Namibia Says "No Thanks" To Microsoft Donation With Strings 700
The Register posted an update about Namibia's SchoolNet, Microsoft "donations", and what looks like Namibia final decision. Apparently, MS's "donated" contributions would have been so small (and would have required such a large investment in OS licenses), that SchoolNet Namibia found it wasn't even worth bothering with. A very interesting article.
Typical MS (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Typical MS (Score:5, Informative)
MS was giving them $2000 worth of copies of Office, but they would have been required to spend $9000 in order to buy Windows to use it!
Re:Typical MS (Score:4, Funny)
Oooh!! 5 whole copies!!!!
Re:Typical MS (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, that, plus another couple billion in the R&D to actually develop it, but hey, we can't count that, right?
Re:Typical MS (Score:4, Offtopic)
At any rate, assuming that the price scheme still stands, $2000 worth of this in California would buy you 6 copies of the software, tax inclusive, and you'd probably have enough for dinner at a nice place with your wife.
(Note: I have not priced Microsoft software since 1998, as I've not had the need.)
Re:Typical MS (Score:4, Informative)
At college bookstores, Office XP can be had for 20 bucks, in some places. Right now, MSFT has an initiative to sell student/teacher versions of Office XP (with PowerPoint added, it's not in the Standard versions) for US$149.97. I think the "burden of proof" is set on the buyer to verify that they are actually a student or teacher, but anyone can pick up the software off the shelf and buy it.
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Redundant)
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Interesting)
People need to actually READ the eulas they agree to... they would stop supporting microsoft in any way if they actually read what they are agreeing to.
(NOTE: this is the legal definition of a student as is regarded in legal contracts... the microsoft EULA does NOT specifically say anything but the fact that you must be a studen to use that student version... and you stop being a student the second you aren't registered for classes.)
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Insightful)
In the grand sceme of things, whether you pay out $300 or $10 for a peice of software, it won't make a difference in Microsofts' wallet. If you purchase their software "illegally" (or under false pretences) that's something they can be upset about.
As a footnote, the student prices are so low because they want students to use their software, become dependant on it, and when they are not in school anymore and deciding what software to put on 300 machines in their offices, it is hoped they would choose Microsoft. It's not for "good graces" that it's so cheap.
this is true (Score:3, Informative)
what is most disgusting about this is that not only do they sell it for the mac, the professors require that we submit docs in
trying to promote open source software is so hard when "office is 20 bucks". let me tell you, it sucks. it should be so obvious what m$ is doing.
Re:this is true (Score:4, Insightful)
CSU-Microsoft Campus Enterprise Agreement (CEA). [csun.edu] I really love this line: "A distinct advantage to the campus enterprise agreement is that it does not require any exclusivity whatsoever. CSU faculty, staff, and students have the option to use any software they want" because the next sentence says: "Microsoft accepted this type of agreement because two-thirds of the CSU campuses endorsed Microsoft Office products as their campus-wide standard".
The office XP is only avilable at the $20 price because 2/3rds of the schools in the system are going to force 100% Microsoft monopoly on their students. I'm sure the situation at the other 1/3rd is going to be almost as bad. If you enforce a zero tolerance policy of against Microsoft competitors then you get a deep discount (more like a bribe). It's not Microsoft using anti-competitive tactics, it's the schools doing it! (chuckle)
Not that the school officials care too much about how much the students pay for Office XP, I'm sure the deal saved at least a few thousand dollars for the administrative offices.
There was a recent article on
Disclaimer: I don't know jack about CSUN, I just did a google on microsoft CSUN [google.com] and it was all in the first link.
-
NOT for $20! (Score:4, Insightful)
UNC, however, ponies up several hundred thousand dollars every year to pay for the site license that lets me do that. Sure, I don't pay for a license at the checkout counter: students pay for it in their tuition and departments see it paid for out of the university IT budget -- which I'd rather see spent on infrastructure than on pushing MS software!
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Typical MS (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't get me wrong... I'm sure you probably paid much less for that software than you would've otherwise... But I highly doubt that your total cost was only $25. Universities pay a lot for those Microsoft campus agreements, and the money they pay for it with comes from somewhere, either your tuition/fees, or your tax dollars. (unless a rich Alumni/'Partner'/etc. donated the money, then you may be off the hook, and getting a deal)
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Interesting)
At Cambridge in the UK, all the computer science students get Windows XP absolutely free... as well as Visio, .NET junk, and a few other bits and pieces. I severely doubt the university paid them anything for it... it's pretty obvious that Microsoft wants to make sure we're all programming under their OS.
