Technobabble #1: Tracking Microsoft and Bill Gates’ Gifts

Unlike database giant Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison - who offered a US$100+ mln gift to Harvard - Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has been good to his word. In addition to giving away over US$13 mln to a British university to study malaria, his and his wife Melinda’s charitable foundation has ensured that 500 sex workers have RFID-enabled smartcards.

These smart cards provide discounts but also induce these workers to get regular checkups. A similar program is being tried in various African countries, although I’m not sure if these are funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates and his wife however have planned a number of charitable programs as part of the foundation.

On Microsoft-specific matters, the company (Nasdaq: MSFT, NYSE: MSFT) declared a 9 cents per share dividend, payable September 14. Anyone on record as owning Microsoft shares by August 17 of this year is eligible for the dividend.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that nine cents is enough to entice anyone to buy a few shares. They’ll need to do better than that to boost up their slumping stock. It hasn’t really recovered from its high of around US$60 since 2000. Part of the problem is that they’ve lost ground to Internet-based companies like Google, who is enjoying share prices above $400.

As many bloggers have written, Google “gets” the Internet and how to earn money from it. Microsoft does not, as their stock would indicate. And with all the free web-based software Google has been releasing that directly challenges Microsoft’s various Office software, Microsoft has to do nothing short of reinvent themselves. With the changes in staff at the top, maybe that’ll happen.

Sources:
Dvorak Uncensored - Bill Gates Funds India’s Hookers’ Smart Cards; Forbes - Microsoft’s Gates Gives $13M To U.K. University [via bink]; Microsoft PressPass; IT News Australia - No sight of Ellison’s $115m pledge.