Slashdot Mirror
India Presses Microsoft For Windows Discount in Wake of Cyber Attacks (reuters.com)
India is pressing Microsoft to offer a sharply discounted one-time deal to the more than 50 million Windows users in the country so that they can upgrade to the latest Windows 10 operating system in the wake of ransomware attacks, Reuters reported Friday. From the article: Microsoft officials in India have "in principle agreed" to the request, Gulshan Rai, India's cyber security coordinator, told Reuters over the phone on Friday. If Microsoft agreed to such a discount, it could open up the global software giant to similar requests from around the world. Rai said the government was in talks with Microsoft management in India. It is not immediately clear whether any other countries were seeking similar deals.
Seriously, this is a typical Indian move.
I am pretty sure that it is something which is woven into their culture.
I have several India firms as clients. Typically they are serving as an OEM for a larger US or EU brand, but they are responsible for getting all of the certifications ahead of time.
So, we give our standard offer. They say, no no no, that is WAY too much. Way more than your competitors.
We say, what are you looking for?
They say, it must be at least 40% less than this.
We say... OK, we can do 30% less, but we will not offer any support. If you do not know how to fix something, or fill out some form, then it's not our problem.
They agree.
Then, they fuck everything and demand support and extra support. I forward them the earlier emails and reminding them they agreed to no support and tell them that I would be happy to send out a new offer to include support at our standard list price. They decline.
Then for the next project, they ask for an even bigger discount because the support last time was not good. Every..fucking...time.