Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> IT Giants Train Students And Faculty of Kerala
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | This program allows universities and colleges to get latest
> | Microsoft software available in labs, classrooms, and on student PCs.
> | MSDN AA is an annual membership program.The membership allows an
> | enrolled student to take home the complete microsoft products,except
> | products for office productivity.
Interesting hold-back. In effect - we'll give you all of the software
you don't actually NEED, if you agree to pay top dollar (top rupee) for
the few things that all students would need.
Or perhaps Karala didn't want Office. Maybe they had already decided
to use OpenOffice, and were just unwilling to pay any extra for
MS-Office.
The REAL question is; "Where was Microsoft for the previous 20 years?".
Microsoft wouldn't offer any sort of a discount, and offered no
Windows based solution for machines that were too old to run the latest
versions of Windows. American Corporations found that it was cheaper
to ship machines to Kanada and Kerala it was to have them legally
dismantled and stored in an "environmentally safe" way. As a result,
hundreds of millions of machines were shipped out. Windows 3.1
machines that couldn't run Windows 95 effectively. Windows 9x machines
that couldn't run Windows NT or Windows 2000 effectively. And Windows
NT 4.0 machines that couldn't run Windows XP effectively.
Most corporations also had completly wipe the Microsoft software from
the machine before it was discarded or exported. Often, the simplest
tactic was to simply put some really basic version of Linux on it, and
have Linux "wipe the drive clean".
As a result, nearly 1/2 billion PCs have been shipped to India, China,
Africa, and South America, with Linux preinstalled. In many of these
countries, the machines were reloaded with nationalized versions of
Linux, which supported numerous Asian and European languages.
Microsoft was just plain hostile to these countries. Gates often
publicly insisted that all of these "White box" machines (sold without
Windows) were merely being used for piracy and that users were stealing
Windows and installing it illegally. The irony is that Microsoft could
never prove those allegations. Even when auditing tools were
integrated into Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, Microsoft was
never able to identify any major company, organization, or distributor
who was bootlegging software.
Of course, since most of these users were speaking languages other than
english, and most of the POPs used for internet access were Linux
servers using Network Address Translation (NAT) filewall/routers, their
PCs were significantly undercounted. China has almost 1.5 billion
people, India has over 1 billion. The world population is over 6
billion people, and the United States just grew to 1/4 billion. In
terms of pure unit volumes, Microsoft had ignored nearly 2/3 of the PC
market for nearly 15 years.
And suddenly, 15 years later, these people who have been using Linux
for 10-15 years are now looking for new computers which they will
purchase from OEMs, and they are establishing formal policies of "NO
MICROSOFT" because they don't want to pay premiums for software that
isn't needed, and don't want to get "hooked" on Microsoft's addictive
software. These countries had watched what had happened to the US and
Western Europe, and in many cases, decided that Microsoft's "controlled
substances".
> | Also Microsoft has offered to asist the universities to customise
> | their carriculam and claims that the Microsoft range of products
> | are suitable for CS and IT syllabus of Indian universities.
Put simply, they want to lobotomize it. After all, if Microsoft
provides the OS,
you can't really study how it works. The same is true with SQL Server.
End result,
you have people who only know how to USE Microsoft software.
The current curriculum uses OSS software to not only let students know
how to use
common, industry standard, languages and technologies, but also
provides the source code that allows students in upper level classes to
learn exactly how the systems and components work. Keep in mind that
without this foundation knowledge, it is nearly impossible to improve
existing technologies, or to create new innovations.
Imagine trying to build an airplane with no knowledge of aerodynamics
or physics or mechanics. At best, you wouldn't take off. At worst,
you could end up 2,000 feet into the air, and stall, diving into the
ground and lethal speed.
> | Also, Microsoft has started .Net user groups in cities like Cochin.
> | Also Microsoft is selecting student ambassadors from various
> | institutions and conducting programming contests.
I would be fascinated to see who was recruited. Would it be the
intellectuals and the really technologically adept? Or would it be the
"cool" kids, with money, designer clothes, and lots of family status,
but absolutely no significant knowledge of HOW computers worked.
> http://kerala4u.in/98/it_giants_train_students_and_faculty
> Once again, Microsoft it trying hard to sabotage Linux adoption in a state
> where 30 million people are going 100% Microsoft-free (state policy).
Maybe Microsoft should ask itself why these organizations and
governments are taking the policies of "No Microsoft", and why the have
so few problems with doing it. Many of these areas didn't have
Microsoft, couldn't get Microsoft, and couldn't afford Microsoft.
Then, when they publicly announced 'No Microsoft', Microsoft shows up
and makes that all to familiar offer "first one's free kid", when the
kid comes back for more, the price is low. But once the kid is really
hooked, the price goes up. And when the kid can't come up with the
cash, then "I'll let you pay for it in trade". The drug dealer turns
young women out as prostitutes, having addicted women entertain young
men who still have cash and/or power.
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