I remember reading an article in the late 90s about how few of the movers and shakers of the tech world, esp. in Silicon Valley, were involved philanthropically. In fact, if one were to exam Gates' philanthropy and charitable giving, one would discover that Gates only became seriously active philanthropically at the height of the anti-trust litigation against Microsoft; furthermore, one would also notice that that time period is also when Gates became politically active and involved. Initially, he focused on courting legislators to see things his way with regard to Microsoft and its monopoly. Gates has over time broadened his activism for which I think he deserves a great deal of credit and goodwill.