Gates? $100 Million Estate a Poor Venue for Piracy Talks
Memo to Bill Gates: I???m not sure that wining and dining an avowed Communist in a $100 million dollar high-tech mansion owned by the world???s richest man makes a strong case for the financial harm caused by software piracy....
April 20, 2006
Memo to Bill Gates: I???m not sure that wining and dining an avowed Communist in a $100 million dollar high-tech mansion owned by the world???s richest man makes a strong case for the financial harm caused by software piracy. Here???s how I imagine the discussion Bill Gates had with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who dined at Mr. Gates??? estate on Tuesday evening during a visit to the U.S.
Bill Gates: ???President Hu, software piracy is a real problem.???
Hu Jintao(holding a shrimp cocktail): ???Jesus, would you look at this place????
Gates: ???Did you know that 90 percent of software used in China is pirated????
Hu: ???I could feed 10,000 peasants a day for what you spend on lawn care.???Gates: ???I???m sure we can agree the technology industry will suffer gravely without strong protection of intellectual property.???
Hu: ???I heard this place has 24 bathrooms. What???s that about????
Gates: ???According to a study by the Business Software Alliance and IDC, global PC software sales in 2004 were $59 billion, but over $90 billion worth of software was actually installed. That???s an intolerable discrepancy.???
Hu: ???I guarantee you Vista???s ship date wouldn???t have slipped if I was running the show.???
Gates: ???Piracy costs U.S. companies billions of dollars a year.???Hu: ???Dude, how much more money do you need????
About the Author
You May Also Like
2024 InformationWeek US IT Salary Report
Aug 15, 20242022 State of ITOps and SecOps
Jun 21, 2022