Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Targeting Indian Developers
Pranjal writes "An Indian Business magazine, Business World is reporting that in it's war against Linux, Microsoft is taking the battle to the Indian developers. The logic is simple. India has 10% of the developer population of the world. If a significant number of these developers commit to work on MS platforms then the number of developers working on Linux platforms can decrease significantly and thus the number of applications. As Dilip Mistry, a director at Microsoft India's Bangalore office puts it, "This country can affect our (Microsoft's) destiny." [Quote From article] Local linux user groups are trying to counter this threat by targetting school and university students and increasing the awareness about development on a linux platform. Read the full story here. [Nice cover don't you think?]"
...but which one's the penguin??
Ali
Ph33r m3!!!
It's already the case that most of the programming shops in Bangalore specialize in Windows.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
I first read it as Endian. I thought they were going after former 68000 developers.
In related news, Bill Gates is visiting India and gave $100 million to fight AIDS in India. Although I geniuinely believe Bill Gates to be a humane person (really), _perhaps_ this action has something to do with leveraging Microsoft position in the Indian government?
Really? That's not the impression I got. I went there 2 years ago, work related, and all of the engineers knew Windows, none had used Linux (or UNIX is general).
I find Indians to be very pragmatic. Windows is the most popular OS, so that's what they learn and use.
Je ne parle pas francais.
I first thought when I read targeting Indian Developers it was for the use of pirate software, not to woo them to use more pirated MS software.
Also, what about price. I don't think the average Indian developer has $1000US for software licenses, it is more likely that the $1000US will be used to feed the family, etc.
As far as Western countries loosing jobs, yes that is a possibility, but there is enough racism at least in North America that will prevent massive job losses. Think "Made in America", and also how many taxi drivers were doctors in their homelands.
It seems that programmers are one of the few occupations that are treated nearly equal. In some ways this sucks for us, but at least these people have a chance and their education is respected...
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I think MS will suceed in this war. The linux groups in India are all small and pretty restricted in terms of their activities. And Bill is doing his level best to woo the India programmers. There is a place in Delhi where you can buy any pirated MS software. Everyone knows about that. But there are hardly any raids there. I think MS is knowingly encouraging pirated software in India, so that they can get more developers.
Another thing is that software industry in India is mostly a services business, as in they sell services to other companies. They dont make any software products. Now its easy to guess what work do they get more, linux related or Windows related.
What's under yellowstone?
Oracle to double India workforce
It's fascinating to see these kinds of trans-ethnic business practices becoming a reality. To think that only a few hundred years ago, we were all in our separate continents, living in dull homogeneity. Now we've been thrust together, shaken up, and hung out to dry by the Information Age, and we have to adapt to a whole new set of rules.
I'll come clean. I'm white. While I wouldn't want to lose my job to an Indian, I don't think that white folks have any more of a right to their jobs than Indians, or anyone else. If anything, the Indians are slightly more deserving, after we have gone back on so many treaties with them. I imagine I'd stoop to using Microsoft instead of Linux, if it meant I could stop working as a blackjack dealer. So please, try and offer a little understanding before ranting about how you lost your job to someone who happens to have darker skin. We're all people, too.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
I want that cover, either in printed form or as a hi-res JPG or as vector Postscript.
Thinkgeek, are you listening?
www.eFax.com are spammers
This article's arguments are as valid as if it were saying "Microsoft is sabotaging the open source movement by recruiting the best minds at the best Universities. Give me a break...
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
Goodwill? Being magnanimous? What does the article say:
He said he worried that India's enormous progress in information technology -- the country has the only Microsoft software development center outside the United States -- would be thwarted by AIDS.
Ohhh. Okay.
He also wore a "tika" (the deep red mark on the forehead). Anybody have actual pictures (as opposed to your 5 minute Photoshop efforts).
This is not a new thing at all. I was in India about 2 years ago, and even then I found the contrasts great. A slum to your left and right, yet hundreds of signs advertising C# training (Java training too)
I would say one thing in addition--many of the indian developers aren't exactly leading Silicon Valley hot shot developer lifestyles. As such, they will learn what they need to learn to get jobs and get money--ideology has no place here.
