On September 22, the world’s wealthiest man – Bill Gates, was speaking at the dedication of Carnegie Mellon’s Gates and Hillman Centers and presented a keynote address before taking questions from the young and talented students. When a Chinese student asked the former CEO of Microsoft regarding his views and opinions about software copyright laws and policies, he blasted successful Chinese companies for using software and not paying a single cent for them. Instead, he said sales of software to companies who do purchase licenses could enable him to render his help to millions of needy and sick children around the world.
Despite saying that software privacy will head south as the country’s affluence goes up, but he continued to accuse Chinese large tech companies of software-copying. “What’s unique to China is you have large businesses using software without paying for it. SUPER-profitable big businesses [he chuckles]. Take two of the five most-profitable businesses in China: they don’t pay for their software.
“So that’s a case where the Chinese have done something quite unique [he chuckles again; huge laughter and applause from audience]. But, I’m not complaining about it—I’m, you know, a big fan of China [big smile from Gates; big laugh from the audience], and a lot of great things are going on there [another big smile, and more audience laughter and applause], but, y’know, we’ve all got things to work on.”
Video: the comments quoted above about China come in at about 28:38.
In China, copyright violation is indeed a very serious and growing issue and this has led to the promulgation of the notion that China-made products are of an inferior-quality or identical-in-appearance. Not only does its products give some people (outside Mainland China) a negative impression, but also the fact that China’s netizens live in a parallel cyber universe with a complete distinct set of clone websites they have created and embraced.
The world pays with Paypal online, China uses Alipay. Millions chat online with ICQ, but Chinese prefer QQ. Baidu, which copied Google’s clean-screen look, is the No. 1 search engine in the country, taking 72 per cent of the market. Just 25 per cent of Chinese netizens use Google, making China one of the few places on earth where the global behemoth is a loser.
Read more here: 90% of Chinese Internet Users Prefer to Use Clones of Popular Global Websites
Bill Gates is currently the world’s richest man, according to Forbes, with an estimated wealth of $40 billion. Despite his opulence, he and his wife founded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which aims to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and in America, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. Few days ago, the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world has launched a campaign to highlight the successes of the U.S. government’s global health work.
“We want to show Americans that their investments in global health are working,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, in a statement.
Via Information Week