Microsoft Gives More Free Software to NGOs

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sykozis

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[citation][nom]reprotected[/nom]Or was it the fact that OpenOffice.org is gaining more fame? Seems quite desperate.[/citation]

Try to keep up with the world... Russia uses any excuse they can conceive to raid any place occupied by activist groups of any type.
 

liveonc

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I can picture Braveheart crying "Freedom" while having both kidneys removed. Seriously, it's too sad to be funny, but it does give MS a happy face when they don't get to share the blame of what goons do.
 

Parsian

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[citation][nom]tu_illegalamigo[/nom]They`re making money somewhere. Corporations don`t do anything that would cause them to not make money, I think.[/citation]

They are expanding their market by giving away their platform. Just like how they dont mind piracy of Windows in 3rd world countries since it will benefit them in long term.
 

theoutbound

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It's fantastic Microsoft is doing this, regardless of any perceived motivations that would be less than altruistic. More companies should be putting their support behind non-profits.
 

randomizer

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Exactly. Short term loss for long term gain. Cement your position in the market and you control the market. MS is not a charity, this is a strategic business move. It also has the added bonus of letting them run a PR campaign to show off their corporate social responsibility.
 

marraco

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Imagine that suddenly Microsoft releases Windows 8, and ask 100,000 U$S for it. Why MS ask that mountain of money? Because in oil rich Qatar they can pay it, and MS ask the same price in the entire world. Some people in your country can pay that price, and they make more profit for MS than all the people who can’t pay it.

You can’t buy it. But in you work they give you program and files that only run in Windows 8. They force MS under your throat. You are forced to pay 100,000 just because is the standard. You have no election.

That is the situation on poor countries which are asked to pay the same price that USA. MS pretends that the entire world pay the same price asked in the richest country.

Obviously, they pirate it. They can’t pay it anyways, and who loses money? One of the richest dudes in the world? Not a problem when you struggle to survive and MS don’t care about you when setting prices.
 
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@rottingsheep

i would say yes, i can point to 4 of those that still permit summary executions, nearly all censor or control internet traffic and religious freedom is a state sanctioned activity....
 
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@ marraco:

Your "point" is full of logical holes. If you can't afford something, then you find an alternative. If you take something that costs money without paying for it, then you are stealing. Calling it anything else is rationalizing.

If you are working in a place that deals with programs that only work with specific other programs, then you need to have the correct programs as a condition of your employment. As an example, let's say your auto-mechanic needed a wrench but he only had screwdrivers. He needs to go buy some wrenches, or he's not going to be a mechanic for long. Is it Craftsman's fault that the mechanic only has screwdrivers? No, of course not.

Additionally, Microsoft is not a non-profit company. They are allowed to charge what they want for the products that they make and sell. If you don't like it, use Mac or Linux or write your own OS. What difference does it make what some thief in a 3rd-world country can or can't afford? It doesn't matter how much money the people at Microsoft make, the hippie attitude "he makes enough money, anyways" is lame and uneducated.
 

mayne92

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[citation][nom]tu_illegalamigo[/nom]They`re making money somewhere. Corporations don`t do anything that would cause them to not make money, I think.[/citation]
Obviously those who buy the product are the ones who pay. Or they get to write this off...either way...they don't do things solely because they want to be nice...businesses always wear a smirk...
 

Benihana

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It's a similar idea with what they did years ago. They offered their software dirt cheap compared with Apple's Macintosh platform. All in all, now they're dominating the market.

And anyways, MS makes good money from corporate sales, this is just a way for them to expand their market-hold. It's like how they print "do not duplicate this disc" on their WinXP disc's, yet there is no disk check utilized. The average user may duplicate the disc, who cares. Corporate is not going to due to foreseeable legal ramifications. Once they get a handle over the NGO market, it's customers that won't leave them for a long time.
 

b23h

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Hello paranoid people!! If one reads the article and remembers the NYT article in September that this piece refers to, it is very clear that this is not a move by MS to dominate the world by giving away their software (don't they already have an overwhelming market share?), but it to remove part of the threat to NGO's in those countries.

While I think this is a great move by MS, what was also mentioned in the original NYT piece was that Russian lawyers contracted by MS were participating in trials of these NGO's giving what seemed to be false testimony. This needs to be addressed as well by MS, ending the contracts of those that participated and instigating ethics rules and accountability, and in not just an empty phrase.
 
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In Us you pirate software, and software developers use government to stop the piracy.
In Soviet Russia it's the government, that pirates software, using software developers.
 
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Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

are these countries as oppressive as russia?
Armenia is as oppressive
Azerbaijan is more oppressive.
Belarus is more oppressive.
China is as oppressive
Kazakhstan is a little bit less oppressive.
Kyrgyzstan - after few revolts it's not that bad, but you never know.
Malajzia - never worked there
Tajikistan - is more oppressive
Turkmenistan - is definitely more oppressive (though it is not as bad, as it was during Turkmenbashi. Still bad nevertheless)
Uzbekistan - clearly more oppressive (a ethnographic photographer, who was taking pictures of people in the traditional costumes was convicted for her pictures (Government claimed they were an insult)
 
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