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Bill Gates, the Washington State guy who has fought enough battles in Silicon Valley over the years with the likes of Apple, Sun and Intel,  ended his day here on Wednesday receiving a standing ovation and an award for his philanthropy.
He was given the 2006 James C Morgan Global Humanitarian Award at a dinner at the Tech Museum in San Jose.
Introduced by MC Steve Young, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, Gates joked Young was all the things he was not - a great athlete, a college graduate "and he’s never been in trouble….whereas I’ve had a few speeding tickets."
He has obviously come a long way from his arrest in New Mexico for going through a stop sign in his Porsche.
On a serious note, he used his acceptance speech to urge the Valley’s top executives to consider philanthropy.
"All of us are very blessed, this gives us the opportunity of reducing inequity," he said.
Gates explained how he became involved in giving away much of his fortune when he was made aware that the science of preventing millions of deaths was not a problem, it was the lack of attention to it in affluent nations, where diseases such as malaria and Yellow Fever had disappeared.
" Ninety per cent of money spent on health research is spent on the healthiest…there’s $1bn a year  spent on baldness," he pointed out.
The Tech Museum Awards: Technology Benefiting Humanity, sponsored by Applied Materials, featured many projects in developing countries. Intel’s Environment Award  was won by a project that made recycling plastic easier. Other projects included fog curtains that can collect up to 750 litres of drinking water a day and a sea-water greenhouse that provides fresh water and grows plants in Oman.
A full list of award winners is here.

Chris Nuttall, San Jose

November 17th, 2006 in Software | Permalink