In light of the information contained in this story, the donation Bill Gates gave to
India to fight AIDS recently makes a little more sense. I mean, I know that Mr. Gates is heavy into the cause of fighting global diseases but wouldn't it have made more sense to donate to the #1 country (Africa) dealing with an AIDS epidemic than #2 (India)? I suppose if there are more developers in India that you want on your side, then it makes more sense from a business stand point...
What we do every day Pinky, try to take over the world...
http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/default.asp
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
Get real. This has nothing to do with Linux. My company is also seeking programmers in India. They are simply cheaper (at least while they are still IN India.) and are appearantly not inferior intellitually.
Linux, puhleez. FUD
What if Indian computer scientists in their effort to get the Hell out of India?
Most of the development on Linux is done by individuals that do it for their own pleasure or need, it is not done by sweatshops like you find in India for profit. MS is just going their to cut their costs and get rid of some of their high paid workers here, IMHO.
Rediffmail.com is India's largest email server and it runs entirely on Linux.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
I am not sure I see the real point of this article though. I don't think that Gates' donation and visit would have anything to do with gaining popularity in India, but the fact that I even considered it a possibility is scary. Have I become that paranoid of the Evil Empire?
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
What if tux sported a bindi?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
They only specialize in Windows because Windows is pracitically free over there. In the Indian IT world, no copy protection laws are ever respected, and the Windows XP devils0wn edition runs on every computer.
If Microsoft began enforcing copyrights strictly for Indian IT companies, then you would see quite a switch to Linux over there -- and quite possibly a boost to the hiring of American programmers with Windows skills, if the H1B training mills are shut down because of it.
--- YEAH I SAW SPARKS FLY!! FROM THE CORNER OF MY EEEYYYEEE!!!
After all, he does have a computer science degree....
-ted
Jesus, this is low for even slashdot.
The guy and his wife are pledging 100x what most countries gave to the African AIDS epidemic (Italy: 1.3million). And somehow you have to tie this to some sort of anti-linux campaign.
Get real. The linux community over values itself if it thinks gates is going about eroding linux support by saving lives and preventing epidemics.
You think the $250+ million he dumped into Africa was to squash the burgeoning Linux user groups starting to take hold in Kenya?
Learn to draw the line guys. From early on the Gates Foundation has been doing about 50% of its donations to Global Health. So far that's like 2.7 billion. You don't have to like him, but you certainly don't have to belittle his philanthropic work.
-malakai
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
Bill (the one on the left) even has his tuxedo on :~)
A year or two? Gates has more than a billion shares - if their stock goes up 10 cents he makes the money back.
Parent comment is total flamebait, as far as I'm concerned.
Bill Gates, via his foundation, has given more money, and more earnest attention, to public health issues like AIDS, tuberculosis, and vaccination, that any living human. He does this out of what I regard as a genuine thoughtful concern for the best way to make his enormous wealth do good in the world.
He doesn't have to do this - he could be like Larry Ellison and just dick around with his money. To say he's fighting AIDS in India solely to make a market for Microsoft products is rude and inaccurate.
But no, I haven't dug up any photos of him with the tika. I'd pay to see it, though.
four nine eighteen twenty-7 thirty-nine forty-7 fiftyeight sixty-nine seventy-9 eighty-8 one-hundred-and-nine one-twenty
That sounds like what China said up until last year - "We don't have an AIDS problem". Turns out they do, about 25 million cases worth. I imagine it'll be the same for India :-(
The Indian government is unwilling to admit the vastness of the AIDS problem... and that's just going to screw over the entire country.
Estimates put the present size of India's developer population at anywhere between 450,000 and 600,000. That's about 10% of the world's developer population.
So by these numbers, there are between 4 and 6 million software developers in the world. According to the Microsoft(tm) Annual Report, they have about 50,000 employees. So what percentage of the worlds developers need to be working on core open source projects before the open source developers outnumber the Windows developers? Looks like the answer is less than 1%!
And that's why I think Microsoft is doomed in the long run. Open Source already has most of the functionality of Microsoft's offerings. And it only takes a small fraction of the world's developers to completely outstrip the amount of effort Microsoft can throw at the problem. Hell, if 10% of the developers spent 10% of their time on core OSS projects it would be more than enough to provide a nice stable feature-rich desktop and server environment. Interesting.
