Some Photos of Bill Gates in China

The new Beijing from inside Microsoft's China HQ. Here the company planned its rebirth in China.



Gates stands on stage with Mr. XU Zhihong, President of Peking University, where he became an honorary trustee and gave a speech about innovation in technology and software.



Computer science students -- here at Tsinghua University -- crowded to hear Gates speak wherever he went. One Chinese leader described Gates as "more famous than any movie star"



The three who turned around Microsoft's China business (from left): Tim Chen, president of Microsoft's Greater China region; Chief Technology Office Craig Mundie; and Gates.


Gates, at his welcome dinner with government leaders in Beijing, is momentarily captivated by a group of Chinese girls performing a traditional dance in his honor.




Gates prepares for a ceremony naming him an honorary trustee of Peking University.


In China, Microsoft does things the Chinese way. Here a private guard stands ceremoniously at the entrance to Microsoft's R&D center in Beijing.


Gates meets with Tsinghua University President Gu Binglin prior to receiving an honorary degree.

Microsoft In Moroccan context

In a Moroccan context, not everybody knows Bill Gates; if I don’t say less than 1% of the Moroccan population (I couldn’t find any statistics concerning the use of PCs in Morocco, so I just assumed). Anyway, we all know that Moroccans buy Microsoft software, other software, music, films (whatever one needs) at really low prices. They just buy copies, not original ones, but still it works for their computers. They have the same product but at 20 MAD instead of 1500 MAD. Morocco is not considered as a potential market for Bill Gates because of the ignorance of people and because of the low number of Moroccans using computers comparing to China or Asia and also because of the language barrier. Even though Gates knows that counterfeiting is tremendous in Morocco, and that the majority to not say everyone using a computer is using his software (Windows & MS-Office), he did not have the same strategy of abandoning the protection of Microsoft products. Also, he did not cut the price for Moroccan students since they are still charged the equivalent of the price as in Europe (100Euros) or US (150$) despite the fact that they are only paying 20 Dirhams or less by purchasing fake products. Today, Bill Gates is considering those former strategies as Microsoft’s best LONG-TERM strategy but that he applies only to markets that he considers potential and promising massive profits.

Microsoft in Chinese Market

Microsoft had hard time doing business in China after entering it in 1992; the company’s business was a disaster there for a decade. Microsoft noticed then that none of the basic principles, guidelines and strategies that were successful in US and Europe made sense in China. Then Bill Gates’ company had to cut prices tremendously, and followed the un-Microsoft-pricing strategy by charging Chinese consumers the 1/50th of the regular retail price charged anywhere else. Thus, Windows operating system and Office applications were sold at 3$ instead of charging hundreds. Microsoft also abandoned the protection of its intellectual property at all costs and Gates has been amazingly tolerant of China's counterfeiters. This gained him a further admiration. If Microsoft has followed those tactics, it’s because they have found in Chinese market, potential and numerous consumers of Microsoft products. Around 90% of the 200millions Chinese computers are using Windows, and approximately 600 to 700 millions in Asia. Thus, if Microsoft sells software at 3$, they are generating profits by multiplying it by the huge number of buyers. Bill Gates is the idol of Chinese youth, they are extremely impressed by him, they use his software and they read his book “The Road Ahead” that was translated into many languages including Chinese. In China, the Microsoft Chairman is bigger than any movie star. Chinese people prefer him to any other government leader. The president of China, Hu Jintao, told Bill Gates "You are a friend to the Chinese people, and I am a friend of Microsoft. Every morning I go to my office and use your software".

Is the Moroccan media system Semi-liberal or Semi-authoritarian??

I also agree that both media sytems are found in Morocco. however, I would also call it, as my classmate Satt, Semi-libertarian model rather than "Semi-authoritarian" one. Actually, it depends on how each citizen perceive the improvement of media (knowing that all of us agree on the fact that both models exist in Morocco). For me, "Semi-libertarian" or "Semi-authoritarian" mean the same thing; I mean they have the same consequences and present the same change that has known the Moroccan media system those last years. Allow me please to use a metaphorical expression of optimism and pessimism "is the glass semi-empty or semi-full?". You may wonder why this question. In fact, when Doctor Ibahrine asked "What about semi-authoritarian", this is what I came out with. Each one of us would see the glass differently, the same thing applies for the system. If we agree all that both systems are found in Morocco, and that the latter is in a transition phase toward freedom of speech and a liberal model, though we are optimistic about the change and the future of the Moroccan media system, and would rather say that it is a semi-liberal system. However, if we are not really satisfied with the improvement, we might think that it is a semi-authoritarian system. Personally, I believe that our media system had really improved with time and the control over the system has diminished. Thus, one can be optimistic about its future. Time will tell :):):)