Then again, we also have a new building to house the computer science department... called... the William Gates building. I kid ye not. Paid for in its entirety by Microsoft, in return for which they got to name it, and that's it.
Microsoft seem to be quite happy to spend money when they think it'll give them an advantage in the future... really, it's odd that they proposed such a lousy deal here.
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Insightful)
Yet. But at some point after the schools are "addicted" and almost can't function without the products, they'll be presented with two options: erase all the rented copies or renew at an astronomically higher rental rate. Just you wait and see.
Microsoft has no morals (Score:4, Insightful)
This is just an example of how Microsoft is ignoring all morals and what is right just to earn some money. Although this is an isolated case, their "Office XP for students" is a much more broad case of how M$ manages to ignore morals to earn money. Sure, it's cheaper than regular Office, but that's not saying much, as regular Office is already ludicrously expensive. The student edition costs well over 100 US dollars. Let me get this straight - something THIS expensive was intended for students? And this is considered amnesty? I find it disgusting.
Sure, there are other packages out there for students that cost a lot, like Mathematica, which has a student edition that costs the same as Office for students, but the regular edition is well over several thousand dollars. Consider that in a ratio. Moreover, while the essential features of Office have been claimed by other word processors, Mathematica is unparalleled in functionality by any other calculation package in existance.
In conclusion, this is predictable old Microsoft behavior - overlooking almost all morals, disguising it as an act of charity, while earning massive amounts of profit.
Re:Microsoft has no morals (Score:4, Interesting)
Microsoft has:
Been found guilty (upheld in appeals court) of multiple counts of breaking antitrust law.
Engaged in terror marketing; using fear of audits to sell more licenses to companies than they need.
Produced and sold products so notoriously insecure that the FBI has had to warn the public.
Caused (through a bug in their SQL Server) nuclear materials in Russia and possibly in the US to slip through the cracks. The materials could be safe in a warehouse or in unfriendly hands, the database no longer has a record of them.
Left a trail of broken and dead companies in their wake, not through fair competition, but through dirty (and frequently illegal) tricks.
Caused huge amounts of lost documents and lost productivity to corporate customers, and an endless amount of frustration, stress, and blue screens of death to users.
Audited poor school systems and a children's charity, to grab what little funding those organizations had to feed their endless greed.
Attempted to force Licensing 6 on their customers, then publicly bragged about the resulting "unearned profits".
Refused to share their big wad of cash with their shareholders in the form of dividends. Since the stock is down from its glory days, what do the shareholders get in return for their investment? Nothing.
There is far more. Get your head out of MS Sand(TM) and read the news for a change. Microsoft has broken the law, failed their shareholders, and wronged their customers. That is wrong, even by the standards of business ethics. By the standards of human compassion, well gotr00t was right when they said Microsoft was a jerk. "Greedy Shark" works for me.
"At this moment, it has control of systems all over the world.
And...we can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Miyasaka, "Godzilla 2000 Millennium" (Japanese version)
Hmm, do you think Godzilla will blow Microsoft's candles out for his 48th birthday on Sunday?
We are mssing the point here (Score:5, Insightful)
A local person should be able to keep or replace crap boxes to keep 20 workstations going. The server should run well, and should be maintainable remotely over their internet connection.
Sounds like a good use of manpower, equimpent and finances.
What does Microsoft offer to compete with this? The need for 20 laptops hooked to a server that just does file, printsharing and providing an internet connection.
- They require the purchase of 20 copies of windows.
- They require a local tech at each school who can handle keeping 20 laptops running windows operational.
To sumarize, Namibia is using a free OS, cheep throw away computers, requiring very little technical support and a server than can be administered remotely.What is the best MicroSoft has to offer? The need for a full time on site tech support person. $2000.00 in Free Software that will only cost them $9000.00 in additional software to use, and the need to expend what little budget they had planned on using for servers instead to buy workstations that would be better replaced by dumb terminals.
Maybe this is what Microsoft is talking about when they say the only way they can compete with Linux is by offering more value for the money spent on their products.
Bart Bucks are not legal tender
Re:Typical MS (Score:5, Funny)
MICROSOFT INC.
