Billysoft’s Crimes & Scandals

This is perhaps the most complex and confusing page on this website. Fortunately, I’ve done a pretty good job covering most of my bases with the title. Billysoft includes both Bill Gates and Microsoft. And any misdeeds that critics complain can’t be classified as crimes can be listed as scandals.

But writing this article is still going to be a challenge, partly because of the sheer scope of the topic. To thoroughly cover the topic, one would have to review all the lawsuits that have involved Bill Gates and/or Microsoft. That includes lawsuits filed by private citizens, corporations, the fifty states, the federal government and other nations.

Of course, a lawsuit doesn’t automatically condemn Billysoft; after all, people do file frivolous lawsuits now and then.

On the other hand, not all Billysoft scandals inspire lawsuits. Many people are afraid to challenge Microsoft in the courtroom. Some people simply don’t have the resources.

In many cases, lawsuits can’t be filed because of a lack of evidence or information. It may be obvious that Billysoft is breaking the law, but how can one sue without incriminating documents or witnesses? And who knows how many invisible scandals there are, internal conspiracies that the outside world can only guess at? Remember, Bill Gates commands a stable of sleazy attorneys and media whores who help him cover his tracks. His father is a founding partner of one of America’s most reviled lawfirms.

On top of everything else, we have to confront a still new legal frontier, the world of information technology (IT). I don’t consider myself a hard core geek, but I probably know a hundred times more about computers, software and the Internet than the average person. Yet I still have a hard time understanding many of the legal issues swirling around Billysoft.

In fact, I’m still searching for a word that describes that lethal combination of legalese and high-tech mumbo jumbo that so many Microsoft whores use in their propaganda campaigns. For the time being, I’ll refer to it as Microspeak, though we must remember that other high-tech corporations can and do sail into similar territory.

Monopoly 101

To put it in perspective, consider the question Is Bill Gates a monopolist? Or is it more accurate to say that Microsoft is guilty of monopolism?

Have either Bill Gates or Microsoft been legally convicted of monopolism? If not, is it still fair to describe either one as a monopolist? For example, Bill Gates’ friend and benefactor George W. Bush can be considered a war criminal, even if he’s never been convicted. So why can’t we call Bill Gates a monopolist? And what about that huge lawsuit that threatened to break up Microsoft during the Clinton administration? Isn’t it common knowledge that Billysoft was convicted of monopolism?

More about that later.

Ground Rules

Bill Gates vs Microsoft

Though the title of this article admirably covers a lot of territory, it’s still important to review the main players. How do we know if a crime or scandal can or should be attributed to Bill Gates, Microsoft or both?

You kind of have to play it by ear. If Microsoft is convicted of a crime, then Bill Gates may or may not be guilty by extension—practically speaking, that is. One needs to be careful about making libelous accusations.

Of course, Microsoft is a vast operation. Therefore, it’s entirely possible for employees or associates other than Bill Gates to commit crimes on their own. On the other hand, many Microsoft whores commit acts that might be considered criminal on Bill Gates’ behalf. Just as George W. Bush is ultimately responsible for the torture of prisoners around the world, so is Bill Gates ultimately responsible for most of Microsoft’s more significant crimes.

So how will that relationship change once Gates officially retires so he can devote the rest of his life to charity?

Not at all. Bill Gates owns and controls Microsoft, period. Remember when he gave up his position as CEO to become the “chief software architect?” That was just a publicity stunt. For years, Gates has been babbling about his obsession with philanthropy, even while observers comment on the fact that he’s still acting like Microsoft’s CEO.

In fact, the term Billysoft includes much more than Microsoft and Bill Gates. It includes the Gates Foundation, which can be described as a corrupt investment firm and public relations extravaganza. It also includes the law/lobby firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, which was reincarnated as K&L Gates. By extension, it can also include literally thousands of Microsoft operatives, including attorneys, media whores and corrupt politicians.

Crimes vs Scandals

Bill Gates’ groupies often protest charges that Bill Gates is a criminal with the defense that he wasn’t convicted. Well, Adolph Hitler and George W. Bush were never convicted or treason or war crimes, either.

