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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.

6 of 780 comments (clear)

  1. Let me get this straight.... by Nos. · · Score: 4, Redundant

    Their punishment is to help ensure that the monopoly they have continues to the next generation?

    1. Re:Let me get this straight.... by 4of12 · · Score: 2, Redundant

      Their punishment is to help ensure that the monopoly they have continues to the next generation?

      Almost.

      The other part of the punishment is to get some kind of credit for billions of dollars worth of settlement with an actual cost to them that is signficantly less.

      Oh, the other part of the punishment is the terrible public relations they are getting as a result of "donating software to disadvantaged schools". As an aside, you can well imagine in what light will be seen any lawyers who oppose such a "magnanimous offer".

      Sigh. File this settlement offer alongside all those positive PR spin advertisements you've been hearing where Philip Morris bails out a desperate and deserving charity by contributing macaroni or dollars - and then spends an equal or greater amount trumpeting their good gesture.

      It will join the ranks of publicity that the drug companies have been doing lately, with tear-jearking heart-warming stories of people whose lives are a direct result of a wonder drug developed in our private laboratories, with definite needs for the kinds of 17 year patent protection that we currently enjoy. What legislator could be against wonder drugs that help people to live and not die?

      All my misgivings about motives notwithstanding, however, I won't criticize the act itself. No, no more than I would criticize a drug dealer for giving money to a homeless shelter. It's a good thing in itself, even if the underlying motives or the agent may not be the best and most honorable.

      Meanwhile, though, do recognize a publicity stunt that has been so carefully crafted and so brilliant that it makes earlier blunders, like Bill's air-supply emails and video tape testimony, but a faint memory of incompetence past.

      Machiavelli would have given Microsoft an "A" for this move.

      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
  2. Let me get this straight by palme999 · · Score: 2, Redundant

    DOJ sues them for giving their products away and crushing competition all the while increasing their monopolistic presence.....so as a remedy MS is forced to give away their products to school kids thus crushing competition and increasing their monopolistic presence. Sounds fair.

  3. The rest of the punishment goes like this... by turbine216 · · Score: 2, Redundant

    ...And furthermore, we here at Microsoft will allow this group of thirty-one geishas to massage us as we skip a week's worth of board meetings! Harsh, you say? We haven't even told you about the part with the spankings and the oral sex!!!

  4. Red Hat proposes alternative settlement by bero-rh · · Score: 2, Redundant

    Red Hat has just released an
    alternative proposal.

    Basically, it comes down to "Microsoft can put all the money in hardware, we'll provide the software for free".

    --
    This message is provided under the terms outlined at http://www.bero.org/terms.html
  5. MS Scores Another Shot at Linux by reedw · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The settlement allows Microsoft to keep Linux out of the schools. (Remember, Apple's successful strategy of flooding schools with cheap Apple computers.)