Sir Bill, Knight of Realm….has a nice ring to it. And apparently its going to happen.
I’m a little torn on this. In my opinion, Bill is at least the equal of many others who have been knighted recently, like Mick Jagger. If nothing else, that fact that Bill Gates has given $26 billion to charity in the last few years (yes, billion) suggests that he’s deserving of some recognition. But…Sir Bill? I don’t know.
Bill Gates is sort of the quintessential “revenge of the Nerds” prototype. Is he a real geek? Well, he’s probably a bit too focussed on business success to be a real geek, but he’s definitely not the tanned, buffed, former football player with “executive hair”. To an extent, despite the dislike he sometimes inspires, Bill is still someone I feel closer to than, say, Darl McBride, Lee Iacocca, or Lou Gerstner.
I guess in the end, despite my misgivings, I’m have no real problem with Bill being knighted. I could think of worse people to get the honour. I wonder if the Queen will ask him about her BSOD problems…