back to article Bill Gates's barbed comments pop Google's broadband balloons

Charity mogul Bill Gates couldn't give a flying clippy about Google's broadband balloon PR puffery. The tech titan reserved some barbed words for Google when asked by BusinessWeek what he thought of the Mountain View Chocolate Factory's "loon" attempt to bring internet to developing countries via floating balloons. "When you' …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Intelligence!

    "Gates believes that problems with human health are more fundamental than Google's plan to give the poor access to lolcats, ad-backed Gmail, and grainy YouTube videos of sneezing pandas."

    Finally, some one with a bit of sanity and an outlook on the complete picture. He might not be a saint, but for this comment I'll give him an A+.

    1. Roo
      Boffin

      Re: Intelligence!

      Blimey, Bill Gate's is still getting blind-sided by the internet again, he really is a dipstick sometimes. Here are a few ways I think the Internet can help with Malaria (some of them have actually been put into practice by people with Malaria in Africa too).

      0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet.

      1) You could use the internet to ask for medical assistance.

      2) You could use the internet to help you find the nearest clinic.

      3) You could use the internet to discover how to treat malaria and acquire appropriate treatments.

      ... And then there's the long game ...

      The internet can help people conduct and grow their businesses in remote areas (ie: they can reach foreign markets, investors etc), thereby bringing prosperity to remote areas help improve the quality of life, and incidentally give them more money to spend on healthcare and education.

      Sure, curing Malaria would be great, but people still need a roof over their heads, food and fuel while they wait for it. Also, the chances of eradicating Malaria are pretty slim because it evolves. Several treatments have already been rendered ineffective because Malaria has adapted to counter them and unfortunately this process will continue regardless of what Bill thinks is right and wrong.

      1. Hairy Spod

        Re: Intelligence!

        I'd rather be given one of Bill's mosquito nets than access to free wi fi for the afternoon.

        And what's the point of knowing where the nearest clinic is if I cant afford to see the physician or buy any medicine.

        1. mfraz

          Re: Intelligence!

          If it is a Microsoft mosquito net then it'll have huge big holes in it for the mosquitos to enter!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: mfraz

            "If it is a Microsoft mosquito net then it'll have huge big holes in it for the mosquitos to enter!"

            Not to worry, MS can patch that bug...

            In seriousness though, it does point out that we are better off looking for practical and immediate help at times. Although there are times where long term goals and assistance is needed. Education can help, but I'm not sure if "free internet" is the key there. Mosquito nets do seem to help in the short term. Let's hope the education side of things is done too...

            1. Sirius Lee
              FAIL

              Re: mfraz

              So the subject is the hardships of the unimaginably poor and you're choosing to take a pop at Microsoft. How desperate are you?

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: mfraz

              'Not to worry, MS can patch that bug...'

              If you saw that BBC2 science club thing last night, you'd know that's exactly what some people are trying to do...

          2. This post has been deleted by its author

          3. Darth_RayDar

            Re: Intelligence!

            No problem. Every Tuesday is 'Stitch Tuesday'.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Intelligence!

          "I'd rather be given one of Bill's mosquito nets than access to free wi fi for the afternoon."

          Just be sure not to turn the net inside out though; like on the Simpson's.

          "In Africa, anti-malaria mosquito nets go unused by recipients

          The treated nets are effective despite design flaws. But to better combat diseases of the poor, we should empower the very people affected to devise their own solutions."

          Wouldn't access to the Internet help empower them?

          "The premise behind the idea of treated nets is simple. The netting prevents malarial mosquitoes from biting people while they're asleep, and the insecticide kills and repels the insects. World health experts say that using the nets can reduce child mortality in malarial regions by 20%."

          A whopping 20%?

          "But even as donations roll in and millions of bed nets pile up in warehouses across Africa, aid agencies and non-governmental organizations are quietly grappling with a problem: Data suggest that, at least in some places, nearly half of Africans who have access to the nets refuse to sleep under them."

          So they don't want the nets.

          "Many rural people also believe that malaria is caused not just by mosquitoes but also by other factors such as mangoes, or hard work."