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
1 MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
30TH OF OCTOBER 2002
ATTN: PRESIDENT OF SCHOOLNET, NAMIBIA
STRICTLY PRIVATE BUSINESS PROPOSAL
I am MR. Steven Ballmer, the Chief Executive officer at Microsoft Corporation in the United States of America. I am writing you this letter to ask for your support and cooperation to carrying this business opportunity in my corporation. We discovered abandoned the sum of US$6700 (six thousand seven hundred united states dollars) of Microsoft Software licenses in an account that belonged to one of our foreign customers,an American Larry Ellison, an software merchant of America who died along with his entire family of a wife and two children in a Air Transat Airbus (A310-300) flight KQ430 in November2000.
Since we heard of his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and put claims for his software licenses as the heir, because we cannot release the licenses from his account unless someone applies for a new windows product activation code as the next of kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. Unfortunately, neither his family member nor distant relative has appeared to claim the said fund. Upon this discovery, I and other officials in my department have agreed to make business with you release the total amount into your account as the heir of the fund since no one came for it or discovered either maintained account with our company, other wise the software will be returned to the government as death taxes.
We have agreed that our ratio of sharing will be as stated thus: 30% for you as foreign partner making your share about $2000 and 70% for us the officials in my department. Upon the successful completion of this transfer, my colleague and I will come to your country and mind our share. It is from our 60% we intend to import computer accessories into my country as way of recycling thefund. To commence this transaction we require you to immediately indicate your interest by calling me or sending me a fax immediately on the aboveTelefax # and enclose your private contact Telephone #, Fax #, full nameand address and your designated banking co- ordinates to enable us fileletter of claim to the appropriate department for necessary approvalsbefore the transfer can be made.
Note also, this transaction must be kept strictly
confidential becauseof its nature. NB: Please remember to give me your Phone and Fax No
MR.Steven Ballmer.
Re:Typical MS (Score:4, Funny)
MICROSOFT INC.
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
1 MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
30TH OF OCTOBER 2002
ATTN: PRESIDENT OF SCHOOLNET, NAMIBIA
STRICTLY PRIVATE BUSINESS PROPOSAL
I am MR. Steven Ballmer,
DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS
WHhhhhhooooooooooooo, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, wooooooooooo, AAAAhhhhhhhhhh
Re:Typical MS (Score:3, Funny)
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
1 MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND WA
Don't you find it ironic that thier address is, "One Microsoft Way"?
Interesting business plan (Score:2, Interesting)
This Namibia "donation" was definitely some major snake oil, kind of like a car dealership altering their engines to only run on a "new" in-house gasoline that's five-times more expensive than everything else.
Yeesh (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeesh (Score:5, Insightful)
Computers (and video games) substituted for my parents.
Wait. That explains a lot.
No. (Score:4, Insightful)
The best way to fight poverty, as well as improve public health in the long run is to build a modern sociaty. The best way to do that is to build an effective educational system. Relying on hands out and spending all effort on temporary solutions to various problems will leave you with those same problems for ever.
People with AIDS can still live a while with proper medication, and still be productive members of sociaty.
Re:Yeesh (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's forget for a moment that the story here is now Namibia is saving money...
Your stance is an easy way to appear to be a compassionate humanitarian, but this kind of superficial analysis boils human issues down into dollars and cents in a way I find patronizing.
It's as if you think every last penny in the country should be aimed at the biggest problem in the country, which will then be solved, at which point every penny should be aimed at the next biggest problem, and so on until all the problems are solved like neat little dominoes.
Do you think a complex cultural, economic, and social structure can be boiled down to one single issue? Should a people's economy be driven by its one biggest problem? Is the objective in Namibia merely to maximize the number of human beings that exist, without regard to their education or their place in the modern world?
The Namibians are not a mere problem to be solved. They are a people who happen to have a number of problems. Everyone has problems of varying magnitudes, and we can't make them go away simply by rerouting every available dollar toward our one biggest problem. It just doesn't work. What makes you think the Namibians are any different?
Money doesn't solve problems. People solve problems.
Open letter to MS from SchoolNet (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Open letter to MS from SchoolNet (Score:3, Insightful)
When I contrast this with the fools we in America appear to prefer to elect, I get positively discouraged.
Re:Open letter to MS from SchoolNet (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Open letter to MS from SchoolNet (Score:3, Funny)
Nudge, nudge.
