Bill Gates said in a New York Times article that there has been very little progress in his plan to improve poor areas of the United States by donating computers and Microsoft software licenses.
\”I thought digital technology would eventually reverse urbanization, and so far that hasn\’t happened,\” Mr. Gates said, munching on a cheeseburger and fries at the Top Notch Cafe in Colfax, population 2,880. Among the bib overall set at lunch, he was largely unrecognized.
The article says that \”there is scant evidence … that the wiring of rural America has done anything\”, and suggests that Gates computers are being used to find far-away jobs that cause a brain drain in rural America. Bill\’s final word in the article about the library project, which he \”seems ready to check … off his to-do list\” soon, is this admission: \”I\’d be happy if I could think that the role of the library was sustained and even enhanced in the age of the computer.\” Oh well, he\’s still worth $35 billion; maybe his next project will do some good.
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