In fact, the word criminal has both a technical and practical definition. Technically, a person who’s legally convicted of a crime is a criminal. But people who engage in actions that are popularly regarded as criminal can also be considered criminals in a broader sense.

Off the top of my head, I don’t have a clue how many crimes either Bill Gates or Microsoft have been convicted of. However, I regard each as wholly corrupt, and I’ve often described Bill Gates and his father as career criminals. My only regret is that the word criminal really doesn’t do justice to their crimes. Like Bush and Hitler, Bill and William Gates aren’t ordinary criminals. They’re beasts.

I realize that even most Billysoft critics will take issue with the Bill Gates-Hitler comparison. Well, wait until this article is nearer completion. It’s true that Bill Gates isn’t a mass murderer...although I’d like to know more about Microsoft’s connections to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember, corporations have been behind a number of U.S. military actions, from the Middle East to Latin America—and the United States government and Bill Gates are both launching major offensives in Latin America as I write this.

But even if Bill Gates is in way associated with murder, he exploits millions of children around the world. Call me old-fashioned, but I think that’s sick. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Crime Categories

I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that I don’t have the time or energy to finish this article right now. The good news is that I’m going to close by offering a list of some of Billysoft’s more notable crimes and scandals, organized into thirteen categories. I’ve also included links to some very good resources. Remember that list of Microsoft lawsuits I said I haven’t compiled yet? Well, check out Groklaw’s Microsoft Litigation page.

I’ll continue adding details and filling in the blanks as I find time. In fact, I’ll probably eventually create a separate page for each category. In the meantime, I think a mere outline of Bill Gates’ crimes against humanity is pretty staggering.

Microsoft vs Competitors

Microsoft first gained a reputation as a criminal organization due to its predatory business practices. If Microsoft had won fair and square, relying on innovation and fair business practices, it could put its name on a pedestal, next to Apple and Google. Instead, Microsoft quickly became associated with crapware and thuggery.

I’m sorry I don’t have time to list dozens or hundreds of examples right now. However, some of the most famous Microsoft victims include Netscape (browser), WordPerfect, Apple and Linux.

Anti-Trust Violations

The most famous lawsuit involving Microsoft is discussed in the Wikipedia article United States Microsoft antitrust case, from which the passage below is excerpted.

Microsoft launched a public relations campaign, claiming that the U.S. government was being used as a pawn by competitors that were jealous of Microsoft’s success. Ironically, Microsoft would be rescued from justice by George W. Bush, who later claimed that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were perpetrated by individuals who were jealous of Americans’ freedoms.

The trial was notable for exposing Bill Gates and various Microsoft officials as jerks. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said Microsoft executives had “proved, time and time again, to be inaccurate, misleading, evasive, and transparently false. ... Microsoft is a company with an institutional disdain for both the truth and for rules of law that lesser entities must respect. It is also a company whose senior management is not averse to offering specious testimony to support spurious defenses to claims of its wrongdoing.”

In his most famous comment, Jackson said Gates suffers from “a Napoleonic concept of himself and his company, an arrogance that derives from power and unalloyed success.”

On November 5, 1999, Judge Jackson issued his findings of fact, which stated that Microsoft’s dominance of the personal computer operating systems market constituted a monopoly and that Microsoft had taken actions to crush threats to its monopoly, including Apple, Java, Netscape, Lotus Notes, Real Networks, Linux, and others. On April 3, 2000, Jackson issued a two-part ruling. He concluded that Microsoft had committed monopolization, attempted monopolization, and tying in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. His remedy was to break Microsoft into two separate units, one to produce the operating system, the other to produce other software components.

Bill Gates gave himself another black eye by supporting presidential candidate George W. Bush. It was widely believed that Bush would return the favor by rescuing Gates from justice—and he did.

Screwing Consumers

Predatory business practices (including anti-trust violations), combined with Microsoft’s infamous contempt for innovation and standards (not to mention Bill Gates’ almost clinical arrogance and greed) is bad news for consumers. Indeed, it it is no exaggeration to say that Microsoft screws its own customers.

