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submitted 5 months ago by Maerman@lemmy.world to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

So I just read Bill Gates' 1976 Open Letter To Hobbyists, in which he whines about not making more money from his software. You know, instead of being proud of making software that people wanted to use. And then the bastard went on and made proprietary licences for software the industry standard, holding back innovation and freedom for decades. What a douche canoe.

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[-] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 14 points 5 months ago

What?! No. I bet next you are gonna tell me lil Donnie Trump is a pedophile.

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[-] Geobloke@aussie.zone 11 points 5 months ago

Cool, you're taking life lessons from a 21 year old...

[-] DupaCycki@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

There have been many times when I thought to myself: "Hold on. Can I be absolutely sure that billionaires are scum? Maybe there's a crucial part of the story I'm missing?"

Every single time I just found even more cases of them blatantly lying, manipulating data and taking advantage of everything and everyone around them for personal gain. And every one of those times, it got me more depressed about the current and future state of society and the world in general.

You can try this yourself. I highly recommend it, even though the outcome is obvious. We can very rarely, if ever, be 100% sure about anything, so it's always a good idea to put your beliefs to the test. However, I find it fairly self-evident that anyone seriously arguing in favor of any billionaire has simply never critically examined this topic.

No matter where and how deeply you look, it's just evidence upon evidence upon evidence that they are, in fact, the worst filth that has ever shared the air with us. Though at least this one thing is comming to an end. Soon, we'll be breathing toxic waste while they'll be enjoying clean air in their doomsday bunkers larger than entire neighborhoods.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 9 points 5 months ago
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[-] thefactremains@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

I think he genuinely believed it was the best thing for society. He, like so many, was (and likely still is) convinced that everyone thinks like he does. So he believes the only thing that drives people is money.

Now if that were the case, the only way to advance society and facilitate growth in software would be to offer smart people a lot of money.

In that flawed logic, he really thought it was for the best.

[-] Maerman@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

Fair point. It's not an excuse, but it does explain a lot. Nobody is the villain in their own story, after all.

[-] Eyedust@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 5 months ago

My PC repair teacher hated Gates. The first story he told us about him was about how he essentially obtained DOS for a literal pittance, turned a massive profit on it, and never credited the original creators.

I might've skewed the story over the years of trying to keep it in my memory, but if I did it just goes to show how much I hate Bill Gates.

[-] nagaram@startrek.website 7 points 5 months ago

Nah you about got it.

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this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2025
704 points (94.8% liked)

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