2004-02-08 - 8:46 p.m.

Okay, so now I officially am a defender of Bill Gates. It's okay, anybody who thinks the man is a net harm on this earth is welcome to challenge me and prove himself right.

On the one side: the net harm caused by creating the Microsoft Corporation and leading it to global dominance at the expense of fair competition, creating perhaps an inferior browser to the one that would have prevailed in a fair and perfect marketplace

On the other: the net good dome by a global initiative to save lives in the most basic, unsexiest ways possible: nutrition programs, AIDS and Polio Prevention, malaria eradication. I'm not talking about drops in the bucket, I'm talking about Bill Gates singlehandedly ending AIDS.

"I wonder what percentage of his income he actually gives, compared to what I would give," said a friend skeptically. Well, he is indeed the richest man in the world, with a net worth of $40.7 billion in 2003, a decrease from $52.8 billion in 2002, according to Forbes Magazine. Meanwhile, the foundation he has created has pledged $24 billion, including the billion or so they gave this year to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, about the size of the UN-administered Global Fund to fight AIDS, the other primary source of funding. I don't know, have you given a third of your net worth to charity?

What else could you possibly ever do that Bill Gates is not doing? It is not wise, perhaps even physically possible to do more than he is doing. He is doing more to aid people who are physically suffering than anyone has ever done, than any country has ever done.

What I'm saying is, let's give the man a break. Yeah, he looked shifty-eyed in his testimony, and yeah he wanted to destroy the competition, and yeah maybe the programs we're stuck with aren't perfect. I just don't see how the inconvenience associated with an inferior browser is causing millions of people to die, to counteract the millions that will be saved by his programs. I don't know much about tuberculosis, but I do know this:

Tuberculosis: Bad.

Malaria: Bad.

Malnutrition: Bad.

AIDS: Very bad.

Bill Gates: Good. Or at least okay.

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