Erik Funkenbusch wrote:
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Indian state takes on Microsoft
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| He said Microsoft executives were seeking to meet the
>>| state's chief minister this week. Kerala state is a
>>| potentially strong market for the company, with a
>>| population of 32 million and a 90.9% literacy rate - far
>>| above the national average of 68.4%.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/companies/display_article.a
>> spx?Nav=ns&lvl2=comp&ArticleID=1518-1783_2045929
or http://tinyurl.com/tfn2v
> Funny how you take one tiny paragraph of the entire article
> and make it seem like the entire article was about
> Microsoft harassing someone.
>
> They seem to be a bit on the bizarre side... I like this
> quote:
>
> "They have already tried to ban US soft drinks giants Coca
> Cola and Pepsi following allegations that the drink
> contained pesticides."
>
> Pesticides? Wow... they'll believe anything.
It is amusing how you take one sentence in the article and
conclude the article is bizarre. It is also amusing how you
take Roy's quote mentioned above and conclude that it is
about Microsoft creating harassment.
Here it states a major reason for embrasing Linux:
| Kerala has good financial reasons for shifting to Linux.
| Even though Microsoft has introduced cheaper licenses for
| its market-leading operating system developing countries,
| the minimum price is still around $25 per computer. Fully
| functional Linux packages can be downloaded for free.
|
| Microsoft's code is also secret, while the Linux core is
| freely available for download and adaptation, hence the
| term "open source".
|
| A former director of the IT@School programme, the
| initiative that kicked off the state's Linux drive and
| which has exposed some six million students to computers,
| suggested the new initiative was also aimed at sending a
| message to Microsoft. Windows software can be found on an
| estimated 90 percent of the world's computers.
It is about stretching budgets so they can train as many
people as possible on computers. That not only includes the
operating system, but other training resources such as
compilers, interpreters, linkers, computer systems
administration tools, data base tools, user applications,
etc., which are at additional cost and not all necessarily
from Microsoft, although they provide such. Linux comes with
these tools as a part of the OS, not as an additional cost
item. Thus, that $25 per computer is only a partial software
cost.
--
HPT
|
|
