Bill Gates gives Society back some of the money he illegally bilked from Society, gets sainted.

Mr. Gates is finally leaving Microsoft to dedicate the majority of his remaining years curing malaria and doling out charitable grants through the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation, the wealthiest foundation in the world. Thanks to illegal, backroom dealings and extortion, Bill built Microsoft from a small software company into a full-fledged monopoly in just 20 short years. During that time, Microsoft made workers pull 80-hour weeks, categorized them as "temporary" and "freelance" to avoid paying medical benefits, and threatened critical employees with lawsuits if they tried to leave. But that's not why I'm mad.

As a result of this immoral and unethical treatment of both employees and competitors, Microsoft amassed (currently) ~$250 billion dollars of society's money. Had Microsoft not engaged in anti-competitive behavior, would they still have a 95% marketshare? Probably not. But they do. And so, Bill's money is blood money.

But what makes me incredulous is that the media thinks Bill is somehow noble. How hard is it to give away money that you've taken from other people? It's like swindling $100 from a victim, and then tossing a couple bucks to some bum on the street. Does that act of generosity make you noble? No, because you're already a criminal.

And just because the DOJ only gave Bill a slap on the wrist—taking all the money back from Microsoft would have created a 'hardship on the economy' was the excuse, I believe—doesn't mitigate the fact that he behaved illegally.

So let's not make Bill into a saint, okay? Let's try to remember that just because he's doing the right thing now, doesn't absolve him from his earlier unethical actions.

I applaud his current intentions, I'd just be more impressed if he was giving away HIS OWN money.

To learn why Bill's Foundation is actually bad for society, read Bill Gates and the capitalist philanthropy scam.