          Ahhh, that is why they just want assistance, use the guise of hard work causes malaria as an excuse not to work.

          1. Chicken Marengo
            FAIL

            Re: Intelligence!

            >>A whopping 20%?

            A 20% reduction in infant mortality translates to a marked increase in life expectancy. The advances in life expectancy that happened in the west with the introduction of modern medicine and hygiene standards were not due to old folk suddenly living longer, but due to reduced infant mortality (and death in child birth - another major issue in the developing world).

            >>Ahhh, that is why they just want assistance, use the guise of hard work causes malaria as an excuse not to work.

            Ah, that explains your tone. you would appear to be a Daily Mail reading racist who thinks everyone not fortunate enough to be within the top 1% of the worlds population is some sort of workshy scrounger.

            I suspect you have absolutely no concept of the gulf in income/wealth, health, education and life opportunities between the western world and the developing world. Which is a shame as unlike the majority of the worlds population, you actually have the tools and the wealth to educate yourself.

          2. Robert Helpmann??
            Childcatcher

            Re: Intelligence!

            "World health experts say that using the nets can reduce child mortality in malarial regions by 20%."

            A whopping 20%?

            ...

            Ahhh, that is why they just want assistance, use the guise of hard work causes malaria as an excuse not to work.

            ... or perhaps these are all stopgap measures until a true cure can be developed. Also, education plays a role in any disease eradication program. You seem to be blaming the victim a bit here.

        3. Montreal Sean

          Re: Intelligence!

          While free wi-fi access to the info is commendable, it ignores the fact that many of these people can't afford the smartphone or computer to use the wi-fi.

      2. andreas koch

        @ Roo - Re: Intelligence!

        You're right.

        But not in the places that get hit by Malaria and Dengue. In these regions people couldn't afford a RaspberryPi shared between 4 families, apart from the fact that there's no 'leccy to run it. And most would first have to learn to read as well.

        And you're twice right that the people need a roof, [clean water], food and fuel first. And then get some health issues right. And then get an education. And then get an infrastructure. And then, after all that, then get Google.

        Or, if you prefer, Bing.

        (I'm not a Mega-Microsoft fan, but I think Gates has the priorities 'righter'.)

      3. sam bo
        FAIL

        Re: Intelligence!

        I take it you have never been to a Third World country and seen the almost unimaginable poverty a large portion of this earths 7billion plus population live under ?

        Clean water - "luxury".

        First things first...the internet is a first world luxury, not a necessity.

        1. JaitcH
          Thumb Down

          Re: Intelligence!

          I live in Second and 'Third World' countries, to adopt your classification and I guess you haven't seen too much.

          Cell handsets and InterNet keep even the most basic of African villages rolling. Not only can they do business and banking over these facilities but also ascertain present day prices of commodities and minerals so they don't get ripped off by dealers.

          In Laos it's how remote villages keep in touch, summons help from authorities get medical advice, taking accommodation reservations and doing other business.

          In VietNam almost every teenager spends hours on-line studying languages from the BBC or general education from that equally amazing Khan Academy, even on-line university credit courses.

          Gates does his thing and Google does theirs.

          In making that snide comment Bill Gates, worth $61B and Richest Man in America, said more about his small mindedness, than anything.

        2. Tom 13

          Re: the almost unimaginable poverty

          You can't fix that overnight and there's no sense in trying to.

          Funny thing about building out the internet into those places. First thing you're going to need is a healthy workforce to do the building. That means the first thing you're going to have to do is teach them how to clean up the water, build the house, and get the food. Supplying them with the job building that infrastructure is actually going to go a long way toward them having the kind of money to do it.

          Second thing you're going to need is people using it. So you're going to have to do the same things for the people NOT working for you. And some of those people might start seeing opportunities to do things for people outside their villages. Things that might make them the kind of money so they can do their own things. Maybe even buy their own netting. And who knows, once connected to the internet one them might even have the breakthrough idea that creates an actual working renewable source of energy.

        3. Tim Worstal

          Re: Intelligence!