Re:Beggars with attitude! (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft wants it's foot in the door by donating Office. These people are working on a small budget, and absolutely cannot afford the infrastructure needed to even USE that software. It's hardly a "gift".
Given the amounts of money MS rolls out, if MS wanted a foot in the door in Nambibia, they could easily afford to network & outfit the entire country's school system.. THEN they would surely listen.
Maybe.
Re:Beggars and fools (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone who paid attention to the Universal Service Fund (it's that tax that's on every phone bill in the country to help schools get internet access) could predict how large technology in education would become, and MS did not miss that boat. A little simple math: 92,000 school districts in the US, x 20K each in software licenses (let's say for simplicity, that covers everything - servers, CALs, Office, Mail, kids stuff, etc.) Now keep in mind that some districts are very small and can be just one or two buildings, others like Las Vegas or Dallas can have between 200 to 500 schools in one district - so this is a very rough but fair number (We spend more than that and we are 12 buildings).
Unless you purchase volume licenses, you may not have noticed that during the Office 97 era, Publisher was a separate package and a lot of schools didn't buy it (we just used Word), then for 2000 when you licensed Pro it included Pub 2000 - Oh I thought that was very nice of them!!! Now comes Office 2002 (XP) - you got it, Publisher is back out and costs another $5 a desktop if you want to keep it. Major bait-and-switch game. We opted out and are back to Word only, even with a couple of angry classrooms who had integrated it into curriculum, which I'm sure MS was counting on. It may not seem like much, but $5 a desktop and 2000 computers = another 10K just for that.
MS planted seeds all right, and now the roots are starting to crush the foundations...
Re:Beggars with attitude! (Score:3, Insightful)
No, but if you offer to give the begger a dollar as long as he first pays you 10, the begger is free to tell you where to stuff that dollar--and probably WILL tell you to.
Good for Namibia. Poorer people can sometimes be taken advantage of, but often they are very frugal and logical when it comes to making good financial decisions because they don't have money to flush down the toilet on mistakes.
Re:Beggars with attitude! (Score:3, Insightful)
MS is not doing this out of the goodness of their heart. MS is giving them their first hit for free (metaphorically).
Re:Beggars with CON ARTISTS (Score:3, Insightful)
These people are NOT beggars. MICROSOFT APPROACHED THEM WITH SPONSORSHIP of a school program. They alrady have a functioning system running superior products.
They were giving Microsoft a chance to SHOWCASE MS technology in the hopes of demonstrating that Microsoft had a viable alternative, and as it turned out, Microsofts alternative was a con. There's a surprise!
Re:Beggars with attitude! (Score:5, Insightful)
Except that this donation doesn't cost Microsoft a penny more than the trivial cost of media. Schools in Namibia could never afford to buy Microsoft software anyway so it's not like Microsoft is losing anything by giving them this "gift". Even if Microsoft gave them a complete suite of Windows-equipped software including the OS for every one of those computers Microsoft would still come out ahead because of the gains in PR and goodwill for the company, and the exposure of all those kids to Microsoft's brand and products. So everyone would win because MS is getting good publicity and exposure by doing something that doesn't cost them anything but greatly benefits the public of Namibia. That's what corporate philantropy should be like.
But, Microsoft wanted more. They wanted to turn this into a sales opportunity as well and grab a chance to lock even some of the world's poorest into their exploitative upgrade cycles. Make no mistake, if these people had taken this deal, all that money would be pure profit for MS.
So, really, MS has no interest in making actual donations - they really just want to milk everyone while making it look like they are making a meaningful contribution. This "gift" was nothing more than a sleazy sales tactic and I'm glad that Nambia isn't "buying" into it.
In other news .. (Score:5, Funny)
The GNU GPL is a Free license (Score:3, Insightful)
to me there's a Big Important Difference between free and Free.
I understand that difference. I find software under the the GNU General Public License to be Free [gnu.org] because
Restrictions are restrictions, as far as I'm concerned.
Do you disapprove of a "restriction" on cold-blooded murder? I sure do.
Maybe this is why (Score:5, Funny)
No it went down like this (Score:4, Funny)
I am an officer at a large American software company, in charge of shipping software to our customers overseas. Unfortunately, one of these customers, a US Special Forces Commando, paid a large sum for our Office 2000 product, but passed away without naming an heir to receive this valuable software. According to company regulations, I cannot keep this software for myself, but if a suitable foreign customer (such as yourself) is found, I will be able to transfer the sale to you with no cost, in order to meet our company's stringent quarterly profit goals. If you are willing to receive this software confidentially, we will both benefit, but we must act quickly to meet our sales deadline.
