January 26, 2004
Bill Gates, KBE, overseas
Bill Gates says during a speech Friday that the company is working on technology that will end spam within two years. Two days later the British government says it's awarding him honorary knighthood. (He won't be called "Sir Bill," since he's not a British citizen, but he'll be able to put KBE, for Knight Commander of the British Empire, after his name.) Coincidence? Regardless, here's a collection of reports on the Microsoft chairman's trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with subsequent stops in other parts of Europe and the Middle East:
Posted by Todd Bishop at January 26, 2004 10:22 AM
Yeah, coincidence... for one thing, honours are decided in advance; for another, two of his ideas wouldn't work (zombies would be the ones doing the calculations or paying the fees) and the third one would be inconvenient and cumbersome.
What other criminals have been awarded a KBE?
Microsoft is a federal felon. (It has been established that Microsoft violated US federal law, but a sentence has not yet been imposed.)
Software piracy (France)
Ultimately the board of Microsoft should be held responsible for these criminal acts.
