Bill Gates is on a PR tour to promote the latest edition of the Gates Letter, the annual missive from the Gates Foundation detailing the current focus of the foundation. This year’s letter is called “3 myths that block progress for the poor”. Take a few minutes to read it. No matter your opinion of Bill Gates and Microsoft, this stage of his life is being well spent, in service to others.
One of his recent appearances was on Jimmy Fallon’s show. He spoke about his foundation, about ridding the world of diseases like polio, then Bill started talking about his vision for the future of computing. At some point (about 1:30 in the video if you want to skip ahead), Bill got a little distracted by something on Jimmy’s desk. Something not made by Microsoft. Pretty funny.
Bill Gates is a wonderful human being and his philanthropy has made a profound impact on the less fortunate.
If more of the wealthy were a bit like the Bill the world would be a better place!
I’m surprised he mentioned writing on tablets with a stylus. I thought no one did it because a keyboard is faster and easier?
Sometimes it is easier to scribble or sketch with some handwriting in between than to use keyboard and whatever pointing device to express ideas or to take notes.
But handwriting as a general way of text input is no good idea. I’m experimenting with that and see no general advantage in it over using a keyboard (e.g. for writing articles).
But I have to see the video for context (no time for that at the moment). Mr Gates isn’t dumb, just biased 😉
He’s doing some good, but causing huge problems too in areas such as education due to his insistance on systems similar to Microsoft own infamous employee rating service, and unfortunately, few have the possibility to say no to his money.
No one does it because there is no good hardware and software to do it. The iPad has good software but no decent pen support. The Surface has good pen support (Wacom) but no good software.
The keyboard is faster and better until you have to write math, or sketch out anything from tables to graphs to anything that is more than letters. I challenge you to do math on an iPad :P.
Students around the world still need a huge amount of paper and pens for this precise reason. I would love an iPad with pen support, so I could trow out all my notebooks and pens…
PS
Yes there are already stylus for iPad, but they are terrible. (except the Jot Script that is decent enough, but still far from perfect!)
Gates is rich, yes. but hes no more a visionary than my rich uncle. being insanely rich doesnt make him any better at predicting the future than anybody else, you know? he made his wealth w/ a sweet DOS contract a million years ago….
There are aspects of Bill Gates philanthropy which are open to criticism, his Foundations partnership with Monsanto in Africa for example; but as a teacher, I see his money being spent to fundamentally change the nature of public education in America. And, from here on the front lines, it doesn’t look good. Read Diane Ravitch or this article:
Editor’s note: This is the last column in an eight-part series exploring Common Core.
For many, Bill Gates — he of the $67 billion net worth — is looked at as a hero for American education. Through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, he has invested millions in the development and introduction of the Common Core standards, the latest and allegedly greatest remodeling of teaching as we knew it.
Here is just a sampling of the recipients of his donations to the Common Core cause:
• National Governors Association: This organization was one of the main progenitors of Common Core and most responsible for its integration in 45 states. Gates’ total input to date is $25.7 million.
• The Council of Chief State School Officials: This group counts itself as the only one to bring together the top education leaders from every state in the nation and as equally responsible as the NGA for the launch of Common Core. Gates has donated a whopping $79 million to the CCSSO.
• Achieve, Inc: Considered by Education Week to be one of the most influential education policy organizations in the nation, Achieve, Inc. wrote the Common Core standards. Their reward from Gates? $46 million.
Gates also gave $23.2 million to eight national educational organizations and think tanks, most of which are strong proponents of Common Core. Among the largest recipients are American Federation of Teachers ($5.4 million) and the Council of Great City Schools ($5 million)
While at first blush this looks like the charitable effort of a philanthropist who truly cares about improved outcomes in education, it is not. Instead of altruistic intent, Gates is more likely concerned with an improved outcome for his baby, Microsoft.
Though no longer the CEO, co-founder Gates is still Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect. And, it’s his legacy. Revenues and profits are paramount to him. So, it’s not coincidental that Microsoft — and another new Bill Gates initiative — end up reaping substantial benefit from Common Core.
Consider Iris LiveView, something that seems ripped right out of the pages of George Orwell’s “1984.” Since teacher evaluation is a critical component of Common Core’s ancillary practices, Gates has strongly urged school districts to use this surveillance system in every classroom in America (it is believed the cost to taxpayers would be around $5 billion). Iris LiveView consists of a camera and powerful microphones (which could even pick up student banter) that can be watched live over the internet or recorded and saved in the cloud for later viewing. A cursory look at Iris LiveView’s website (ThereNow.net) shows a smiling Bill Gates. You can’t blame him for being tickled pink: The required software is Windows…
Then there’s the issue of data mining. Common Core and Race to the Top, the federal government’s funding carrot for Common Core implementation, require elaborate data collection and management schemes that will track, at the individual and collective levels, everything from grades to discipline to interpersonal behavior to a student’s (and their family’s) political, sexual and religious orientations.
Read More:
http://m.lockportjournal.com/lockport/pm_112982/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=ye1BwNUN
I’m using a Galaxy Note precisely because it has a stylus. Taking notes is much easier than typing them on a keyboard, and you can quickly switch between typing text and making sketches, you can add sidenotes, arrows, etc.
When I studies comp sci, I took notes on a Newton.
Using a pen to write down things, make notes, scribble, sketch, and draw is one of the most natural things humans do. It’s too bad that Apple’s devices don’t have good support for it.