted medicine to the allopathic school that now dominates. "Competition is a sin." These people were not capitalists by any stretch - they were predatory monopolists.

Based on Gates' philanthropic undertakings over the last few years I think it's clear that's his goal and I say good for him.

Leopards changing their spots? I'm not so easily swayed.

For the article, I'm still skeptical. I wonder what the hidden agenda is, because there always is one. e.g. How medical schools were forced to drop non-allopathic methods from their curriculum.

Perhaps I'm paranoid. Can you blame me when the "Department of Defense" is in charge of waging war, "Homeland Security" makes people less secure, "USAID" commits medical attrocities, etc. etc. You can very often accurately determine what an organization actually does by taking the opposite of whatever its name (or mission) is.

It makes me wonder how coding can be perverted through education (or how programming education can be used to pervert people). I can think of a few things, but, that's all just speculation.

[Vurbal]

Leopards changing their spots? I'm not so easily swayed.

I don't really see it as changing his spots. More like adjusting his aim for more grandiose goals. You can be the most brilliant business man of a generation, Thomas Watson Sr. for example, and 5 years after you've left your corporate leadership position you're barely even a footnote.

I'm sure Gates realizes his former glory at MS is no more significant than the company is at any given point in time. But build a foundation that lasts for a century or 2 and you're Somebody. You don't take the path or make it as far as he has if that isn't important to you.

And yeah, everything has a price but that's true whether you're getting it from Bill Gates or Ghandi. That's just called Tuesday.