Microsoft apologists bristle at such accusations, pointing out that no one forces people to purchase Microsoft software. Though that might be literally true, there is a certain coercion factor. After all, Microsoft is noted largely for its monopolism and for its talent for manipulating government, the media and other institutions.

So how do consumers get screwed? Well, over-priced products or services has provoked lawsuits. Countless people gripe about the quality of Microcrap, with its typically buggy software often serving as virus magnets. And even if you can protect a Microsoftware program from hackers, how do you know what fiendish things Bill Gates himself has embedded in it? Is Gates work with the CIA or Homeland Security?

I’m not sure if Microshaft introduced the word backgrade into our vocabulary, but it certainly popularized it. As I write this, countless Microvictims are backgrading from the legendarily bad Windows Vista to Windows XP, even as others backgrade from Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0 to IE 6.0.

In the meantime, the world is bracing for IE 8.0 and Windows 7.0, which means battered Microslaves can bounce back and forther between three different versions of each until they find a combination that more or less works. Actually, we’re talking about more than three versions, because there are several versions of Vista alone. The number of possible combinations is frightening to contemplate.

Microsoft has further screwed consumers by breaking competitors’ legs, figuratively speaking. M$ stomped Netscape, WordPerfect and Linux, not through innovation but dirty tricks. Fortunately, the competition is now getting stronger, partly because Microsoft has evolved into a house of cards with a shitty reputation.

Google, Apple and Firefox are all gaining rapidly on Microsoft, and open source software (including Linux) is here to stay. Still, Microsoft continues to play a wide variety of dirty tricks, effectively screwing everything and everyone in its path.

Screwing the IT Industry

Bill Gates is often regarded as the father of the computer revolution. Indeed, there are probably many people who think he invented the computer itself.

In fact, it can be argued that Bill Gates has retarded the IT industry. As an illustration, just imagine if the industry had been monopolized by Apple, rather than M$. Software wouldl probably be much more powerful and user friendly, not to mention secure.

Instead, many people who are associated with IT in one way or another spend a large fraction of their lives wrestling with Microsoft’s endless problems, from M$ bugs and countless thousands of viruses to a lack of standards compliance to Bill Gates’ eternal sales pitch.

Manipulating the Government

Two days after Billysoft was convicted of monopolism in 1999, Bill Gates attended a White House economic summit where he sat next to President Bill Clinton, who praised Gates for his charitable activities (CyberAlert).

Almost a decade later, Bill Gates was waging a campaign to abolish H1B Visa restrictions, sort of a variation on outsourcing. Of course, qualified IT professionals who were U.S. citizens were infuriated, but what could they do? While they fumed, Bill Gates testified in front of Congress.

Of course, when George W. Bush flies into Seattle on a fund-raising trip, he generally winds up in Medina. Now who do we know who lives there?

International Crime Spree

It will take me some time to research this category alone, but Billysoft has run afoul of governments and consumers in many nations. Microsoft offices have been raided in a number of nations, including Japan and Ecuador. As I write this, the Internet is still humming with the news that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was pelted with eggs in Hungary.

Ironically, many nations are doing a better job of holding Microsoft accountable than the U.S. is. A number of Latin American governments have officially embraced Linux. The European Union has been locked in battle with Microsoft for several years now, focusing on anti-trust violations, effectively taking up where the U.S. Department of Justice left off.

Still, Bill Gates continues his global crime spree, dreaming up one stunt after another. He’s currently using his phony philanthropy, starring the Gates Foundation, to help spread Microsoftware around the world. In early 2008, Gates launched an education initiative in Latin America. Of course, we know what his real goal is. One can only wonder if there might be some casual relationship with the rapid U.S. militarization in Latin America.

Let me put it this way—if the U.S. or the puppet state of Colombia does invade Venezuela and topple the government, it’s a good bet the new government will be much more appreciative of Microsoft.

Bill Gates is a liar.

Like a politician, Bill Gates is remarkably adept at hiding his lies. He often says he was misunderstood, misquoted or quoted out of context. Sometimes, other people serve as his mouthpiece, so that any lies that are subsequently discovered will be associated with them, not Gates.