Here is the reasonning:
If Indian programming shops are in majority unable to take up Linux-specific programming tasks, this weakness will be an opportunity to slow the leaking of programming jobs outside western countries. The US and European IT pros will, conscienciously or not, move to a configuration more favorable to their job security, and lead an evolution that will increase the value of their more versatile know-how. Hence tend to ditch windows. Already many politicians in Europe are aware that an OSS based infrastructure brings more jobs to their local service industry.
Gates has a history of philanthropy... just do a Google search for the Gates Foundation.
I suppose he's trying to follow Andrew Carnegie's example - be a ruthless businessman, but do some good with the money you earn.
Scaremongering my ass.
India has always tried to cover up their AIDS problem. Go figure, the Health Minister of India telling the world population to "move along, move along, nothing to see here... we're ok... move along". Meanwhile it remains a big taboo in Indian society to discuss aids, the disease, how it's transmitted, and safe sex. The health minister has his proverbial head in the sand. India is posed to a African style outbreak, all the right factors have been identified. The majority of the people with AIDS are travelers and will soon become bridges to bring the bulk majority of the population into high risk.
It certainly doesn't help that Indian hospital turn away AIDS victims, and pregnant mothers, telling them they should have an abortion.
It's sad really, to see a country like India go to this great a length to save face. If Gates hadn't visited the country, this would have gotten as much air-time as his 250 million he dumped into Africa. Zero.
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
The facts:
Bill Gates himself goes on a trip to a country that has recently started to develop significant Linux precence including cheap Linux devices for the masses. Bill's action can only be interpreted as an act of desperation.
Slashdot (and unfortunately most Linux communities) have been infected by Microsoft FUD, it's no longer funny:
Fear, Uncertainity, Doubt:
"Hopefully this won't have a large effect on it." (Translation: Whine, whine, whine, I'm so afraid, uncertain and doubtful.) Just read a few more posts, most contain similar statements. Yes, this is FUD by its finest.
By now we have even reached a point where it is no longer allowed to have optimistic points of view. It's considered obscene and strange if you do. When Eric S. Raymond said that Linux will gain massively on cheap computers, he was called crazy, a freak and whatever in the accompanying Slashdot-thread. (Of course Walmart and Gericom have already proven that Linux sells on cheaper computers - of course nobody realized that. When announced, everybody was afraid, doubtful and uncertain about the Linux-PC's success. (Would Walmart really sell a losing product for over half a year? Would Walmart extend their commitment twice? - They went from clean PCs to Lindows-preloaded, then later added Mandrake.))
Currently we live in a situation where almost everybody, even many Linux-supporters spread FUD (in the literal sense: "Fear, Uncertainity, Doubt") about Linux.
Such massive anti-propaganda would have killed almost any commercial product within only few years. Would anybody buy Windows when Bill Gates would constantly say stuff like: "Hopefully Torvald's speech on Linux-Expo won't have a large effect on our sales"? Of course not.
The FACT that despite this hostile environment, KDE/Linux is not only surviving but growing - in terms of development as well as in terms of marketshare, is the biggest proof that Linux is here not only to stay but also to become the standard platform on all mainstream computing markets within this decade.
The sad part is that most slashdotters don't seem to realize what they are doing - that they are spreading anti-Linux FUD.
Or to put it in another way: The FUD spread by Bill Gates in India (or anywhere else) can't be worse than the FUD spread by Linux-supporters on slashdot (or elsewhere).
Thank you! Come again!
I just can't believe that Microsoft would target Indians.
Really, when have you ever seen a teepee with Windows??
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Its so obvious, I can't believe that the parent was moderated so high.
Unless those mods are really shallow spitfull people.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
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they tried to squash linux before it started, so instead of empire building until they could no longer ignore linux they focused on it before they had to and only succeded in thrusting it into the limelight
"We are paranoid someone is going to come along and take away mindshare from developers. We're paranoid something out there is going to be more exciting to developers."
Lets see, a closed system with low quality, where they use proprietary protocols they don't want you to alter and then they change them, stop support and force upgrades, v.s. an open system of high quality that you can actually make better and costs almost nothing.
"No, we don't want to tell you how this works, and we don't want you to touch it" is not an attitude that creates mindshare.
I can see why it might be exciting to use Microsoft, but that type of excitement would reduce mindshare.
