Bill Gates Applauds Open Source Tools for 'Digital Public Infrastructure' (gatesnotes.com) 49
It connects people, data, and money, Bill Gates wrote this week on his personal blog. But digital public infrastructure is also "revolutionizing the way entire nations serve their people, respond to crises, and grow their economies" — and the Gates Foundation sees it "as an important part of our efforts to help save lives and fight poverty in poor countries."
Digital public infrastructure [or "DPI"]: digital ID systems that securely prove who you are, payment systems that move money instantly and cheaply, and data exchange platforms that allow different services to work together seamlessly... [W]ith the right investments, countries can use DPI to bypass outdated and inefficient systems, immediately adopt cutting-edge digital solutions, and leapfrog traditional development trajectories — potentially accelerating their progress by more than a decade. Countries without extensive branch banking can move straight to mobile banking, reaching far more people at a fraction of the cost. Similarly, digital ID systems can provide legal identity to millions who previously lacked official documentation, giving them access to a wide range of services — from buying a SIM card to opening a bank account to receiving social benefits like pensions.
I've heard concerns about DPI — here's how I think about them. Many people worry digital systems are a tool for government surveillance. But properly designed DPI includes safeguards against misuse and even enhances privacy... These systems also reduce the need for physical document copies that can be lost or stolen, and even create audit trails that make it easier to detect and prevent unauthorized access. The goal is to empower people, not restrict them. Then there's the fear that DPI will disenfranchise vulnerable populations like rural communities, the elderly, or those with limited digital literacy. But when it's properly designed and thoughtfully implemented, DPI actually increases inclusion — like in India, where millions of previously unbanked people now have access to financial services, and where biometric exceptions or assisted enrollment exist for people with physical disabilities or no fixed address.
Meanwhile, countries can use open-source tools — like MOSIP for digital identity and Mojaloop for payments — to build DPI that fosters competition and promotes innovation locally. By providing a common digital framework, they allow smaller companies and start-ups to build services without requiring them to create the underlying systems from scratch. Even more important, they empower countries to seek out services that address their own unique needs and challenges without forcing them to rely on proprietary systems.
"Digital public infrastructure is key to making progress on many of the issues we work on at the Gates Foundation," Bill writes, "including protecting children from preventable diseases, strengthening healthcare systems, improving the lives and livelihoods of farmers, and empowering women to control their financial futures.
"That's why we're so committed to DPI — and why we've committed $200 million over five years to supporting DPI initiatives around the world... The future is digital. Let's make sure it's a future that benefits everyone."
I've heard concerns about DPI — here's how I think about them. Many people worry digital systems are a tool for government surveillance. But properly designed DPI includes safeguards against misuse and even enhances privacy... These systems also reduce the need for physical document copies that can be lost or stolen, and even create audit trails that make it easier to detect and prevent unauthorized access. The goal is to empower people, not restrict them. Then there's the fear that DPI will disenfranchise vulnerable populations like rural communities, the elderly, or those with limited digital literacy. But when it's properly designed and thoughtfully implemented, DPI actually increases inclusion — like in India, where millions of previously unbanked people now have access to financial services, and where biometric exceptions or assisted enrollment exist for people with physical disabilities or no fixed address.
Meanwhile, countries can use open-source tools — like MOSIP for digital identity and Mojaloop for payments — to build DPI that fosters competition and promotes innovation locally. By providing a common digital framework, they allow smaller companies and start-ups to build services without requiring them to create the underlying systems from scratch. Even more important, they empower countries to seek out services that address their own unique needs and challenges without forcing them to rely on proprietary systems.
"Digital public infrastructure is key to making progress on many of the issues we work on at the Gates Foundation," Bill writes, "including protecting children from preventable diseases, strengthening healthcare systems, improving the lives and livelihoods of farmers, and empowering women to control their financial futures.
"That's why we're so committed to DPI — and why we've committed $200 million over five years to supporting DPI initiatives around the world... The future is digital. Let's make sure it's a future that benefits everyone."
Meanwhile in America (Score:1)
We figure people are smart enough to get an ID to buy beer, but not smart enough to get an ID before voting.
Re: Meanwhile in America (Score:2)
Maybe voter registration programs should be created to offer free beer to anyone who goes to get an ID. Then there's an appropriate incentive.
