Comments on: Microsoft Buys-off Foreign Governments

Microsoft Buys-off Foreign Governments

ZenMasterThis — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:13:19 -0800

Microsoft Buys-off Foreign Governments. Can you say "Bribery?"

By: solistrato

solistrato — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:29:58 -0800

Wait, hold on, I'll do it for you all: M$ There. Proceed.

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:34:01 -0800

They're still not selling baby formula to third world mothers, so I'm not going to get too worked up over Microsoft giving money away.

By: KevinSkomsvold

KevinSkomsvold — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:38:56 -0800

Wait, hold on, I'll do it for you all: M$ There. Proceed. Oh wait, here's some more: Micro$haft Microjunk Microsucks I'm sure I forgot a few. Proceed with caution. Pure evil, I tell you.

By: StrangerInAStrainedLand

StrangerInAStrainedLand — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:54:17 -0800

And there were riches to be had all along the Bribery Coast...

By: shadow45

shadow45 — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 12:57:00 -0800

Blah, i've spent all day mitigating virus/worm infections on our Windows networks... I just got to sit down now. Damnit, billy gates.. stop making money and fix your software.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 13:06:10 -0800

Figured this was his wife's doing.

By: skallas

skallas — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 13:11:05 -0800

Interesting how this isn't being done through the Melinda and Bill Gates foundation and through MS and this association itself. Regardless, the genie is out of the bottle and many foriegn companies and governments are seeing the US in a new hostile light. Look at the Galileo project the EU is going to launch, its just their own version of GPS. The East wants their own OS without possible NSA backdoors and better security from the ground up. Linux is a contender but there are other players out there, not to mention writing an OS from the ground up. Funny how I buy all my peripherals and computer hardware from the East but the software is usually US based. They definitely have a market. Writing a national or better OS for government is an old idea but I think the newest worms and the hostile "we do what we want FU international community" Bush administration has some powerful people asking all the right questions regarding IT and how stuck their government is on the MS teat. Also, the "open format" meme has spread. Government is going digital, they don't want all their documents in a proprietary format like .doc and be under the gun of the company that owns it. MS just can't stop this rising tide of awareness and competition no matter how many free PCs they throw at any organization serious about their data. I wonder how many of these free PCs will be wiped and turned over to whatever non-MS OS breaks through in the near future.

By: hoborg

hoborg — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 13:41:48 -0800

Ha Ha Ha... M$. That's a good one... It's as though they were giving away free money and software to schools and countries who had the option of not taking it!

By: th3ph17

th3ph17 — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 13:44:42 -0800

They're still not selling baby formula to third world mothers, so I'm not going to get too worked up over Microsoft giving money away. exactly. i just can't get as outraged.

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 14:05:43 -0800

"I would like to spend it [$250 million in cash grants] sooner rather than later ... to get the money out and get it working," Wilderotter [Microsoft's senior vice president of business strategy] said. I think that explains it all.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 15:08:09 -0800

"Dubbed the Partners in Learning program, Microsoft said it will provide training and access to the latest ~~computer technologies~~ microsoft products to primary and secondary schools." there. all fixed. in accordance with the "truth in news releases act of 2003".

By: dg

dg — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 16:07:15 -0800

Oooh, shock!, horror!, a company uses discounts to promote its products to emerging markets. How dare they!

By: ilsa

ilsa — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 19:27:31 -0800

I can think of at least a dozen things to get more worked up about than some company with a debatably Evil reputation giving away some money and product.

By: milnak

milnak — Tue, 16 Sep 2003 23:18:39 -0800

Linus Torvalds gives away his product. Why can't Microsoft?

By: infowar

infowar — Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:27:54 -0800

Linus hasn't been found guilty of using illegal means to uphold a monopoly for one thing.

By: hairyeyeball

hairyeyeball — Wed, 17 Sep 2003 10:36:23 -0800

"Microsoft is like a tobacco company that wants to addict its users at a young age," as a guy from India said to me recently.

By: hoborg

hoborg — Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:50:50 -0800

"Microsoft is like a tobacco company that wants to addict its users at a young age," Yep. It's like a tobacco company in that respect. Also like Apple Corp. But unlike a tobacco company, Microsoft products don't cause fatal illnesses. [insert EXTREMELY original jokes here] Use MS products. All the COOL kids do it. You wanna be COOL don't you?

By: FormlessOne

FormlessOne — Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:55:08 -0800

Sigh. Microsoft bashing - how novel! (Insert pithy, anti-Microsoft statement here.)