Geez. He has about $30 billion in stock options. Typically, when he makes a donation, he donates stock. The only tax write-off he gets is equivalent to the value of the stock he gave up - so it's as if he never cashed out those options.
You're a cynical fool if you believe he's getting a tax advantage out of donating money to charity. Read some of his comments on the subject of charity. He is worth about $43 Billion. He realizes he's never going to be able to spend that money - that's why he's giving it away - and having the stock price go up doesn't help him because it's still too much money for him to ever be able to use.
Mmmm.. Donuts
Why don't you atttack leaders like Sadda Husein then? He has an "insane amount on money", palaces all over Iraq, many with swimming pools yet he uses his money to bolster his military weapons programs, provide water for the gradens and pools around his palaces and tests biological and chemical werapons on his own population.
/. loves to cheer for the little guy facing unblievable odds, regardless of the facts.
Oh, I forgot. Since he's the target of a US and UN investigation, he's the underdog and
You go ahead and belittle Bill Gates donations but don't forget to check you own bank account and learn how little you actually provide to those in need.
When was the last time someone didn't starve because someone else wrote a new text editor and gave it away with the proviso that if anyone else does anything with it, they have to give away their work for free too?
http://iccf-holland.org/click5.html
Vim, arguably the worlds best text editor, does exactly that. Bill Gates is worthy of some respect for giving money away, but when compared to his net worth and rate of capital growth (never mind it's a tax deduction), you would be suprised what it's comparable to.
..don't panic
I live in Russia where developer market is similar to one in India. I can tell that we dont need special coaching to switch to any particualt form. The demand for software is compltely external, meaning we just work on whats is outsouced from the States and Western Europe. All the develoepr tools and OS are "free" meaning you can buy the lates V svs studoipn .net enterprise edtion 6 cd set at any software kisook for 15 bucks. Most currently specialise on win soft but its alo possibl;e now to male money doing compltely Linux/FreeBSD shit.
US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
Yes, he has a history of philanthropy. Just like Carnegie. I have heard that the Carnegie foundation was created after he was responsible for an industrial accident so devastating that the government was about to shut him down. So he decided to build public approval. I wonder just how similar they are?
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
BusinessWorld is quite a famous magazine in India. However, I was surprised to see that the entire site didn't have any advertizement. Also the cover shows the retail price to be Re.5 which is equivalent of US 10 cents. Also the article is quite thorough in its coverage and analysis.
Let's see... Donate $100 million and he gets a tax write off, gets some positive press, makes Indian developers and their countrymen happy, promote use of products from a company he owns a boat-load of stock in... What was your question again?
To the detractors: You know, if you hate businesspeople that much; especially those who try to give back; you need to find a country where you don't need that dollar a day in order to survive. Even communist states aren't that simple.
I am the first to concede that Microsoft got to the top and then started knocking other people off the top by abusing their power. There is probably NO WAY to tell whether or not other powerhouses like Apple and IBM would have done the same -- on the other hand, there may be - Don Imus was talking about a book by a former IBM CEO the other day (but he was also mentioning that it seemed to be written in a vacuum; with no discernible mention of the worldwide sociopoliticeconmical situation at the time period; which is apparently the early 80s).
It just so happens, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, that Mr. Gates is very very rich. And you know what; even if 98% of what his company does is wrong; getting there was not as wrong as you think. And that man worked hard to get where he is; and deserves an ounce of your respect for that. There are two sides to a coin; and the very fact that he gives back in areas that many others do not or would not donate time or money towards is laudable.
As far as "the memo" is concerned... you/we/they ARE the competition. Every Pro-Linux gathering has plans to defeat the competition that is Microsoft - or corporate greed or whatever your noble cause du jour is. So do it!
Give Microsoft competition; give 'closed source' competition; don't just spew mindless immaturities - "Waaaaah, he gots a lollipop and I don't". Remember to ask yourself how you are going to make money giving something away for free - and DAMN you if you make only the first one free because that is the same practice you detest. And before you break out more immaturities; I use them all - Solaris, Windows, Linux - because each one has their uses depending on what or whom I'm working for. If you can get it in front of the multibillion dollar corporation and get them to adopt it as their baseline OS; then that will be my next job. I am less worried about the kind of systems I will be supporting than whether said support position will be funded next year.
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
He could have chosen a different time to make the donation and not tied the charity and his main agenda for the visit, which is convincing Indian programmers to not use/program for OSS: he didn't.