          10% of the population having a mobile phone adds 0.5% of the growth rate in GDP per year. That's in a country without a landline network.

          We also know that broadband increases the growth rate even where there is a landline network.

          Therefore we might assume that mobile broadband will increase the growth rate.

          Which is a pretty good thing in a place where there's hundreds of millions of poor people.

        4. Roo
          Boffin

          Re: Intelligence! @ "sam bo" (not the best of choice of name for this flamefest IMHO)

          I have spent a bit of time in a Third World country with no running water, electricity, proper middens etc, the kind of place where they tie up their disabled kids with barbed wire (no, I don't understand why they did that and yes it still makes me angry 20+ years later). Some of the brighter folks there would steal the telephone cabling for the single village telephone, so the guys trying to provide healthcare would have no way to order supplies etc, so there's one application for wireless comms for the masses right there.

          From that relatively short trip I've seen enough to know that curing Malaria would fix just one of the problems those folks have, meanwhile there's a lot of other stuff that can be fixed by a bit of education, better communication and easier access to better information.

          Go and push some Malaria nets if you feel like it, I think it's a good thing to do, but equally I think providing better communications is actually more useful - which is why I take issue with BillG rubbishing something that is a potential game changer for the poor sods out in the styx.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        Re: Intelligence!

        @Roo Dude, you've used the wrong icon. Something like this needs either the 'troll' or 'joke' icon.

      5. Darryl

        Re: Intelligence!

        "0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet."

        Wait. You can catch Malaria from the internet???!!!!

      6. Christopher Rogers
        IT Angle

        Re: Intelligence!

        You completely missed the point. Gates is aware of and indeed backs the use of tech for imrpoving quality of life. However, the diseases and awful conditions the people with on a daily basis, will not find salvation on a website, but in medicines and clean drinking water and a safe food supply. I'm all for the remote clinic idea for instance, but it is no use if the people cannot leave their homes due to being ravished by painful and crippling conditions.

        0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet. <- and still go out and drink from your only water supply, full of feces and god knows what else.

        1) You could use the internet to ask for medical assistance. <-Or approach the medical staff who have medicines with them, backed by international health organisations

        2) You could use the internet to help you find the nearest clinic. <- and not get to it because you are too weak, possibly blind and have a family to attend to.

        3) You could use the internet to discover how to treat malaria and acquire appropriate treatments. <-what, using paypal accounts full of sand?

        1. Christopher Rogers
          Headmaster

          Re: Intelligence!

          "imrpoving" should be improving

          "people with on a daily basis" should be "people deal with on a daily basis"

          And i think that whole sentence reads badly, but you all seem to to get the drift....

        2. Tom 13

          Re: Intelligence!

          0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet. <- and still go out and drink from your only water supply, full of feces and god knows what else.

          Presumably one of the things you could find on the internet if information about how to improve your only water source. Although I expect most parts of the world figured out it not a good idea for your privy to run into your well before the English did.

          1) You could use the internet to ask for medical assistance. <-Or approach the medical staff who have medicines with them, backed by international health organisations

          I expect if International Health staff were just standing around the village with nothing to do, the first thing they would have done is improved that well we just finished discussing. In reality you probably have to hunt them down. So tell me, which is easier, having the family living on $1/month hunt down the medical staff backed by the billionaire, or having them send notice to the medical staff to come to the village or arrange a meeting at another location?

          3) You could use the internet to discover how to treat malaria and acquire appropriate treatments. <-what, using paypal accounts full of sand?

          Some of the stuff you can do to prevent it is no or very low cost. The internet certainly provides better chance to connect to organizations that assist with the expensive bits. Hell, put the a decent plan together and you might even be able to crowd source it. We 'Merkins take a lot of flack for not properly funding international organizations that governments create to handle these things. But what I've noticed is that if you go to a local church with a specific plan to help a specific location with a well thought out project, they'll cough up the money for it. Sometimes as quick as a week, sometimes longer depending on the size of the project.

      7. Naughtyhorse

        Re: Intelligence!

        0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet.

        you can catch malaria off of the internet?

      8. Christopher Edwards

        Re: Intelligence!