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I give up, Snowflake, how have we've been "sold out"? If you are referring to manufacturing jobs in the U.S. decreasing due to companies moving them overseas, according to
https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
the conclusion is that it was jobs moving overseas is not clear cut. A strong influence in the U.S. is automation, and the rest of the world is starting to catch up. Studies seem ride both conclusions but even then each study going one way admits the other has some credence. A major re
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We figure people are smart enough to get an ID to buy beer, but not smart enough to get an ID before voting.
Would I be right in guessing that not all IDs that can be used to buy beer is accepted for voting? Of course, in an ideal world the government would first make free and easily available IDs - and then a couple of years later require IDs for voting.
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No...not really correct.
You can buy beer by showing a drivers license, passport or, just a state issued ID if you don't drive or need a passport.
And, in the states that require ID for voting and buying beer....yes, you can get them for free.
IN the US, you real
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Apples and oranges. What's yer point?
Billy Gates roots for open source now (Score:5, Informative)
That's rich [wikipedia.org].
And here's another one who has quite the set of balls too to declare his newfound love for open source [zdnet.com].
Those two disgusting individuals have set back open source decades and their legacy is still felt today by those of us who were on the right side of history all along.
Fuck Gates and fuck Ballmer with a wire brush.
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"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".
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"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".
That's what we're worried about. He'll join and embrace it. Then he'll love it so much that he'll extend it. Then he'll exting--
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Embrace, extend, extinguish.
The usual Microsoft operating plan.
Oh give it a rest (Score:2, Flamebait)
I don't care what Gate's motivation is in anything he does so long as he does the right thing. So far his foundation has donated billions to healthcare in the 3rd world and elsewhere which is more than any of the other arrogant tech bros have done sitting on their yachts or pinging off on a giant dildo into space while counting their money.
Yes, maybe it is all whitewashing his reputation for posterity with that and with his new found love of open source. Who fucking cares? Results are ultimately more import
Re:Oh give it a rest (Score:4, Informative)
Bezos has a foundation [bezosfamil...dation.org]. All the ultra-wealthy have foundations, and for a very good reason [propublica.org].
You're impressed by the Gates Foundation donating billions to healthcare in the 3rd world: ask yourself how much Gates could have contributed to healthcare IN THIS COUNTRY if he had just paid his taxes like the rest of us instead of dodging them with his foundation. Hint: it's a lot more than whatever his foundation donated over the years.
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In what country? I'm not in the USA.
However AFAIK he never broke any tax laws so the laws in your country need to be changed if he avoided paying a lot.
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I don't know what country you hail from, but if you think the ultra-wealthy in your neck of the woods aren't dodging taxes, you're delusional.
There is no country on Earth where the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Only countries where they pay slightly more than they do in tax havens.
And yes, you're correct: no tax laws are broken anywhere in the world. But the legal and just are two very different things.
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Amount of taxes "dodged" in the Gates foundation: $37.5 billion
Amount of spending by the US government on healthcare: $4.5 trillion.
So even if he had paid that in taxes, it would have been less than one percent of government spending in one year. Worse, it wouldn't have changed spending at all, it would have merely reduced the deficit a bit. So not a significant impact.
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Learn to use math. Amount of taxes "dodged" in the Gates foundation: $37.5 billion Amount of spending by the US government on healthcare: $4.5 trillion. So even if he had paid that in taxes, it would have been less than one percent of government spending in one year. Worse, it wouldn't have changed spending at all, it would have merely reduced the deficit a bit. So not a significant impact.
It's amazing to me we spend that much on healthcare, yet the vast majority of us are stuck with for-profit insurance denying coverage for anything more than an ingrown toenail. What an absolute waste.
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Indeed. But I would submit that these assholes have set back _all_ computing by at least a decade and quite possibly more.
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Wanna waste a few more mod-point, morons? Here is your chance.
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Hahahah, thanks to whoever up-modded that!
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& yeah, you're right. They're arseholes.
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Did Bill have some beef with Microsoft? (Score:2)
Or is this another evil ploy that we don't understand yet?
Re: Did Bill have some beef with Microsoft? (Score:1)
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That was almost half a century ago. People can change their minds in 50 years. But Gates was against open-source a lot more recently than 1976.
But here's the thing: it's like people who quit smoking and suddenly become the most vocal anti-tobacco activists you've ever seen. Sure it's great that they do the right thing now, but those people also stank up everybody else's atmosphere and cost the healthcare system a lot of money before they finally went straight.
So they really should shut the fuck up because,
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Bill was openly against open source back in the '90s and early 2000s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents
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But you're just annoyed by the smell, then yeah I agree, stfu because there are so few places people can smoke now, it's easy enough to avoid. There's no reason to pile more problems on people who already have some.
