Given the volume of coverage over the past few days (260 articles in my latest Google-powered count), I thought that I should touch upon the recent “rare and remarkable” interview that the UK’s Daily Mail landed with Bill Gates.

The most oft-quoted element of the interview, it appears, concerns his three children’s inheritence. Deducting the $28 billion donated to charity, Gates is now worth $56 billion. Yet his children “aren’t going to inherit anything like that much think that amount of money would be good for them.” He also added that he has denied their requests for iPods and that they own the Windows equivalent. A Zune music player, if you are curious. But overall, as the Wall Street Journal blog Tech Europe summed up: “What did we learn? Sadly not a huge amount.”

That said, the WSJ latched on to this particular quotation, as did the Huffington Post:

I don’t want a legacy. […] I want a malaria vaccine. If we get one then we’ll have to find the money to give it to everyone, but the impact would be so huge we would find a way. Understanding science and pushing the boundaries of science is what makes me immensely satisfied. What I’m doing now involves understanding maths, risk-taking. The first half of my life was good preparation for the second half. Continue reading →