Bill Gates Wants To Reinvent the Toilet

redletterdave writes "Bill Gates, the man responsible for bringing software to the masses with Microsoft and Windows, has plans to reinvent and popularize another industry: Sanitation. Gates, whose philanthropic efforts have helped bring clean water and resources to developing countries via the foundation created by he and his wife Melinda, said at the 'Reinvent The Toilet Fair' in Seattle on Wednesday that he plans to build a toilet that's better suited to developing countries in an effort to cut down on disease and death in those regions. 'Inventing new toilets is one of the most important things we can do to reduce child deaths and disease and improve people's lives,' Gates said. 'It is also something that can help wealthier countries conserve fresh water for other important purposes besides flushing.'" Science Insider has some information on the winning designs from this year.

Re:Reason:

[Niris]

But on a more serious note, good for him. I'm glad he's at least doing something productive with his time and money, and for a humanitarian cause.

Way to state the bleeding obvious.

[gallondr00nk]

"Bill Gates, the man responsible for bringing software to the masses with Microsoft and Windows..."

Fucking hell, this is Slashdot, not Readers Digest.

Plan B for the Gates Fund?

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently genital mutilation wasn't preventing disease.

Deja Vu

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do I feel like we've talked about this before [slashdot.org]?

Oh, yeah. Because we have [slashdot.org].

Good for him

[crazyjj]

I know the typical /. response is to either make a "Windows Sucks!" crack or to launch into some conspiracy theory about how this is part of some secret agenda to foist MS-brand proprietary toilets on the world. But I'm going to applaud his efforts instead.

But if you have to have a crack, here's one: This beats the crap out of anything Steve Jobs ever did for the third world.

Re:Why reinvent the wheel?

[gstoddart]

Well, in this case, taking into account the water and sanitary needs of developing countries, this makes perfect sense.

Not everybody has the luxury of municipal water which takes such things away to be handled by Someone Else.

Doing it in a way that is portable, cheap to operate, doesn't require a massive infrastructure, and doesn't spread disease ... well, for a lot of people in the world, that would be a huge improvement.

From TFA:

About 2.6 billion people around the world don't have proper access to safe and suitable sanitation, and as a result, more than 1.5 million children die each year from diarrhea-related diseases or illnesses caused by consuming dirty water.

So, really, what wheel are you insinuating is being reinvented here?

Re:Great....

[wild_quinine]

can't wait to see for the BSOD on that.

Let's just hope it doesn't ship with Windows 8, because Joe Average is going to shit in his pants trying to find the button that lets you lift the lid.

Re:Reason:

[nukenerd]

He, or someone at Microsoft, put some kind of pressure on the project to use Windows rather than a free OS. He did not want the kiddies growing up being accustomed to Linux.

Re:Better design for Europe

[gstoddart]

Maybe so, but if I was confronted with this [wikipedia.org], I would be quite baffled. I mean, 38 buttons on a toilet control panel?

I'm betting a lot of Western visitors find themselves with a big "what the heck do I do now" moment. :-P

Africa

[Thelasko]

I have a friend working on water quality in Saharan Africa. She sent me this picture [ct.fra.bz] which I find hilarious. However, it's true. There are parts of the world where there is barely enough water to drink, let alone crap in. I think it's a noble cause.

Also, this story is a dupe. [slashdot.org]

Re:"Green" toilets sometimes have problems...

[Alain Williams]

Better to try and fail than to never try at all. They can always have another go.