OK, so there can't be be enterprise-level Linux apps developed for pay. Huh?
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
What is the use of pushing MS technology on Indian programmers? I'm assuming that MS is targeting Indian programmers who work for outsourcing firms (body shops). Every time I've used such places with clients, we've never given the out-sourced developers their choice of platforms. You tell them exactly what you want and when. If developer X doesn't have the ability to write the program in Java, then we go to X' who can.
Then they'll regularly send someone by to see how things are going, talk up their latest "inno-cough-vative" offering, and see if the target company is _motivated_. Sometimes, if they're lucky, one of the new programmers will have some "happy fun intranet site, or happy joy widget" made with said technology to show off (you know, the port of something which has already been working in PERL, PHP, or both using Sun, or Zeus) that will probably score them some nifty t-shirts, a mug, or hey, maybe another dousing with the developer-cd firehose.
And then if they really want to see how things are going, they'll ask for a tour of the _server room_, the holiest of the holies for said company. The annointed one will be walked around, and they'll look for familiar names, like Compaq, or Dell. But, if they see "SUN", or beige boxen then the annointed one will carefully steer conversation towards determining the nature and purpose of these boxen. Depending on the cluefulness of the tour-guide, things could either go well, and the annointed one will leave, only making note of a possible hardware upgrade deal, or they will become wrathful, and the sales-calls, port-scans, and off-hours questioning through "chance meetings" will take place until they have enough information to confront the president of the company. They will act hurt, or betrayed, and say interesting things like,
"I thought we had an understanding that you were a Microsoft Development shop", or
"How can we help you fully become a Microsoft Developer?", or my favorite,
"How has Microsoft failed to meet your needs? We are eager to help you in any way we can."
Of course, years later when the BSA sends out their letters to the less-than-faithful, and begins bringing in the police to follow up on portscans and megabytes of downloaded header logs showing all of the boxen development-only copies of software running. there will be those who remember these honeyed promises aimed only at the hearts, minds, and struggling companies or schools.
M$ has much to gain, but in the end, as they squeeze diversity and skill out of developing countries, they will also loose these possibilities forever. Linux is safe, becuase just like the smart people in Africa who refused flawed crop-seed to avoid a hideous cycle of dependency, developers in India and around the world know that freedom is more important than easily made promises. Held to a hard-line of artificial ability and capability(M$ API's are Black-boxes...no lookee, no touch-ee, no-feelie) with brittle security, smart developers and business leaders will realize that there is no get-rich quick incentive to supporting a core of fatally flawed intractable components supplied by a company which is really incapable of doing anything more than strong-arming hardware and software developers(even savvy developers need support--and when they become the support they are no longer developers), coercing companies with hideous licensing schemes by buying legislation and counting coup on the legal system of the United States. Companies seeking to get rich by suckling at the four-paned teat would do well to remember that M$ eats it's young, and often the young of others too.
Every new form of media has it's own Requirimento
He has about $30 billion in stock options.
You know, I'm pretty sure that he's got stock, not options.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
Here's an article where Bill Gates has taken a real interest in India... I don't think these two event are unrelated.
Bill Gates hands out millions to fight AIDS in India
How noble of Bill to share a puny portion of his fortune on preventing AIDS in India. I wonder if Bill is going to dump some of his money in China as well... they got a lot of AIDS cases as well. Perhaps he've understood the longterm direction of the Chinese market isn't pointing towards Windows, so he won't spend more cash on trying to bribe the Chinese.
In the coming decade, China is going to become the second largest IT development sweatshop after India. And the next step will be that India and China will pass the rest of the world in developing software packages. Western IT companies will go the same way the US car industry went... they'll become a player on a market with stiff competition... no more dominance. Maybe Bill and Steve will become more humble over the years?
Ballmer's going to have to modify his act. What's Hindi for "DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!!!!"
And the brethren went away edified.
Okay, the actual text of that message was in the topic, and slashdot has decided to ignore my topic... so just ignore the above
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Indians suck at manufacturing & are hardly innovative in any other field
Really? You seem to have a very low opinion of us. I might mention though, that we have other ideas.
As for open source route, we don't have to make open source software. We should use it. No need to pay big Bill a Big bill. right?
