[killme]

Bill Gates has spent a lot of time among the world's poorest poor. When you do that, your perspective changes completely and he seems to be talking from that perspective.

Also, did you read the linked article? He clearly addresses your point.

>Innovation is a good thing. The human condition – put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes – is improving because of innovation,” he says. But while ­“technology’s amazing, it doesn’t get down to the people most in need in anything near the timeframe we should want it to”.

Well, what Google and Gates' are doing is still better than Jobs' take on charity from his biography that demeans it:

"“Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he’s more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people’s ideas.”"

[pmelendez]

"Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything"

Which is a funny statement coming from Jobs, since he didn't invent anything either. Ripping off is fine when you add value, like the original Mac which borrowed a lot from Xerox labs prototypes.

[rbanffy]

I agree with you that Jobs was never a brilliant engineer, but I don't think Gates was particularly brilliant either and to say Jobs lacked imagination is ludicrous and to say he never invented anything is simply untrue. It may even be true he never invented a circuit (such as the Disk II controller) or never built a prototype himself, but that's not the whole of inventing something.

BTW, it was the Lisa that built upon the Alto (and added quite a bit of very clever ideas that never made it into the Mac).