Posted on 01/31/2006 7:56:05 PM PST by HAL9000
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said today the tax office in the US has to store his financial data on a special computer because his fortune is so vast."My tax return in the United States has to be kept on a special computer because their normal computers can't deal with the numbers," he said at a Microsoft conference held in Lisbon.
"So I am constantly getting these notices telling me I haven't paid something when really it is just on the wrong computer," he added in comments broadcast on television.
"Then they will send me another notice telling me how bad they feel they that they sent me a notice that was a mistake," he said
Gates's fortune is put at $47 billion, according to the latest list of the world's rich published by Forbes magazine.
Last month Time magazine named Gates and his wife Melinda, along with rock star Bono, its Persons of the Year for 2005, citing their charitable work and activism aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world health.
The couple's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a $29 billion endowment making it the world's biggest charity.
AS/400, iSeries, i5, whatever. Store the values in DB2/400 as Packed Decimal. Let's see, 47 billion? We'd need a field capable of holding 47,000,000,000.00. That's 13,2 Packed. Better leave a little growing room for Billy's fortune and go 15,2 Packed. That field would require 8 bytes of storage... I think.
Exactly. Just move Mr. Gates to the actuarian machine that calcs Fed budgets.
"Only problem is, the computer runs on Linux."
Or it runs on Microsoft which says more about him and his comapany than it does the harware or Irs?
They do mine on a Post It Note.
LOL!
I have no idea what your post means but I'm impressed,really impressed.
"Working" income aside, returns on $20bn+ of investments has to top a billion on a bad year.
I can explain.
15,2 Packed Decimal
15,2 means 15 decimal digits, 2 to the right of the decimal point.
Packet Decimal means that you store your decimal digits in 4-bits each (nibbles). 15 digits would require 8 bytes or 16 nibbles. That's Packed Decimal, a legacy numeric data type used to save storage space back in the days when megabyte drives cost megabucks.
HTH
Gotcha !!! :>)
His income must be huge as well. 1.5% dividend on $47 billion in Microsoft stock is about $660 million a year in income. $55 million a month. About $2 million a day.
Are you serious? All he has to do is close the doors on Microsoft and we are in trouble. He has one of the largest companies and employees. I would be nicer to him.
Yes, $1, $2, $5 billion is megabucks. I'm just wondering if Gates was engaging in some hyperbole. After all, such income is not out of line when you consider major US corporations. Are there special computers used for the complex tax returns of WalMart, Exxon or GM?
Where's the quote of Gates saying computer users don't need x amount of hard drive?
Gates has declared himself as a separate country with his own flag and that all taxation requests should be sent to his brother who is still an American...
Be sure to be nice to George Soros while you are at it.
They're cut from the same cloth.
"It's a WordPerfect world and like it or not, it's going to stay that way." Heard in Orem, UT circa 1994.
"It's an IBM world and like it or not, you'll all be using the MCA bus." Heard in Armonk, NY circa 1992.
"It's a Palm Pilot world and like it or not, no Windows CE upstart is going to change that." Heard in San Jose, CA circa 2000.
Are you sure you want to say that kind of thing when the past has shown over and over again that these things always change?
Are they friends? I never heard anything about them hanging out. All I know it that Bill Gates took nothing and made it into a multi billion dollar company that allows us to do what we are doing right now. That is all I am saying. I don't honor the guy, just giving credit where it is due.
Don't know if they are friends or not, but they're both left-wing billionare collectivist pigs.
All I know it that Bill Gates took nothing and made it into a multi billion dollar company that allows us to do what we are doing right now.
Actually, William H. Gates III took a lot of William H. Gates, Jr's money, "borrowed" a lot of code from other people, stole computer time from Harvard (for which he was kicked out) and used theft, chicanery and backstabbing (along with daddy's bankroll) to build an empire. But hey, what's a little illegal, immoral or unethical activity between left-wing collectivists, right comrade?
That is all I am saying. I don't honor the guy, just giving credit where it is due.
And I give Alfonse Capone a lot of credit for the soup kitchens he opened up in Chicago during the Depression. That doesn't excuse his other activities, nor will it put him on my most admired list.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.