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It's funny how what I wrote and what you think you read that you're anwsering to have little in common.
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So they really should shut the fuck up because, quite frankly, they have less right to open their traps than those who never smoked.
I'm saying it's not about rights. If you are compassionate, it doesn't matter if you were a smoker in the past. If you are selfish, it doesn't matter if you were "perfect" in the past.
So maybe I misunderstood you, but that's what I understood from what you wrote.
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What I wrote was that late converts to anything have less rights to preach whatever they converted to.
This isn't about smokers or compassion. It's about Bill Gate being out of his depth when he talks a out open source.
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But you're just annoyed by the smell, then yeah I agree, stfu because there are so few places people can smoke now, it's easy enough to avoid.
No, fuck that to the max.
In between cars I had to ride the bus to work for over a month and the smokers were by far the most disgusting element to that experience. Worse than the BO, worse than the toxic scent additives and scent "boosters" that make them even more stomach-turning.
And listen, I say this as a former smoker: I'm sorry for all the time I smelled fucking terrible to others because of it. In my defense, I was smart enough to not hold the cigarette upwind from myself, like most smokers apparently
I think the title is super midleading (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I think the title is super midleading (Score:4, Insightful)
It suggest as if bill gates pursued open source. But if you read the quotes it actually seems that bill gates just pursues privacy invasive orwellian digital identification
Don't know why you were modded down - I made the same observation as I was reading the summary. My take on it is that ol' Bill is quite happy to milk all that good-will free labour that went into Open Source software. That way he gets to extend the hold of the corporatocracy over the plebs while simultaneously saving money. At the same time he can piss on the legacy of those who dared to offer an alternative to Windows and other rented software.
Also - for those who are over-exposed to the writing style and therefore perhaps less sensitized to it - Gates' screed reads like the dystopian love-child of PR and HR departments. Blog post or not, I rather doubt that Billy boy actually wrote it himself.
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It suggest as if bill gates pursued open source. But if you read the quotes it actually seems that bill gates just pursues privacy invasive orwellian digital identification
Don't know why you were modded down - I made the same observation as I was reading the summary. My take on it is that ol' Bill is quite happy to milk all that good-will free labour that went into Open Source software. That way he gets to extend the hold of the corporatocracy over the plebs while simultaneously saving money. At the same time he can piss on the legacy of those who dared to offer an alternative to Windows and other rented software.
Also - for those who are over-exposed to the writing style and therefore perhaps less sensitized to it - Gates' screed reads like the dystopian love-child of PR and HR departments. Blog post or not, I rather doubt that Billy boy actually wrote it himself.
In Bill's world, he could write, "Make it sound like I like Open Source." He hands that off to a think-tank, they write the actual article, edit it, post it, and he takes credit. That's how folks of his nature act. Whatever his worker bees do, he gets credit. Unless it goes badly. Then it's not at all got anything to do with him.
That is how you spell success in America, and if I had to guess, a large portion of the rest of the world.
A penny saved is a penny earned (Score:3)
'...[T]he Gates Foundation sees it "as an important part of our efforts to help save lives and fight poverty in poor countries."'
If the Gates Foundation thinks in at all the same way as its eponymous founder, it sees it as a really neat way to get valuable software without paying. Bill would never pass up such an opportunity.
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The Gates Foundation, like all foundations set up by ultra-billionaires, is a tax-dodging vehicle [vox.com]. Whatever the Gates Foundation says or does is ultimately designed to make people forget that Gates doesn't pay his fair share of taxes.
No (Score:3)
Then there's the fear that DPI will disenfranchise vulnerable populations like rural communities, the elderly, or those with limited digital literacy. But when it's properly designed and thoughtfully implemented
It won't be properly designed.
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Then there's the fear that DPI will disenfranchise vulnerable populations like rural communities, the elderly, or those with limited digital literacy. But when it's properly designed and thoughtfully implemented
It won't be properly designed.
Like housing projects in the US.
Amazed (Score:2)
Not sure whether I'm more amazed over Bill gates having a blog, or about people actually reading it. Oh, and then actually publishing about it!
The linked article is... (Score:2)
...low on technical details
I still can't figure out how it works
We need a way to securely establish identity
It should be open source
It should not favor one country, government or corporation
And finally, it should run on all devices and not be locked into one vendor
There is money to be made. (Score:3)
Making it "open source" will reduce opposition from some people and allow you to portray it as a benefit to all of humanity not just Bill Gates bottom line.