Bill Gates to be Knighted   3/1/2005 - 934 views, 3 Comments

During Bill’s excellent adventure, the Queen herself will be bestowing upon him the title of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent (Dude!) Order of the British Empire. However he will not be able to refer to himself as Sir Bill, nor will anybody else, as Bill Gates is not a British citizen.

Speculation is running rampant as to just why Bill Gates is being knighted. A Reuters news report from London notes that he is one of the richest men in the world, however that is probably not the reason. A more likely explanation is the view that, as British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw put it, he is “one of the most important business leaders of his age. Microsoft technology has transformed business practices, and his company has had a profound impact on the British economy.”

Notes the Mac Observer, perhaps a tad cynically, “Mr. Straw may be referencing the billions of pounds of lost productivity suffered by Windows users through crashes, viruses, spyware, adware, and other problems, which has indeed had an impact on the British economy. Alternately, he may be referencing the army of independent consultants and Windows techs who regularly repair these issues, all of whom pay taxes.”

But then again, maybe it’s as simple as the Queen using XP Home..or would that be XP Castle?