(btw, that's called Yamak alankar in Hindi. if you remember any of it, that is.)
The generation of future Indians are at the hands of the developers. Dont drive the only thing which you can produce to a zero value system.
Aww, come on. Since when have software developers
started shaping the future of countries? Most of em' have trouble shaping their own future! Let's not have grandiose visions, shall we?
Just let us be.
I've witnessed many times guys who take up charitable interests just to get laid, and it works, over and over
You're sitting on a goldmine, Trebeck.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
It doesn't make the charitable gift wrong, which is what the entire discussion is about.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
And how, pray tell, is this a boon to Linux? It may be a boon to your yankee job, but Linux improved in India is still improved.
Please, this is slashdot, let's have OS prejudice not race and nationality prejudice. On purely humanitarian grounds, parochial protectionism is no boon to the third world.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
Roshan,
Indians would be just fine at manufacturing if it weren't for the high tarriffs. When the govt reforms those tarriffs, you may see a huge upswelling in manufacturing, and that would be a damn good thing.
Did you even read my post?
Last time I did that was in the old days of 1.2.13 kernel. For at least five years I have been able to convince the managers in my company of the Linux superiority, not by talking, but by coding superior software in Linux.
Bill is the one who chose this trip, so focused on getting Indian programmers to program for Windows instead of OSS, to provide this donation. Bill is the one who tied these two together. And the article points out that he expressed concern that AIDS would thwart India's progress in IT, and tied the sentence together with the presence of the Microsoft software development center in India.
read parent. you can't fake that funk.
Yes, it does. The end doesn't justify the means. Do you think the "medical research" done at the nazi extermination camps was right? A donation made with illegal money isn't charitable at all, no mather if the money came from selling drugs or from an illegal software monopoly.
There is, for sure, a difference in degree, but that wasn't the point. Maybe one could say that money gotten through violent crime is "more evil" than money from white collar crime. But I fail to see any redeeming value at all in donating 0.1% of a fortune that came, in large part, from illegal operations. Anyhow, it's not as if BillG would miss a few billions more or less...
sssh, don't talk about things like that.
Now all the coke-heads will have an excuse to snort the next line. "Hey *snort*, it's for charity *snort*"
Not even Monaco is as expensive as that! I guess in India it's more like $6/week to feed the average family.
Someone has to write the code and you have the most programmers in india, this = $$
Someone has to write serious government apps and people would pay money for this.
Open Source does not mean Free as in beer.
Open Source is Open Source.
You can sell programs, but the source code is free, you sell the compiled code, most people when they buy a game dont know how to or dont want to spend days compiling it, they want a CD, they want to pop it in, and have it work.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
Microsoft and the USA has a monopoly on knowledge so what good is having the tools?
Instead of teaching them to fish, we give them fish.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
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And that man worked hard to get where he is; and deserves an ounce of your respect for that. There are two sides to a coin; and the very fact that he gives back in areas that many others do not or would not donate time or money towards is laudable.
First, the only people that are worthy of my respect are those who can aspire to a Gates-like position in an ethical and honest manner. This would tend to explain why I have no respect for Gates. Second, I don't believe that Gates isn't deriving any benefit from the money he's giving way. This topic has come up before, and can be summed up in two words: tax writeoff. Face it- he has an agenda, and it's very much in his favor.
I'm developing web-applications. it just happens there are a number of handy applications to develop them under windows.
;-)
sweet eh? use windows to develop for linux. that's the way bill woulnd't like it i guess
Privacy is terrorism.
If open source is truly more cost effective (as I firmly believe) than Microsoft software, it will succeed in the long run. Of course, you are right that being "more cost effective" means less opportunity for revenue. In particular, open source eliminates much useless duplication of effort, meaning that it needs fewer programmers to provide the same range of products--but it still needs paid programmers to create the software in the first place. Open source software still offers plenty of opportunities for making money: consulting, custom development, some closed source packages running on top of open source systems, etc.
Don't bet on a loser--bet on what economics tells you must win in the long run. And I think that's pretty clearly open source.
Sure it does, if the gift is intended to improve the public's perception of oneself. And it works, and you can bet that that's why people like Gates do it.
So he's not just giving the money out directly, but setting up an income investment fund to ensure that the charity can continue to operate for long, long after his death, bankrupcy, etc...
