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Microsoft in Peru, Living Room

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nanoprobes-everywhere dept.

Two pieces of Microsoft news today. tfofurn writes "According to this AP quickie and this Reuters story, both on Yahoo, Microsoft is donating 'about $550,000 in money, software and consulting services to the Peruvian government for educational and "e-government" initiatives' to Peru. The AP story mentions the conflict of this with Edgar Villanueva's proposal to have the government use only open source software. Villanueva (/. interview), you may recall, wrote a famous letter to MS Peru a few months ago." And many people have submitted stories about Windows XP Media Center, coming this winter to a living room near you.

4 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by BlackMesaResearchFac · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I walked in on my parents once when they were having a(n AP) quickie.

    --
    -- Scientist: You aren't going to leave me here, are you? Boagh! Thump...
  2. Oh, the pain! A little discourse analysis by Interrobang · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    Did you folks see that screenshot of the "simple interface"? That thing looks more like the menus on my parents' satellite TV service than a computer interface. Note the preinstalled categories ("My TV," "My Music," etc.), as if "My Documents" and "My Computer" weren't bad enough.

    Also, did anybody else catch the marketroid jargon in the puffy-poo press release at microsoft.com? Wow, how many times can they use the word "freedom" in six column inches anyway? This from the same company who's pushing Palladium.

    And what was that about a computer going from being "a tool for productivity" (ok, if you say so) to being "a device capable of entertainment, communications and so much more." I don't like either term in that zero-sum equation. (Can't we just define computers as tools or something and leave "productivity" [whatever that's supposed to mean, really] out of it?) It's a little agendist for my taste, and all of that agenda is (natch) Microsoft. (Pardon me for stating the obvious.)

    I hate to lapse into darkly paranoid hypotheses here, but is this yet another multitentacled strategy to turn the Internet into TV with fewer moving parts? I don't think I like either term in that zero-sum equation, either...especially since I happen to like being able to create my own content (and look at whatever I want whenever I want), and I mostly quit doing TV years ago.

    --
    I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
  3. My Pictures, My Video, My My.... by reynolds_john · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    This whole "My foo" is making me sick.

    Why can't M$ just label things without the ridiculous personal identifier? Perhaps instead we could have the "Bob Dole" effect:
    Bob Dole's Pictures
    Bob Dole's Videos
    Bob Dole's Music
    Bob Dole's Documents
    Bob Dole's Erectile Disfunction
    [sic]

  4. There is some justice. by fava · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    According to this article Gates' mansion is overrun by incontinent geese.

    At up to 3 lbs per bird per day a flock of geese camped out on your yard make a disgusting mess.

    I think we should rent a helicopter and spread birdseed.