re: While it's easy to hate Bill Gates...
A great project, and yes MS and Gates should get our thanks for underwriting it.
I've usually tired to separate how I feel about someone's behaviour from how I feel about them as a person. For instance, I think the way MS has targetted Java for extinction is shameful, and may stem--at least partly--from a badly overdeveloped sense of competition on Gates' part, but I don't hold that against him personally (especially given his philanthropy).
Let's face it, he and his wife aren't obligated to give a dime, and are rarely vocal about it when they do, so it must come from the heart.