What have you done for charity lately?
I can't help but think that this is related.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
To think that only a few hundred years ago, we were all in our separate continents, living in dull homogeneity.
Well,... African slaves to Europe and America, European crusaders to East Mediterranean, Asian nomads to Europe, Indonesians to Madagascar, Arabs to the Pacific, and others didn't stay in their continents
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
If anyone remembers how charitable Bill was before he was married (would not give a penny of his to a starving group of nuns) -- has to realize that it is his wife who has the kind heart.....Bill most likely grits his teeth as she peels of the checks.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Don't like his tactics? So why adopt them as your own?
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Now the company's technology is woefully behind OSS in every technical aspect and has the edge over OSS only in the user interface and marketing. Apple has them beat by a mile on the interface and OS X gives you the best of BSD and Apple.
The last straw is that Microsoft has grown by acquiring, or "innovating" if you will, external products and technologies into their own product line. Companies that grow through acquisition eventually hit appogee and then drop like a rock.
So this visit reeks of desparation. Given that starvation, undernourishment, even smoke from cooking fires are more serious health problems (in India) than AIDS, the choice to target AIDS is not for the benefit of India but instead audiences in North America and Europe.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
As a student studying at an Indian university in Mumbai(Bombay) I have observed that Microsoft far more dominant that Linux.
_None_ of our computers in any lab or any faculty run Linux. They all run Windows ( Pirated copies BTW..).
I study Computer science, and none of my teachers are familiar with Unix/Linux. They have a very superficial knowledge, if at all. At the same time, they are proficient at administering windows systems.
This is all contrary to the articles that have been posted on slashdot about the Indian government promoting linux in universities. It is not happening.
The main thrust for promoting Linux comes from the students. The student bodies try to organize workshops to familiarize other students about Linux. I have helped in such ventures and my experience is that most other students do not care much about Linux. Their thinking is that knowing how to use Microsoft products will help them more in getting a job than knowing about Linux. And thats all they care about.
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Where has it been said he made it where he is in a dishonest manner? I do know that Microsoft's position has been *maintained* in an unethical manner. Again, a lot of people seem to think that the very fact that people have material wealth makes them crooks.
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
Ah... but are we implying that everyone has ulterior motives when they do something charitable? I'm sure that would insult a few right-wingers in here... but wait a minute the very fact that I told people to look at the man, not the megacorporation, obviously insulted more than a few people in here.
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
Are you kidding, since whence will
No,
We maybe, a little bit too excited, however.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Do you have any evidence that that is actually what Argentina did?
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
If I remember correctly, Gates pulled a few very cunning, and I'd say very opportunistic moves during his initial forays into the world of business. I'd even go so far as to suggest that this way of doing business has pervaded Microsoft's corporate culture, thus explaining its ongoing lack of ethical behavior. Gates (or his corporate cronies) practically lied under oath during the trial. What does that say about his character?
That doesn't say much at all, I admit. But is cunning and opportunistic the same as evil? I honestly have to think about that one [and maybe have a chat with some philosophical and pious people I know].
I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
I offer a different analysis.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
You seem to miss my point. What does inflating your currency (which is what Argentina did) have to do with free market policy (which is what you say Argentina did)? Argentina, like Turkey, is in trouble because its government thought that it could pay for everything by printing up money. Any free market liberal will tell you that inflating your currency is the road to rack and ruin. I really don't know if the World Bank told Argentina to inflate its currency. I hope not. In any case, Argentina did inflate (as did Turkey, just to replicate the experiment) and now their economy is in the dumps. Had they consulted even the least capable free-market economist, he would have predicted this future.
.......... like the world's largest Beowulf cluster. I had to say that, sorry. I've written an explanation of why a free market produces better results than centralization. Go read my analysis of the problem.
As for whether Economics is a science or not, well, a science makes predictions, and you can judge the scientific value of a theory by whether its predictions come true. Certainly there is a lot of folk-economics and faux-scientific economics. Such economics fails to pan out. You've seen that, I can tell. That doesn't mean that all economics is crap. Here's one prediction that's true: to the extent that it raises people's wages, a minimum wage law creates unemployment.
One type of economics which fails to suck over the long-term is free-market economics. Why? Because freedom lets everyone solve problems in parallel. You know,
Don't piss off The Angry Economist