All that I need from you to accomplish this sale is the presentation of your Windows 2000 licenses, as the original contract requires. If you do not possess these, I can assist you in acquiring them for a modest sum.
Yours Truly,
Mr. Ferreira
Chief Ethics Officer
Foreign Floppy Disk Desk
Microsoft Corporation
In other words.. (Score:5, Funny)
Oxymoron Count (Score:5, Funny)
What is it with these guys? Are they crazy like a fox, arrogant, or just dumb? Is Microsoft really that worried about market share in impoverished Africa, and is it this inept at promoting itself?
Well, three cheers for Linux, which doesn't even have a promotional budget.
Re:Oxymoron Count (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Oxymoron Count (Score:5, Interesting)
You know that cracks me up. I mean Africa has a mean Per-Capita-GNP of about $2000, a AIDS infection rate reaching 30% in some countries, massive amounts of foreign debt, corrupt governments, and the list goes on-and-on. And yet microsoft is paranoid about market share. You think they would realize that it is *really* hard to get a business/non-profit organization/individual to pay 600-1200$ for the latest Microsoft Products when they can get near-equivalents for *free*. As in free. As in don't have to sacrifice the equivalent of 1 years worth of pay to buy some MS products which might be marginally better than the equivalent *Free* products. The only hope they have is giving them free software since, in all likelihood, if the organization really wants said copies of MS software they will just pirate the darn things anyways. And, hey, wouldn't you if you made 1500$ a year? Note: Don't advocate piracy or stealing, just trying to point out how inept MS strategy is.
To: Microsoft
From: Africa
Subject: Quotes
After reviewing your offering of $15,000 to connect and equip 20 computers with software - from our grand total IT budget of about 50$ - we have decided to go with the competitions offer of *FREE*. That way instead of buying your over-priced software we can actually do some good like teaching rudimentry tech skills, feeding the poor kids we teach, and maybe attracting some tech jobs to improve the future of our grandchildren. We would like to assure you that your quote was appreciated and look forward to possibly doing business with you in the future.
Kthnxbye.
Re:Oxymoron Count (Score:5, Informative)
Silly me, I thought I read that they're using diskless Linux Terminals [ltsp.org]. I must have read a different article to you.
Never has there been a more perfect application (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds like a good place to deploy Solo computers (Score:5, Interesting)
Solo computer [explan.co.uk]
a neat ARM powered machine that used 8.5 watts all in (including monitor) and can be solar powered.
Instead of 500ish watts for a standard desktop.
No I don't work for ARM I just like their kit.
It looks like the ultimate silent pc - no noise even in the power generation.
Although RISC_OS isn't open source it is pretty solid and isn't part of the Evil Empire.
Re:Sounds like a good place to deploy Solo compute (Score:3, Informative)
Power consumption of a PC 150+350=500. (Score:4, Informative)
150+350 = 500 n'est pas?
Also the rating of 350 watts is meant to be the output of the supply - not what it draws, and I think pc power supplies are less than 70% efficient, so your 350 watt power supply might actually draw 400 watts and give out 350watts supply and a fair bit of heat. (Ok it probably isn't on full load most of the time..)
Yes I know you could get a
C3 based [mini-itx.com]
machine with an LCD screen, but even this would tend to use 200-300watts. (But I still want one, if anyone wants to do one for me in a 1:12 blue mini-cooper body)
These Solo machiness use 8.5 watts all in including monitor.
Nah (Score:3, Interesting)
Much better to stick to native software like OpenOffice. Wine is a crutch that keeps you locked in a windows world. The more you use wine, the less incentive companies have to build native apps.
In my ideal world (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:In my ideal world (Score:5, Funny)
And what will the three of you do after you unionize?
Re:In my ideal world (Score:5, Informative)
Being from Tanzania, I can assure you there are more than a few computer professionals in Africa. Believe it or not, most offices actually have PCs and many have internet access, hence "computer guys" are required to maintain them.
Not silly -- serious (Score:3, Interesting)
It's pretty well recognized that India is heading to bypass the US in software development.
