Bill Gates tends to be hated by many on the net for reasons I'm not quite sure make sense. Like any other company Microsoft have and seek to use the advantages they have to dominate their industry and make mega-profits. That tends to be how capitalism works. It is up to Governments via their anti-trust/competition regulators to identify any market failures or abuses of power.

All that aside you have to respect Bill Gates as a person. Firstly he had the vision and luck to create a massive company that provides software the world uses. If it the software wasn't any good people wouldn't use it. So he's done something right on that front.

However it is his philanthropy that is most impressive. The guy is worth US$40 billion plus. Sure he's using some for himself and his family, with the huge house and I'm sure he's got a plasma TV in the bedroom. But he's given billions to his charity. He has committed to giving away 95% of his wealth. On one hand to have your own foundation with your name on the doorplate is a trifle over the top, but when you've given billions of dollars in current and future donations you want to make sure it is run properly and going where you want it to go. It doesn't stop there. He then gets the foundation to give to causes that are not just worthy, but areas that others (and this includes governments) neglect. His latest is $168 million for malaria research. He's given to the UN's global fund on AIDS, TB and Malaria, education and so on. He actively participates in his charity, at a cost to himself.

I find it hard to believe that most of his critics, if they were in the same situation, would dedicate so much of their personal wealth to charity. Bill Gates is doing something constructive and good in this world to make it a better place. Not many can say that.