One of Gates’ most extraordinary lie fests revolves around one of Microsoft’s greatest embarrassments, Windows Vista. In particular, Gates told some whoppers relating to Apple, which his fertile brain apparently thinks is less secure than Windows. Gates has also steadfastly insisted that Vista is a success, when it has obviously become an anchor around Microsoft’s neck.

Then there was the speech Bill Gates gave at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he told the world he championed a kinder, gentler brand of “creative capitalism.” Apparently, the Swiss aren’t as stupid as Americans, for Gates’ bullshit session was reportedly greeted with “tepid applause.”

But the grandest and most offensive lie, in my opinion, is the big lie that Bill Gates is a philanthropist. Every time I heard that bastard—or his asshole father—claim that he wants to help students in America’s public schools or poor people in other nations, I want to vomit.

As a former employee of the Seattle School District turned political activist, I can tell you what Bill Gates does for children. Bastard.

Screwing Children

Speaking of which, how does Bill Gates screw children? After all, he has donated a lot of money to public education, hasn’t he?

In fact, Bill Gates—or one of the commercial enterprises he captains, Microsoft and/or the Gates Foundation—has contributed many millions of dollars to schools around the world. For all I know, he may have contributed over a billion. So what?

It’s a testimonial to Americans’ blithering stupidity that virtually no one questions Gates’ “donations.” Exactly what is the money used for? What has it accomplished?

What if Osama bin Laden donated a million dollars to a public school in Illinois. Would that make him a hero? Would George W. Bush no longer be a traitor and war criminal if he donated money to education?

Public education and school politics can be extremely complex to begin with, and Bill Gates’ attorneys and media whores can do a very good job of confusing the public. But it isn’t hopeless.

Let’s start with a little common sense. We’re talking about BILL GATES, one of the world’s biggest assholes. Even if he’s guilty of just 10% of the accusations on this page, he would still qualify as one of the biggest de facto criminals in American history.

I worked for the Seattle School District for sixteen years. That’s Seattle, as in Bill Gates’ home town. He currently lives in Medina, which is practically a suburb of Seattle. If any school district in the world should showcase the benefits of Bill Gates’ largesse, it would have to be the Seattle School District.

In fact, the district was a dysfunctional piece of shit when I started working for it in 1985, and it has only continued to spiral downward since then. Derelict principals, corrupt superintendents, unsafe drinking water and school closures are just a few of the catastrophes that have rocked the district. The overarching problem is corporatization; public education has more or less been privatized by stealth, and few school districts have been mauled more severely than Seattle’s.

I’m working on a number of articles about Bill Gates’ war against education. There isn’t sufficient space to expand much further on this topic here. Suffice it to say that there’s amazingly little good to show for Bill Gates’ efforts. In fact, a number of schools have been destroyed by Gates’ almost haphazard experiments.

Gates recruited a stable of whores to staff the K-12 Leadership Institute, a bizarre organization he established at the University of Washington. After much hoopla, it apparentl withered and died, like so many of Gates’ education initiatives.

Then there’s the story about Bill Gates’ trip to Peru, where he threw money at some schools in order to sway legislation that would have cut into Microsoft’s market share. Money’s ALWAYS the bottom line with Bill Gates.

But Bill Gates doesn’t rely on education alone to screw children. Take his endeavors in the field of medicine—please.

It’s no secret that Bill Gates wants to cure AIDS, malaria and who knows what else. It seems like every time Gates is embarrassed by a new scandal or Microsoft’s latest crappy software program he finds a new disease to challenge.

In fact, medical researchers, activists and government workers have complained that Gates is actually impeding their efforts. Even more shocking is the revelation that research funded by the Gates Foundation has all sorts of strings attached. One might be tempted to conclude that Bill Gates hopes to profit from the discovery of a new treatment for malaria or schizophrenia. And if you now anything about the United States’ privatized medical industry, you know what I’m talking about.

In summary, I think of Bill Gates and his father as two enormous pedophiles stalking the planet. I’m not suggesting they actually exploit children for sex; I wouldn’t know one way or another.