Re:In my ideal world (Score:3, Insightful)
Most firms do not make software for money. Most make money WITH software. You are correct in that OS will compete with those who produce closed proprietary software. Open Source has advantages that closed source simply cannot provide espcially if someone has a need for a customized solution. If closed source firms want to compete then they will have to deliver exceptional value. Open Source forces closed companies to make better software to stay alive. The customer wins whether he goes with closed or open. The customer is not obligated to only be able to use closed source solutions with no competition so you can have a job.
Lastly, I'll note that most major Open Source projects like Apache and the Linux kernel have paid programmers contributing to them. OSS is often part of an overall solution that is sold for money. The OSS provides core functionality so that wheels need not be continually reinvented. Again, you are not owed a job constantly recoding solutions for problems that were solved a long time ago. Most code that is truly written for free is probably not worth that much on it's own. Think minesweeper and tetris clones. OSS programmers can get paid just like closed programmers.
Re:In my ideal world (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, many of these projects will be smaller because they can draw on open source components. But similarly many more projects will suddenly make economic sense exactly because the company can cut the projected cost by improving an existing open source project instead of building something from scratch.
For software projects that aren't directly revenue generating, that is a critical factor. Open source has already been the enabler for several projects I've worked on: Thanks to Linux and other open source we've been able to cut the cost of the projects enough that we've been able to spend money elsewhere instead - including on further software development of features we would've gone without if we didn't have access to open source.
We're not creating a lack of jobs - we're widening the market by creating a platform of commodity software that can be customized cheaply enough to enable projects that would otherwise be dead long before getting even to a requirements specification because of cost issues.
Modifying well tested commodity software is also a smaller risk, and less complex, and as such should hopefully in the long run reduce the failure rates of IT projects, which would further increase the chances of getting projects approved.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
The perfect slashdot story (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The perfect slashdot story (Score:5, Funny)
Slashturbation. Cool. I've got a new "Word of the Day".
While this article is definitely "Slashturbation", it's not worthless. A lot of us have been saying that Free Software will gain traction in the third world because anything else is unaffordable. This provides practical evidence of that theory, and is relevant to those of us that care about IT in developing nations or pricing models in general.
Of course, it also gives us anti-M$ cheerleaders a warm fuzzy feeling too.
Isn't anyone worried? (Score:3, Funny)
Damnit Bill!
We need to get those kids on Windoze machines ASAP so they can grow to fear all technology, and we can all keep our jobs.
--sarcasm off--
Cost of publicity (Score:5, Insightful)
This is precisely the reason I don't use M$ products. I started using Linux for purely practical reasons, but now it's almost equally philosophical.
Re:Cost of publicity (Score:3, Insightful)
I work at a chain of bookstores that is in similar standing with Barnes and Noble, and we'll do just about anything for the image of the company, even if that means taking a loss on some transactions to give customers a good impression of the company (in turn keeping them loyal to us)
Re:Cost of publicity (Score:5, Informative)
While I know there is a separation between the actions of Microsoft and the actions of Bill Gates, Bill Gates himself has done plenty of things purely out of good will. His charity donations are interesting to me, in that he donates to causes like disease research -- rather than following the tradition of many philanthropists of yesteryear, donating mostly to public works which are subsequently named after them (I'm sure he does this too, but I believe the main focus is on international health). Note that I'm not saying there's anything wrong or selfish about that--I'd rather study in the Kelvin Smith Library than study in my dorm room, but the selflessness Gates has shown with his riches is one thing I do admire (granted, it doesn't make up for Windows ME, but nobody's perfect). Here's a pretty good cache of stories [billgatesisdead.com] about his charitable donations.
Re:Cost of publicity (Score:3, Interesting)
I received a similar offer recently... (Score:5, Funny)
Where can I send a check? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Where can I send a check? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Where can I send a check? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Where can I send a check? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is just plain silly. (Score:4, Interesting)
You see, they *could* have given the hardware and software. The cost to M$ would have been actually neglectable and they would still have achieved their real goals of locking down a poor country in their web for the future.
The scary part is that if they had done that, then, only us geeks would have been able to see the deception; the mass media would have played along (untwittingly or not) with the marketroids' plan and portrayed M$ as a savior of struggling countries whilst ignoring the dire long-term consequences.
Again, M$ stupitidy manages to cancel out M$ evil, and the world is a bit safer for it.
-- MG
Psssst! (Score:5, Funny)
Here, kid... have some of this...
No, I can't afford an MS habit.