        You can't catch Malaria from the Internet.

        1. andreas koch
          Thumb Up

          @ Captain Obvious/ Christopher Edwards - Re: Intelligence!

          Thank you for this information.

        2. cyborg
          Facepalm

          Re: Intelligence!

          I believed you and now I have Malaria. :(

      9. Montreal Sean

        Re: Intelligence!

        "0) You could learn about Malaria and how

        to avoid catching it from the internet."

        So, how do I avoid getting malaria from the internet? If it's transmitted by wire I'm ok, I'm wireless.

        :)

      10. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Intelligence!

        In order for that to work you'd need to be able to be literate. I think some my western brethren really need to get out a bit. Then again, judging by what I see before my eyes, it looks like some of my western brethren also could use a bit of literacy.

      11. Ralph B
        Thumb Up

        @Roo Re: Intelligence!

        I came here to say what you did, Roo, so gave you a upvote instead.

        (No idea why you've received so many downvotes though, since everything you've written seems quite reasonable and correct.)

        1. Roo
          Happy

          Re: @Roo Intelligence! Back @ye Ralph

          Thanks for the thought Ralph.

          Judging by the self-righteous spleen venting going on in response to my post I suspect that you are one of the few people who read my whole post before they downvoted / commented. :)

          I have been to Africa, I have seen some of this stuff first hand and I do know from first hand experience that Malaria is a terrible disease. In fact a number of people who are close to me have survived severe doses of Malaria (a friend, my younger sister and a niece) and I would love to see better treatments for Malaria. I took exception to BillG's 'tude because I feel he appears to be slamming something that could revolutionise the lives of the poor folks in the Styx for no good reason.

      12. mIRCat
        Joke

        Re: Intelligence!

        "0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet."

        Everyone knows you can't catch malaria from the internet.

        You get it from sporozoite - Protection Against Malaria by Intravenous Immunization with a Nonreplicating Sporozoite Vaccine.

      13. keep-it-calm-or-more
        Thumb Down

        Re: Intelligence!

        > 0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet.

        > 1) You could use the internet to ask for medical assistance.

        > 2) You could use the internet to help you find the nearest clinic.

        > 3) You could use the internet to discover how to treat malaria and acquire appropriate treatments.

        For the love of lolcats and internets, please do a little bit research before baffling out nonsense like that. Malaria is not a cold or common fever, it kills and it's not home treatable. No internet page will give you a vaccination or treatment ideas against that.

        Let me cite you something, as looking it up yourself seemed to be difficult : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

        "

        The WHO estimates that in 2010 there were 219 million cases of malaria resulting in 660,000 deaths,[79] equivalent to roughly 2000 deaths every day.[3] Using a different set of predictive models the number of documented and undocumented deaths in 2010 was estimated at 1.24 million.[80] This is up from an estimated 1.0 million deaths in 1990.

        "

        If those 2000 deaths per day would be avoided by common knowledge and a page of information, believe me, they wouldn't happen.

        1. HippyFreetard
          Joke

          Re: Intelligence!

          "Simple home-made malaria cure, discovered by a mum, that the WHO don't want you to know!!! Click here!"

      14. Amorous Cowherder
        Facepalm

        Re: Intelligence!

        "Bill Gate's is still getting blind-sided by the internet again..."

        You can sit there in your nice cozy first-world seat, banging on about how the internet is empowering people with access to information. Yeah it does when people can use it and understand it.

        A vast majority of people in the third-world don't have have medicine, clean water, safe place to sleep, food to eat and what's more they haven't got a damn clue when the next meal is coming from or even when! You have boys as young at 7-8 or being forced to fight with weapons they can barely lift, the girls of the same age being "trained" to be comfort women for the the troops in war-torn areas. You have all the pharmo-corps dumping out of date medical supplies that are useless to the people. Dump 20,000 cases of out of date viagra on some country that's in the grip of a cholera epidemic. What about the hoo-ha when Nestle would send out baby-formula to countries but never put the right language on the tins so people used it incorrectly and infants died? Let's not even touch basic literacy, so many people in desperate need of the basic 3 Rs that our primary school kids take for granted.

