Gates:
"Along the way he amassed a fortune, which he’s now giving away to all sorts of good causes."

Yeah, he’s giving away about 2% of it, and taking a tax write-off for that (so, in effect, the tax payers are actually funding these things)—and don’t forget these little charitable acts often come with conditions (You get the money if Microsoft gets the digital rights to your assets.)

Don’t get me wrong, he could be doing worse things with his ill gotten gains, but he’s not the goody good guy this statement makes him out to be.

Maria Woods:
"She left the company just two years later, suing it for sexual discrimination. Microsoft settled the case. After that, it doesn’t look like she did much else. She raised her children and became a volunteer."

Raising kids and being a volunteer isn’t “much else”? I know lots of people who’d disagree. Per Microserfs, the sexually hostile environment continued throughout the business for decades.

I’m sorry, but I find it hard to have any sweet feelings re. Microsoft: their business methods were reprehensible, their products asinine copies of better works, and their imagination lame.

What strikes me about this is that, as successful as the business was (and as much money as most of these folks made out of it), everybody seemed to leave on bad terms--besides Bill, anyway. It doesn’t sound like a happy place.

I used to lunch now and then with folks from the MacBU (Business Unit) when they were officed besides the Apple City Center buildings. They were so happy to be away from Seattle where working in the Mac group was a subject of derision. It sounded like the company overall just wasn’t a happy place to work. Double that unhappiness if you were unlucky enough to be female.