Awww, c'mon kid, the first hits free!
Good thing to do.... (Score:5, Interesting)
good move namibia (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually... (Score:3, Interesting)
50 laptops =
$28,000 for Office Pro
$15,000 for XP Pro OS
So actually, they were getting a better than getting the OS for free and having to buy Office.
Bill G is the world's biggest philanthropist (Score:4, Interesting)
It doesn't change the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation does an enormous amount of good in Africa and the rest of the world. Look it up if you don't believe me.
Bill Gates is the biggest philanthropist in the history of the world, and while critics can talk about soft donations of things like software licenses, in reality he does a lot of stuff like vaccinations and grants to develop basic infrastructure in the developing world.
He's done far more than anyone else, certainly more than me or anyone slamming him here.
I hate to sound ungrateful, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Considering how much more he has than he could possibly use, and the PR problems he faces, I view his charity with some skepticism, as much as I welcome it. (Yes, he could do nothing, but we don't have to flatter him for merely being more than a complete Scrooge.)
Maybe there are too measures of charity -- how much good it does for others, and how much good it does your soul.
All that aside, what MS did in the present discussion sounds like just plain old bad attitude, not parsimony.
Re:Bill G is the world's biggest philanthropist (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, it's also known that many of Bill's & Microsoft's "charitable" donations are in fact calculated exercises to buy good PR. [theregister.co.uk] It's certainly true that it does in fact do some good, but as yet, all indications are they've never done anything they didn't perceive to be in their own interests, and that includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and all its "good works."
Re:Bill G is the world's biggest philanthropist (Score:3, Interesting)
The "Bill and" part on that foundation's name is for PR only. It is, in fact, the MELINDA Gates Foundation. She started it, she is the one involved in it. Bill goes allong to keep his WIFE happy.
Look up how much charitable giving Bill Gates was involved in before Melinda came along and you will see the truth of who is the charitable one in that family.
Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.
Particularly Amusing... (Score:4, Insightful)
it seems they were watching closely, and made some very good decisions
this sort of factual and witty approach to eroding M$'s façade of being a people-oriented company (to use the politest terms i know of to describe the lecherous and filthy backstabbing techniques that have become the hallmark of their business practice) could very well pursuade governments all over the globe, even those that have, due to misfortune, been into the technology game the whole time - and playing happily by M$'s rules.
and as a side note, did any of you check out Math Boxing? great little game
All joking aside (Score:5, Insightful)
We all know it is possible to use Linux as an alternative to Microsoft. Most of us are accustomed to tolerating the Microsoft OS in order to get the functionality of their office apps. As time goes by, Linux has narrowed the gap to the point where the most cost-conscious users (schools and government) are ready to jump ship. The next wave will be home users, then small business, ultimately big business.
Ironically, conquering the piracy problem is what got the ball rolling. If Microsoft turned a blind eye toward piracy in certain key markets, they could have prevented Linux from establishing market share. Sure, they need to collect money from those who have money, but they also need to give away product to anyone who can't or won't pay. If you can't get the customer's money, you have to at least stop them from using the competitor's product.
Microsoft talks a good game about dealing with Linux as a competitor, but look at their actions. Higher prices, "software assurance", increasingly obnoxious EULA's, all the things they might be expected to do if there was no competition. The handwriting is on the wall -- time for Bill to cash in his chips and retire.
Microsoft was being foolish here. (Score:5, Insightful)
In short, Microsoft made a very dumb decision making that sort of offer. As someone else said, it's like giving a homeless person asking for a meal a fifty cent coupon off a five dollar meal. Yes, you owe the homeless person absolutely nothing but making that sort of offer is verging on an insult, and at the very least is showing incredible stupidity.
If Microsoft had to give $2000 in free software, why not make it a smaller number of Office/Window packages? Instead of offering just Office or just Windows offer a smaller combination of both. Of course that still skips support costs and so likely would have been tossed out but hey...
In any case, it's not hard to see why Linux is becoming increasingly popular in third world nations. In those places you practically expect Microsoft to start promoting piracy of its software just to keep Linux from becoming more entrenched.
"Namibian Scam" (Score:3, Funny)
Why couldnt they... (Score:4, Funny)
is this about microsoft? (Score:3, Interesting)
Lindows + "Free" OfficeXP = ??? (Score:3, Funny)
OK: How you can help Namibian schools with Linux (Score:4, Informative)
CODA work with another UK charity, Computer Aid [computer-aid.org], who refubished the machines sent to Namibia. They're looking for donations of money but they're also looking for donations of old computers [computer-aid.org], and for volunteers to help refurbish computers [computer-aid.org] (in London, England).