        Yes people need information, yes they need education so they can get themselves out of the mess most of the countries of the west have put them in over the last few hundred years but it needs to be done face-to-face by people, where someone can ensure the information, education and aid gets right to the people who need it. We send millions in aid to foreign countries only to have some tinpot dictator nick it, spend it on doing up his palace and maybe 5% trickles down to the poor. Imagine we ship load of top-notch electronic kit out there, Xmas come early for General XYZ fo the People's Liberation Army.

        Education and information are too vital to be left to chance, they must be given in a way that ensures people get it, it stays with them and allows them to stand proud on their own two feet, then and only then will they have enough of the basic human rights and needs to be able to consider using luxuries we take for granted.

      15. Stoneshop
        FAIL

        Re: Intelligence!

        The internet can help people conduct and grow their businesses in remote areas (ie: they can reach foreign markets, investors etc), thereby bringing prosperity to remote areas help improve the quality of life, and incidentally give them more money to spend on healthcare and education.

        And infrastructure to actually get their products to or from remote markets would magically appear when there's internet?

        There are ways to help these people help themselves. Internet access is not the first on that list. By far.

      16. JohnG

        Re: Intelligence!

        "0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet.

        1) You could use the internet to ask for medical assistance.

        2) You could use the internet to help you find the nearest clinic.

        3) You could use the internet to discover how to treat malaria and acquire appropriate treatments."

        Roo, your comment suggests that you haven't been to any of the third world countries where, for most people, day to day survival is a bit of a challenge. Where children have any schooling, you can be sure that they and their parents are informed about how to avoid catching malaria and numerous other diseases. However, whilst the cost of a mosquito net may seem trivial to us, it may be prohibitively expensive for village folk. Anti-malarial drugs are also expensive and are often counterfeit i.e. useless and even harmful. They all know where the nearest clinic is but it may take the best part of a day to walk there and they probably won't have the money to pay for drugs or treatment.

      17. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Unhappy

        @RooRe: Intelligence!

        I think you'll find most people in the developing world have a pretty good idea of what Maleria is and how to avoid catching it.

        I'm no fan of bad boy Billy but in this one he's right. On Maslin's pyramid food, water, shelter and not dying are pretty basic needs.

      18. james 68

        Re: Intelligence!

        dont forget how doctors can use it to contact clinics and map outbreaks, request aid, order meds etc.

      19. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Intelligence!

        ... because that fabulous internet thingy will magically teach them how to read English?

        You think those people in need have the means to go to school, let alone buy a computer? Somehow, I doubt that's high on their priorities list.

        That's why internet is good to a school or other assistance center, but rather pointless to individuals.

        And you should learn about malaria. It's not a virus, it's a parasite. And there are no vaccines against parasites yet.

        http://malarianomore.org.uk/malaria?#fighting-malaria

        1. Justicesays
          Boffin

          Re: Intelligence!

          "And you should learn about malaria. It's not a virus, it's a parasite. And there are no vaccines against parasites yet."

          Getting close though

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23607612

      20. Triggerfish

        Re: Intelligence!

        While I see where you are coming from.

        I think you don't really show much knowledge of why people are being affected by malaria and why its such a killer in poor countries.

        For example

        Its alright knowing what causes it but affording mosquito nets and being able to eradicate issues such as stagnant water to prevent it aren't that easy in some of these areas.

        Likewise knowing that prophylactics are available is all well and good, but that's a lot of cash for someone whose poor to dose themselves with all of the time. (Plus some pretty unpleasant side effects - especially in the older type ones).

      21. Michael Habel

        Re: Intelligence!

        Assuming that your both "poor" and "brown"... just how, and dare I ask where... Do you find the Device / Power Source required to actually get on the Web? Then there's that pseky little problem of 55% of all the known Websites being in a foreign language to your own. Or do all Africans speak English too? This is even before you take in any basic education at all into consideration.

