Some people may associate the name of this corporation with the benevolent image of Bill Gates—resembling more an aging nerd devoted to philanthropy than a corporate shark. Such an association, however, should not influence judgment. Microsoft is one of the IT monopolists that open windows onto worlds in which few would want to live. It may not sound very philanthropic, but Microsoft—together with Google, Yahoo, Cisco, AOL, Skype, and others—has assisted the Chinese government in its policy of internet censorship.

This is just another example that business never had, does not have, and will not have scruples. Since Roman times, the maxim “Money does not smell” has been known. It did not smell for IBM either in the 1930s, when it sold calculating machines to Nazi Germany for purposes connected with the persecution of Jews and the administration of concentration camps.

Microsoft does not lag far behind Google in the global harvest of personal data. The operating system Windows 10 is fully in tune with this global “fashion.” According to public statements by software engineers, the system sends all kinds of information about its users to Microsoft, including data about how the operating system is used—and sometimes even personally identifiable information. In addition, it uses devices’ internet connections for Microsoft’s own purposes. The built-in assistant in Windows 10—Cortana—also spies on and studies users under a microscope.

Here are a few more facts about the company of the philanthropist Gates:

The company’s labor relations with its employees follow the logic of Dickensian capitalism. Microsoft places many of its workers in temporary employment status, allowing it to avoid paying health insurance.

Overworking employees to the point of psychological breakdown, posing risks to their health, is also a normal company policy.

Accusations of brutal monopolistic practices and attempts to stifle competition unsurprisingly appear in the company’s record—logical for a monopolist of such rank.

Microsoft was the first company to participate in the U.S. security agency’s surveillance program PRISM.

Microsoft helped the same agency bypass encryption in order to intercept chats on Outlook.com and provided unencrypted access to its email hosts Outlook.com and Hotmail.com. The company also granted the security agency access to its cloud service OneDrive.

After Microsoft acquired Skype, the U.S. security agency tripled the number of video chats recorded under the PRISM program.

On September 14, 2019, Microsoft’s flagship store was shut down by protesters in an action organized by Close the Camps NYC. The protest responded to Microsoft’s contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).

In February 2019, some Microsoft employees protested the company’s contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop “augmented reality” devices for the American military.

Of course, all of the above does not correspond to the philanthropic image and benevolent appearance of Bill Gates—but reality is always different from PR campaigns and advertising suggestion.

Let us not forget that Bill Gates’s wealth has grown at a much faster pace than his fame as a philanthropist.