Namibia vs. South Africa (Score:3)
Good on Namibia. Fuck the corrupt bastards in the ANC.
Not made-up (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Namibia sounds made up (Score:2, Informative)
I can't believe I knew that, either.
Re:Like Father like Son (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Like Father like Son (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately, it isn't just the US that does this, many others do as well. Technical aid must go to consultancies from the donor country. The only donors that do not do this are the UN and some of the NGOs (think of some major charities here)
The issue here is that give a man a tractor and he must come back to you for spare parts, especially if it is a an inappropriately high tech version that keeps breaking down.
This is why I have tried to promote the use of Open Source s/w. The recipient has a chance of being able to maintain it themselves (manpower, even skilled manpower is quite cheap). Paying a recurring fee to M/S or any other supplier for a leased licence and/or maintenance is a major problem for poorer countries.
Re:More bullshit from the Register & Slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More bullshit from the Register & Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What a dumbshit article (Score:5, Insightful)
Greatly disliking Microsoft is one thing, but posting blatant propaganda that looks like it was written by a 12 year old on a 'news' site is not helping anything. The best they can do is make the entire anti-Microsoft cause look like it's run by a bunch of snivelling brats addicted to counterstrike.
This is an actual line from the article: "Now imagine the disappointment of learning that accepting the 'gift' would entail outlays of money in the range of fifteen times the value of the M$ Trojan horse."
Slashdot editors: In the interest of maintaining the integrity of the slashdot community (if there's any left...) please don't post propaganda as 'news.' It erodes the value of the community. It makes us no better than Microsoft and in the end. It is counterproductive. The Register should be spanked badly for this.
Re:What a dumbshit article (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it so bad that The Register makes their takes on stories so obvious, and makes fun of things they believe are amazingly stupid? That's what I've always liked about them; they don't pretend not to have a viewpoint, and it's quite obvious what their views are. It's really easy to read past that, and it's often funny even when I don't agree with them.
Seems to me The Register wouldn't be who they are without ripping on people once in a while (every day), so I'd say you should choose to read them or not, and not worry about things like that.
Re:Namibia's government == GENOCIDAL RACISTS (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, "communist thieves" is an oxymoron, and communists would likely strongly support open source.
A more accurate assessment of the Namibian government would be "thugs giving land and money to their cronies and starving the rest".
Re:Namibia's government == GENOCIDAL RACISTS (Score:5, Insightful)
What is being proposed is forcible redistribution of land from white farmers to black farmers with compensation being paid to the white farmers.
Granted, this may or may not be a bad idea, but it hardly amounts to "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide."
Neither does it amount to communism, as in that system all the land would be owned collectively. They are proposing to settle individual families onto this land. Hence: not communism.
Lastly, you are trying to ignore the historical context of how this land was obtained. Do you really expect the native black farmers to ignore how all the fertile land was monopolized by Europeans at the beginning of the last century?
I'd say they are being a lot nicer than the Germans were when they were taking the land.
Your post is inflammatory and just plain wrong.
Re:SchoolNet has Slashdot's Number for Sure (Score:3, Insightful)
It isn't really the ethical thing to do. Just because Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, doesn't mean he is obligated to donate his money to whoever comes up and demands it. Despite what you think of Microsoft, "SchoolNet" sounds like a whiny non-profit who expects handouts spec'd to what THEY want, not to what the company doing the handing out is offering.
This is like a bum coming up to you on the street and asking for some spare change to buy food. So you throw him a buck. Well, a buck doesn't buy a meal. Most bums wouldn't throw the money back at you yelling its not enough! Why these people think they deserve more is beyond me.
Re:What did they expect? (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmm. Let me think on this one... An orginization that works hard to scrape together resources to put computers into impovrished schools in east Africa. I don't know, sounds like a kick back job with a fat paycheck to me. I can't see why they wouldn't appreciate a US$2000 discount on a US$11,000 purchase they don't need.
By viable I'm assuming he means "continually effective" which leads up to the question: If OSS was so viable to them why did they contact MS in the first place.
Because it was brought to their attention that MicroSoft may be a potential source for resources they badly need. They looked into it.