        I'm not a Billy Gates fanboi. not by a long shot, and throwing good money out with the bad on Africa IS NEVER THE ANSWER! I could care less if your name is Geldof of not! It can help the situation, but Africa also needs to change its identity too. A lot of times it stubbornly refuses to do so. Sadly history missed a tick back during the times when we had colonization. Yes you could argue about how it was a failure. I'm not saying that it wasn't! But, sometimes you have to kick some rass to get sh-- done.

        In the case of Europe... We can mostly thank the Italians for that... So lets not go all soft and assume Money is a great healer. ITS NOT! Money is Money cause we accept that it has value. I saw One time how some BBC Bloke in some Documetery gave your tribal African a single Dollar Bill. The poor bloke probably thought it was only good to wipe his rear with... Not that he'd be much wrong in thinking that.

        And its THIS THAT IS WRONG WITH AFRICA! Fix that, and most other things will eventually follow.

        i.e. >Implying that the colonization of South Africa has done much harm.

        Hell if anything it has probably made it into the single best Country on the whole of that Continent!

        1. Michael Habel

          Re: Intelligence!

          Well the down vote does not surprise me much.

          I agree its a hard concept to work out. But, if you want to fix the African Problem... You're gonna have to get your hands dirty. Money is only a Tool that, both parties must first agree to in order that a trade can then take place. If most internal Africans have no concept of what Credit, much less what Money is. And would rather play their time out as a primitive race of simple hunters, and gatherers. Without any other care in the World. Then who am I to say its wrong?

          But, then when the harvest / migration goes tits up we get pompous idiots like Geldof or Gates to point out how bad it all is. First off before we go looking for crap in far off, and slightly exotic climes. Shouldn't we fix whats wrong at home first?

          I wonder how much love the Romans had during their time of Empire... Say what you will but, Europe and much of the rest of the World would be a very different place then it is today if it, weren't for them.

      22. Colin Millar

        Re: Intelligence! Point 0)

        You can catch malaria from teh internets?!!!

        It really is a bad thing that internets.

      23. Anonymous Blowhard
        FAIL

        Re: Intelligence!

        0) You could learn about Malaria and how to avoid catching it from the internet.

        You could; if you could read, and someone had provided you with a computer.

        1) You could use the internet to ask for medical assistance.

        Where's that coming from then? Things you take for granted like the availability of medical care just don't exist in much of the developing world.

        2) You could use the internet to help you find the nearest clinic.

        Really? If only these stupid people would just walk down the street to their local medical centre eh?

        3) You could use the internet to discover how to treat malaria and acquire appropriate treatments.

        First you'd need the money to pay for the treatment; I know why don't they use the internet to set up some kind of advertising business. If they work hard, and are lucky, they might be profitable before they've died.

        Crass doesn't even begin to describe your post.

        1. Roo
          Boffin

          Re: Intelligence! @ Anonymous Blowhard

          "Crass doesn't even begin to describe your post."

          Clearly you have failed to read my post because you (like so many others) have ignored most of it in your rush to post dumb and sarcastic responses to the bullet points.

          In fairness, I had the same kind of gut reaction when people were promoting cell phone use in poor areas (no leccy, they won't know how to work them etc) - but guess what ? Billions of those folks worked out how to use them, they found ways to charge them and they get a lot of value out of using their mobile phones. Throwing in Internet access isn't a big leap for these folks. I don't believe for a minute that the internet will make all the poor people rich overnight, but I think it will improve the quality of their lives and access to essential services in the mid-long term.

          Which is going to help folks in the Third World more ?

          1) Making sarcastic posts and insulting Commentards on the Register.

          2) Trying sticking up for schemes that offer improved communications to the Third World on the Register.

      24. This post has been deleted by its author

      25. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Intelligence!

        You are the idiot, Roo. They already know how to avoid catching it (e.g. don't get bit, drain stagnant waters etc). What is lacking is the resources (e.g. mosquito nets).

        Malaria (which comes in different forms) can be a total bitch to cure, even where the drugs are effective they are too expensive. FYI: people can become immune to some forms of malaria through exposure (although the immunity wanes once there is no more exposure).

        http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19136431

        If you don't know anything about a subject, don't talk about said subject.

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