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Open Economies - Re: MS jumpstarts ZA

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Re: MS jumpstarts ZA 

As much as laudable is the donation and offer of a 90%
discount to the SA's educational system, I am very
wary of these gifts.

It is very unsettling, especially in the light that
the american public just went against the MS-DOJ
Settlement.

The donation and offer of discount open more questions
than answers:

1.  How long will the donations and discounts last?
2.  Will MS implement their new licensing program
after the lapse of the period? This new program is
having CIOs up in arms. Read:
http://www.itnetcentral.com/article.asp?id=7794&leveli=0&info=home
3.  Will we want the children of SA, or in any other
country that MS shall give away its software to, grow
knowing only Microsoft products and nothing else?

The last question really gives me the creeps. I am for
open standards and economies. I am 100% sure that this
donation will give MS a monopoly in each country it
shall donate its software to, if not this year, then
in the next years.

Which gives me the following thoughts, and possible
courses of action:

1. Open source advocates should match such
announcements, and move a few steps ahead than MS.
2. This means that Open Source advocates should be
more creative in the promotion of Open Source.

- Match the MS announcements in their respective
countries/regions, or start doing it without waiting
for MS to make such announcement (the better).
- Announce that they shall give away their Linux (or
any Open Source software) for free to all educational
institutions, whether public or private, or a step
further, free Open Source software to all government
institutions.
- Open Source advocates can rise up to the challenge
by:

a.  Raising funds through donations from companies
that support Open Source to produce the installers, or
to be more creative, brand it as "IT for all project"
(or any other name), so that non-IT-related companies
to donate too.
b.  This donation can be in the form of advertisements
in the documentation, packaging, CD-ROM label.
c.  Since it's Open Source, it only needs just one
CD-ROM per school and not per computer. While MS will
have to work out licensing agreements to track its
donations.

- Upgrades will be free, as long as the recipients
keep on using the software given. They're not locked
in, of course, and they can switch to MS products if
they want to. They can "opt-out".
- Bundled applications can be learning/educational
tools that can be found at http://www.schoolforge.net


It have great impact if this can be a global attempt.


Kind regards,

Vic


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