Microsoft expands Office ‘pay-as-you-go’ rental program
,----[ Quote ]
| Via the pay-as-you-go program, users can choose three- or six-month
| subscriptions to Office Professional 2007 and pay a monthly fee to use the
| product.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=955
Microsoft software has /always/ been rented (see EULA), but it was less
time-limited.
Only a bribed government would choose to rent resource-hungry, Mother
Ship-phoning, buggy software instead of choosing GNU/Linux and Free software.
We've seen that in Nigeria recently (Microsoft bribery, see below).
As usual, Intel (also abusive monopolist) is there too on Microsoft's side, for
the oligarchy/imperialist agenda.
Related:
Microsoft patent hints at pay-as-you-go OS
,----[ Quote ]
| A Microsoft patent application from June 2005, published only today,
| titled "System and method for delivery of a modular operating system"
| may signal a fundamental change for what an operating systems stands
| for and how it is sold.
`----
http://www.istartedsomething.com.nyud.net:8080/20061215/pay-as-you-go-os-patent/
Intel, Microsoft for Pay-As-You-Go PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| The pay-as-you-go model enabled by FlexGo makes PCs more accessible
| by reducing the initial cost and enabling customers to pay for
| computers through subscriptions or as they use them, through the
| purchase of prepaid activation cards or tokens.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060522/20060521005039.html?.v=1
,----[ Quote ]
| Want to write a Word document? Pay a few pennies. Want to download
| some digital photos? Pay a few more.
|
| Under the idea, which Microsoft is introducing this week, people would
| be able to get a PC for their home with a mechanism that charges them
| depending on how much computing they use. Consumers would pay for about
| half of the PC upfront and then, say, 50 cents or 75 cents per hour of
| use. After several hundred hours of paid use, they would then own the
| PC outright.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-6074589.html?part=rss&tag=6074589&subj=news
Microsoft selling hobbled software to poor countries
,----[ Quote ]
| Surprisingly, no-one seems to have told Microsoft that it is not good
| marketing strategy to treat your customers as if they are stupid. Which
| is exactly what the company is doing with the release in Africa of the
| stripped-down operating system it calls Windows XP Starter Edition.
|
| Microsoft South Africa launched Windows XP Starter Edition (XPSE) into
| the African market last week with very little fanfare and market hype.
|
| Which is not surprising considering how the product was received by other
| media on its intial launch in 2004. Known for its straight talking, The
| Register labelled XPSE "crippleware". Analysts Gartner said the product
| had "good intent, poor execution".
`----
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=983
[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! I’m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? It’s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, I’m sure you know them.
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too.
`----
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
Lessons from Africa: How to Kill Your Own FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| So, even as Microsoft claims superior quality over Linux, they act as if they
| don't even buy their own FUD. If they really believed that Windows was
| superior to Linux, they wouldn't have to bribe people with “marketing help”
| to get them to choose Windows.
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-11-09-030-26-OP-MD-MS
Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| "We are sticking with that platform," said the official, who would not give
| his name.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
http://tinyurl.com/27ycq9
And the Nigerian government chose Windows [It didn't] why?
,----[ Quote ]
| That’s precisely what Nigeria did. Having used the Classmate with Mandriva
| installed, I simply can’t find any flaws in the system that would lead to
| such a switch. No deficiencies compared to Windows, no performance problems,
| no installation problems, nothing. Mandriva just works in this setting and
| works well. No wonder François Bancilhon was angry.
`----
http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1338
Africa: 'Microsoft is Imperialistic' Says Open Source Advocates
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corporation's products have been locked out of the
| on-going World Social Forum (WSF) in Nairobi Kenya.
|
| With over 300 computers provided for participants and the press,
| organizers of the WSF have preferred to provide open source
| software products and blocked all Microsoft related products for
| the forum's usage and its related activities.
|
| [...]
|
| Activists at the forum also believe that since Microsoft is a
| corporate brand from the United States of America, a country
| they believe has intentions of maintaining the status quo of
| a unipolar world over which it is above international law and
| the UN, the brand should be locked out.
|
| [...]
|
| "The open source movement is providing Linux, a robust free
| software. Everybody owns it and it can be shared. And this
| is what WSF is all about - a free society, a movement
| fighting for ownership of free resources" he adds.
`----
http://allafrica.com/stories/200701230831.html
Buy Microsoft, it's your patriotic duty
,----[ Quote ]
| That seemed to be the message at the London launch of Microsoft Vista,
| Office 2007 and Exchange 2007 on 30 November 2006. Gordon Frazer,
| Microsoft's UK managing director, devoted most his opening speech to
| a gallimaufry of statistics and quotations intended to show that
| buying these new offerings would somehow make Britain more competitive.
`----
http://www.it-director.com/enterprise/other/content.php?cid=9038&ref=fd_itd
