Bill Gates Drops To Number 2 388
A number of readers made sure we know that Bill Gates is apparently no longer the world's richest person. His wealth, estimated currently at $59.2 billion, has been surpassed by that of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim. Slim, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, runs businesses in a number of industries from Mexico City. Stock in his wireless company, American Movil, recently surged in price by 27%, boosting his net worth to $67.8 billion. Last April Slim passed Warren Buffet, who had long held down the number 2 spot. In this audio Bill Gates says he won't care when he is no longer number 1.
Re:But For How Long? (Score:3, Informative)
Does Bill get an eyepatch? (Score:4, Informative)
In other news, Slim is now (apparently) Dr. Evil. Go figure.
Re:But For How Long? (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, I guess since it was over 100 years ago, no one cares anymore.
Re:But For How Long? (Score:1, Informative)
It is easier to make money since you have funds available for speculation where the gains are higher, but also a lot easier to loose money. Hence the fluctuations are much greater for a rich person... If you start to become the world's richest, you're going to opt for some level of stability, and that is going to drive the gains down. I'm sure you've heard of interest rates. That's the level of gains you can acheive with stability. Everything on top of that carries risk, and while you may average above the risk-free interest over time, you risk loosing a lot short-term.
will we remember Kamprad or Slim? Highly unlikely. But Gates has touched entire generations with software
Hey, Kamprad's IKEA gave the world more furniture than you can shake a stick at. He will be remembered, and his furniture will outlive you. And don't miss out on those Swedish meatballs at IKEA, they're yummy.
You sure? (Score:5, Informative)
They both may be monopolies, but there IS quite a difference. The difference is that Telmex *IS* a competitive and efficient company. If it wasn't for Slim's investment in telecom infrastructure, we mexicans would still be calling the state-driven phone company to complain that our 24K modems disconnect too often. I do remember those times... Slim practically saved the country from stagnating in the information era.
Microsoft is an artificial monopoly, reeking with planned obsolescence and lack of innovation. In contrast, Telmex already gives us the videophone [telmex.com] service.
Carlos Slim Fortune (Score:5, Informative)
Talk about, how not to sell a state monopoly: just making it private, instead of dividing it to form a competitive market. To this day méxico suffers from that.
America-Movil its the celular telephony company from Grupo CarSO (Carlos Slim keiretsu that started with TelMex)
Today CarSO participates in the telephony of most countries in latinamerica, and soon also in spain
Both Gates and Slim are unfair market monopolist... because the ones in power dont care
Re:But For How Long? (Score:5, Informative)
Gah. Other than that your post is correct.
You seriously want a list? (Score:3, Informative)
Windows 2000 pre-SP3
XP pre-SP1
Most of the first-party XBox 1 titles save for Halo, which wasn't really first-party
MS SQL Server
Internet Explorer 5
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 7
Frontpage
Microsoft Messenger
Windows Messenger
Live Messenger
Office 97 (barely within the last decade, but it was truly horrible)
Windows Mail
Outlook Express
Microsoft Mail
Netmeeting
MSN Explorer
Microsoft Sharepoint Server
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Money
Virtual PC
IE For Mac
Microsoft Anti-Virus
Office Assistant
Visual FoxPro
Microsoft Binder
Hotmail
And don't forget blunders like PlaysForSure, Zune, etc.
How much cash... ? (Score:4, Informative)
"Lately Carlos Slim has taken up a particular interest in philanthropy, a pursuit he had neglected for most of the years he was building his businesses. He formed a foundation 23 years ago and funded it with a few million, and it has done little since then. A year ago Slim infused it with $1.8 billion; in the fall he pledged to donate up to $10 billion to the foundation in the next four years to fund health and education programs."
It is somehow good to see the world's richest doing this kind of stuff. Of course, it's not like they couldn't afford it, but still.
Re:You seriously want a list? (Score:3, Informative)
MS SQL Server sucks for the following three reasons, among many others:
1 - MySQL is more ANSI SQL compliant and MS has no respect for standards.
2 - MySQL can run on multiple platforms and doesn't require a GUI. When you have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for a server (if not hundreds of thousands of dollars) it is important to note that MS SQL will only run on Windows, on an x86 architecture and is going to cost you considerably more money and have worse performance. A cheap Linux server on the architecture of your choice will destroy that Windows server in performance and cost less money.
3 - Even when running on the same hardware and OS, MySQL destroys MSSQL in performance. I mean, kicks MSSQL's teeth in.
http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/benchmarks/eweek.h
And, they are two separate products:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Messenger [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Messenger [wikipedia.org]
Google could have told you that. Instead you call bullshit on me?
Poor form. Next time do some research and know what you're talking about.
Re:You sure? (Score:3, Informative)
Slim practically saved the country from stagnating in the information era.
I do remember those time too, and I do not believe what you say is completely true, just look at the Mexican federal Electricity commission (CFE), one of the best worldwide, excellent technology and service and it is also state controlled.
Re:Be honest with yourself (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Be honest with yourself (Score:2, Informative)
"There are lots of guys out there running software companies that produce crappier software than MS and are less ethical. Since they aren't rich, however, nobody gives a shit."
Take Carlos Slim himself.
Try to find any semblance of Gate's extraordinary philanthropy and you won't find anything close.
Mr. Slim hails from a country where a good portion of the population lives in bronze age conditions, another big chunk in the middle ages, and so on. By the time you reach 20/21st century standards, you are left with less than the population of Chicago (out of 100+M). I think it is extraordinary that a country like Mexico produces such absurd amount of bi/millionaires - which few acknowledge, and then people are amazed by all the immigrants trying to come to the US. I always felt Bill Gates was an unfair target for most of the attacks he received. I think Gates is a goober, but more people should get the negative attention he gets.
Re:We still hate him (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Man am I going to get flamed for this (Score:0, Informative)
What, are you ignoring what MS does as an international company? Like their pushing for copyright/patent laws that favor them in the US and EU, and the H1-B visa thing (artificially forcing wages down), and being a party to state censorship in China? It's been a long time since MS restricted itself to an electronic-only footprint.
The foundation is also morphing into a self-perpetuating thing of its own, though. They don't just give money away... they also invest in businesses, expecting a return on this... and, as is being covered on slashdot and other places, they're not too picky about who they invest in. They've done things like give vaccinations in a town that's choking under the ash from power plants they invested in, with drinking water polluted by the paper mills they also invested in...
And on top of that, there are frequent questions about the choices made in what to donate and where. Often the Foundation's donations seem closely closely tied to things that benefit Microsoft. In this way we go from charity to bribery, possibly leading to blackmail (if a place becomes dependent on charity, uh oh, don't piss off Microsoft, the humanitarian support might dry up!)