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Microsoft Would Settle For The Children

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the briar-patch dept.

The news from MSNBC is that Microsoft wants to, er, settle for the children. Take that whichever way you want. They propose to settle civil anti-trust cases (not the DoJ suit) with a $1.1 billion (retail value) spanking (they have $36 billion in the bank), consisting of free computer goodies to our nation's poorest schools (the first hit's free, kids). I'm sure Microsoft will upgrade those old computers to keep them current, in perpetuity, for free, out of the kindness of their hearts, but in an apparent oversight that was left out of the news report. Of that $1.1 billion, $0.9 billion will be software presumably valued at whatever Microsoft wants to charge (see "monopoly"). For hardware and (laughable) training/support costs, Microsoft will be docked three weeks' worth of interest on their cashpile; they will seek matching funds for the remainder, I am not making this up. Some lawyers opposed this but "concluded that Microsoft's monopoly already is so pervasive that students would have to learn to use these products anyway in the workplace." Update: 11/20 21:22 GMT by M : Heh. Red Hat offers an alternative to Microsoft's settlement proposal - you provide hardware, we'll provide software.

2 of 780 comments (clear)

  1. wtf?? by Transcendent · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    So lets spread around Microsoft products even more... that'll decrease the percentage of the market that they hold.... geez...

  2. Drugs and software by fishebulb · · Score: 4, Offtopic

    That reminds me of an old forward, the difference between drug dealers and programmers:

    Drug Dealers:
    -Refer to their clients as "users"
    -"The first one's free!"
    -Have important South-East Asian connections (to help move the stuff)
    -Strange jargon: "Stick," "Rock,", "Dime bag,"
    -Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market.
    -Job is assisted by the industry's producing
    newer, more potent mixes.
    -Often seen in the company of pushers,pimps and hustlers.
    -Their product causes unhealthy addictions.
    -Do your job well, and you can sleep with sexy movie stars who depend on you.

    Programmers:
    -Refer to their clients as "users"
    -"Download a free trial version!"
    -Have important South-East Asian connections (to help debug code)
    -Strange jargon:"SCSI," "RTFM", "Java," "ISDN".
    -Realize that there's tons of cash in the 14- to 25-year-old market.
    -Job is assisted by the industry's producing newer, faster, more potent machines.
    -Often seen in the company of salesman,
    marketing people and venture capitalists.
    -DOOM. Marathon. SimCity. Command&Conquor. 'Nuff said
    -Damn! Damn! DAMN!!!