View Full Version : The Hell That is Bill Gates Life...
OklahomaTuba
2/3/2006, 09:14 AM
MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said today the tax office in the US has to store his financial data on a special computer because his fortune is so vast.
"My tax return in the United States has to be kept on a special computer because their normal computers can't deal with the numbers," he said at a Microsoft conference held in Lisbon.
"So I am constantly getting these notices telling me I haven't paid something when really it is just on the wrong computer," he added in comments broadcast on television.
"Then they will send me another notice telling me how bad they feel they that they sent me a notice that was a mistake," he said
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18005181-13762,00.html
Harry Beanbag
2/3/2006, 09:16 AM
He probably pays more in taxes in one year than every member of this board has earned in their lifetimes. Now that Bruce is gone of course.
crawfish
2/3/2006, 09:18 AM
His life would be easier if they'd swap the normal computers for linux boxes. :D
OklahomaTuba
2/3/2006, 09:21 AM
What a great new tagline for Linux.
Linux - We can do Bill's taxes.
What a great new tagline for Linux.
Linux - We can do Bill's taxes.
:D
He probably pays more in taxes in one year than every member of this board COMBINED has earned in their lifetimes. Now that Bruce is gone of course.
Fixed! :D
Harry Beanbag
2/3/2006, 10:36 AM
Fixed! :D
Yeah, that's what I meant.
salth2o
2/3/2006, 11:02 AM
http://www.wildutah.net/10-18-00/images/tax.jpg
I have a feeling Bill was trying to get braggarty. Either that, or the IRS is using computers from 1923 running winXP.
SoonerInKCMO
2/3/2006, 03:59 PM
I have a feeling Bill was trying to get braggarty. Either that, or the IRS is using computers from 1923 running winXP.
I was thinking more along the lines that the story was made up by someone other than Bill. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous - it's not like he's orders of magnitude richer than everyone else.
I was thinking more along the lines that the story was made up by someone other than Bill. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous - it's not like he's orders of magnitude richer than everyone else.
well, he is....but only a few orders of magnitude....well within any computers precision.
Bill Gates earns $250 every SECOND. If he sneezes, there's another 250 bones. Let's assume he spends two and a half minutes brushing his teeth every morning. That's a $37,500 tooth brushing right there.
That kind of money is incomprehensible to me.
Bill Gates earns $250 every SECOND. If he sneezes, there's another 250 bones. Let's assume he spends two and a half minutes brushing his teeth every morning. That's a $37,500 tooth brushing right there.
That kind of money is incomprehensible to me.
How much would he make on the crapper?
How much would he make on the crapper?
$300k
:eek: That's an expensive piece of poo :eek:
n8v_ndn
2/3/2006, 05:11 PM
I bet it's an AIX system...the real back office, eh Bill? ;)
lexsooner
2/3/2006, 05:22 PM
He's an interesting fellow, probably one of the more gifted individuals of our generation. The average lay person often thinks very wealthy people roll around in piles of money in their huge mansion and live a jet set life, with plenty of leisure time. To the contrary, self-made wealthy people I see are very driven workaholics who thrive on making, creating, succeeding. The material gain from their monetary success is largely secondary.
These gifted folks (and sadly I am not one of them) live in a world of ideas and have the drive and abilities to make them into reality. Absent illness or some other major setback, they are always thinking and creating something new. Gates is a rare combination of technical wizardry, business genius, and incredible drive. The guy is so driven and focused that he doesn't even pay attention to personal hygiene or dress. He is a dork in many ways, but nonetheless an amazing person.
I used to not like him, but I see he and his wife have given an incredible amount of money to charity and they have established a major charitable organization and spend lots of time with it. He has said he intends to give away most of his wealth to charities, and I do not doubt it.
Petro-Sooner
2/3/2006, 05:26 PM
I heard he was complaining about gas prices.
:D
He's an interesting fellow, probably one of the more gifted individuals of our generation. The average lay person often thinks very wealthy people roll around in piles of money in their huge mansion and live a jet set life, with plenty of leisure time. To the contrary, self-made wealthy people I see are very driven workaholics who thrive on making, creating, succeeding. The material gain from their monetary success is largely secondary.
These gifted folks (and sadly I am not one of them) live in a world of ideas and have the drive and abilities to make them into reality. Absent illness or some other major setback, they are always thinking and creating something new. Gates is a rare combination of technical wizardry, business genius, and incredible drive. The guy is so driven and focused that he doesn't even pay attention to personal hygiene or dress. He is a dork in many ways, but nonetheless an amazing person.
I used to not like him, but I see he and his wife have given an incredible amount of money to charity and they have established a major charitable organization and spend lots of time with it. He has said he intends to give away most of his wealth to charities, and I do not doubt it.
you are absolutely correct that he is pure business and tech genius. and while his gifts to charity are much appreciated and a credit to his good nature, I still choose to dislike him based soley on his business practices. granted, I don't blame him one bit for his business practices...if I had the kind of monopoly he does, I'd probably wield its power in much worse ways than he does. But he is no doubt one hell of an interesting figure.
lexsooner
2/3/2006, 05:47 PM
you are absolutely correct that he is pure business and tech genius. and while his gifts to charity are much appreciated and a credit to his good nature, I still choose to dislike him based soley on his business practices. granted, I don't blame him one bit for his business practices...if I had the kind of monopoly he does, I'd probably wield its power in much worse ways than he does. But he is no doubt one hell of an interesting figure.
I actually feel similarly about his business practices. The man is no holds barred cut throat. If I recall correctly, MS-DOS was intended for another company which hired Gates to develop it, but Gates took MS-DOS and ran with it and created Microsoft. I tried like crazy to stay with Netscape for years, but the Gates empire marched in and now I use Explorer. But I also tend to think, are his practices really that unique in the world of business? To a certain extent, Gates DOES because he CAN.
One day at work some of us were talking about private companies which are booming, like EBay, Walmart, etc. We then started talking about Gates and it occurred to us he could probably go into any type of business and wipe out the competition if he so desired, selling goods cheaper and providing better service than any competitor, and probably with a better developed business model. He has the vast resources and business saavy to do it. Scary thought, huh? Good thing he appears to be a pretty nice guy. What if the next Bill Gates is Dr. Evil?
SoonerInKCMO
2/3/2006, 09:23 PM
well, he is....but only a few orders of magnitude....well within any computers precision.
No, what I'm saying is that he isn't 10 or 100 times richer than everyone else in the country. He's richer than all of us, but at least people like Paul Allen, Larry Ellison and Warren Buffet are in the general neighborhood - worth many billions. I can't believe that any system that can work with their level of wealth can't also work with Gates' level. And I'm sure Gates knows that and knows that many other people would realize that ... which is why I'm incredulous regarding the veracity of the 'news' story.
Course, he mighta said it cause he's nutty like that.
$.0681126
That is my per-second income.
And that includes some freelance work on the side.
Ladies, PLEASE! Calm down.
lexsooner
2/3/2006, 10:28 PM
It just occurred to me how ironic it is that wealthy self-made individuals typically don't care that much about money itself, but they care about being busy, ideas, creativity, building things, success; that people who don't have much money typically care a lot about money and often try to live like they have a lot; and people who never had much money care a lot about money but then get a lot (lotto winner or inherited) and can't seem to handle having it.
All of this makes me think maybe the Lord is trying to tell all of us mortals something about money and materialism, but we are slow learners.
Hey, this is my 500th post, so I am desparately trying to say something halfway profound, ok?????
Tailwind
2/3/2006, 10:36 PM
Very profound. Now send me $100.00.
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