<HTML><HTML> From: Dwayne Monroe < Ian wrote: Does anyone really believe Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are psychopaths and would tell them that to their face if they had the chance. ============ Well I don't know enough about Buffett to say one way or the other but professional circumstances have forced me to study Gates' behavior -- at least as manifested via his corporation -- in detail. Psycopath seems excessive or, perhaps more to the point, inaccurate -- not a good description of the pathology on display.  I think though there's strong evidence some things within Gates' mind are out-of-balance in a way the ancient Greeks seemed to have understood and had concepts for (hubris, moira, etc). It's common for IT folks who aren't pro-MS partisans to describe Microsoft as an empire, or as a rapacious monster gobbling up everything in its path.  Some of this is hype and alarmism but the foundation, built upon the real actions of the firm, is quite sound. -clip- ******** Charles: I'd be willing to call them "monopolists" to their faces. "Expropriators" , even. </HTML>