But they are blazing examples of corporate pedophiles, and their exploitation is so heinous as to thrust them into the ranks of convicted pedophiles, as far as I’m concerned.

Screwing Workers

I’ve already commented on Bill Gates’ efforts to get Congress to scrap H1B Visa restrictions so that he can hire cheap foreign help in lieu of qualified U.S. citizens. Of course, Republicans would label this economic terrorism Bill Gates was Arab or Indian.

But Gates is white, he’s corrupt and he’s an asshole. Not content to screw workers, he also screws their children, especially those that are trapped in public schools

Sleazy Friends

Liberals are rightly outraged by Bill Gates’ association with corrupt right-wingers. George W. Bush has made several fund-raising trips to Medina and nearby locations, and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked for William Gates’ lawfirm, Preston Gates & Ellis.

But Bill Gates also enjoys close relations with corrupt Democrats (are there any other kind?).

Do you recall reports of a plot to produce super cheap computers running Linux, which could be given to poor people around the world? Bill Gates made headlines when he threw a temper tantrum. Why? Well, because the computers were loaded with Linux instead of Windows, of course.

I hadn’t been following the story closely beyond that point until I read a new report that Windows WILL be going along for the ride. I haven’t yet found time to unravel all the details, but Microsoft has joined forces with a non-profit organization named One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).

Before they teamed up, there were media reports that Bill Gates was sneering at OLPC. But I smell a conspiracy. I think Billysoft and OLPC planned on joining forces all along, but they didn’t want people with independent thinking skills to think their relationship was too cozy.

But, surely, I have more to go on that that, don’t I? Yes indeed. OLPC’s founder and chairman is Nicholas Negroponte (Wikipedia). His older brother is John Negroponte, current United States Deputy Secretary of State and a real SOB.

This collaboration just smells like Microsoft, from head to toe.

Ruined Seattle

No, Bill Gates didn’t ruin Seattle all by himself, nor do I mean to imply that the city is wholly ruined. It still has a nice climate.

But anyone who thinks Microsoft is an asset to society should visit Seattle and do a little research. Microsoft has made thousands of Seattleites very wealthy, but the sudden influx of wealth, combined with Microsoft corruption, has made life tougher for everyone else.

Local newspapers have evern printed articles and opinion pieces questioning whether Seattle has lost its soul (as if it ever had one).

In fact, Seattle has long been ruled by corrupt corporations, notably Boeing. But two of the biggest and nastiest corporate moguls now pulling the strings are Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. One has to wonder if it’s just a coincidence that Gates and Allen have both acquired property at the Seattle Center, Seattle’s most sacred real estate. Rubbing salt in the wound, Gates was able to bilk taxpayers out of several million dollars when he relocated the Gates Foundation’s headquarters to the Seattle Center.

So what kind of philanthropy can’t even pay for its headquarters?

High-Tech Games

What do you get when you recruit an army of attorneys and media whores and combine them with an army of computer scientists and programmers?

If we’re talking about Billysoft, the answer is an endless series of high-tech games with names like smart tags, trusted computing and PatentGate. Even programs and gizmos that have potential for good will likely be subverted by the father and son team of Gates & Gates.

Of course, such games are even more effective when combined with the FUD Microsoft is so famous for.

That’s why I encourage people to ABANDON MICROSOFT, regardless of the quality of a particular software program. Suppose M$ released a version of Windows or Internet Explorer that actually worked. Fabulous.

But how do you know what secrets are locked inside it? Has Microsoft implanted some sort of spyware? Is it loaded with a secret technology that Microsoft plans on tapping into a few years down the road? Are you going to unwittingly download a software update that sidelines one of your non-Microsoft programs?

Remember the old saying that George W. Bush couldn’t recall—fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. If you think you can trust Bill Gates, then trust Microsoft. But if you have a problem with arrogant, greedy, corrupt and often bizarre assholes, then maybe it’s time you abandoned Windows for a Mac or a PC running Linux.

Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

pHilanthropy

Just as George W. Bush is often referred to as the pResident, so can Bill Gates be described as a pHilanthropist. What makes his phony philanthropy even more sickening is the willingness of the corporate media to play along. An army of media whores lavish endless praise on Bill Gates even while they condemn Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

So what if Chávez abandoned his Bolivarian Revolution so he could screw consumers, exploit their children and launch a sleazy investment firm masquerading as a charity? Would America’s media whores worship him the way they do Bill Gates?

In fact, one newspaper deserves newspaper for blowing the whistle on the Gates Foundation. The Los Angeles Times printed a sensational exposé, with other newspapers offering occasional glimpses of reality.

Still, the Philanthropy Express rolls on, screwing people right and left, while an army of media whores obediently salivate when they hear the train whistle.

Learn more about Bill Gates’ self-serving “philanthropy” and the Gates Foundation, which can be thought of as a subsidiary of Microsoft, except that it fucks up children, rather than software.

Royal Fuckhead

Yes, I know, greed and arrogance aren’t crimes in the narrow sense of the word. But no one likes a person who’s a total asshole, and when that asshole is someone as powerful and well known as Bill Gates, you have to wonder; would it be appropriate to throw Bill Gates in prison for a few weeks just for being a monumental shithead?

Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about. As I write this, the world is mourning for Asia. Having already endured a brutal military crackdown, Burma was hit by a typhoon that killed tens of thousands of people. China, in turn, was interrupted from its brutal repression in Tibet by an earthquake that killed many thousands more. Millions were left homeless.

So how does Bill Gates, the empathetic genius who all but claims to have his finger on the planet’s pulse 24 hours a day, respond to the crisis? The son of a bitch jumped in his private jet and zipped over to South Korea, where he presented President Lee Myung-bak with a—hold your breath—Xbox 360 inlaid with traditional Korean mother-of-pearl.

Of course, I don’t want to convey the impression that this was the tackiest sales pitch in world history. On the contrary, the finished product was even given a decisively non-corporate name: “Peace.” Yes, that may be a little ironic considering the violent games Xbox is famous for.

In fact, the Xbox is more widely associated with murder than it is with peace. But if you cover an Xbox with mother-of-pearl and give it to a world leader, that changes everything. It magically transforms into a symbol of peace.

And it doesn’t stop there. According to at least one report, Bill Gates also proclaimed his peaceful Xbox version a symbol of good will between the United States and South Korea. Rather than hog all the glory for himself, Bill Gates thus honored every U.S. citizen.

Moreover, Gates had one hundred similar Xbox’s commissioned so he can offer similar tokens of peace and good will to other world leaders. I’m hoping Gates gives one to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, because I’d love to see what Bill Gates looks like with an Xbox shoved up his ass.

Xbox artisan Kim Young-jun (the head of a manufacturing company called Gookbo) admitted some embarrassment. He said, “Shouldn’t it be us (Koreans) who give mother-of-pearl gifts to Bill Gates, and not vice versa?”

Which begs the question WHY? What has Bill Gates done for South Koreans? At least one South Korean firm has sued Microsoft, and I thought Bill Gates did something that pissed off the entire country, though I can’t remember what it was all about offhand.

At any rate, I have a suggestion for Mr. Young-jun. Why don’t you go out and see if you can scare up an enormous dog turd, paint it with shellac, then cover it with mother-of-pearl and give it to Bill Gates as a symbol of innovation?

Role Model?

This may sound like a trivial complaint, but I want to vomit when I think that millions of children are raised by parents who promote Bill Gates as a role model. No wonder there are so many stupid, selfish people here in the U.S.

Gates is obviously intelligent and a hard worker. But so are millions of other people.

Gates’ hard work and inspirations are worth a lot of money, but not $50 billion. The world’s most famous nerd’s success is more the result of stealing other people’s ideas, screwing consumers and bribing governments than innovation.

There are millions of people who know that Bill Gates is an asshole. Yet the corporate media maintain this image of a clean, wholesome man who’s real obsession is philanthropy.

One of my goals is to cram that lie down their throats. The entire world needs to hear the truth about Bill Gates, Inc.