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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.
India has had EVERY opportunity to get off of Microsoft's garbage platform. Superior, FREE alternatives have existed for decades now. But instead, they chose to steal and pirate Microsoft's proprietary software, and now they want a bail-out. This makes me sick. Fuck Gulshan Rai and all of the asshole Indians who refuse to switch to Free and open source software. People have worked damn hard to create these alternatives to proprietary software—often the reasoning being that it is more accessible to those in the third-world—yet it's easier for them to simply steal. India deserves all of the ransomware it gets. Pricks.
Your computer have virus.
At least it is for Windows 7 and 8.x - Microsoft offers it free for those that use "accessibility tools" - in other words, if you upgrade, run the screen magnifier once, and you've met the legal requirements for the free upgrade.
All of the mechanisms are still in place to activate the latest (Creator's update) Windows 10 installs using Windows 7 or higher keys. They'd be hard pressed to change this, since many upgraders will not have a valid Windows 10 key if they had to move to a new or used replacement PC system.
Quite frankly, Microsoft isn't that concerned about consumers still getting a free upgrade; the bread and butter for Microsoft has always been licenses on new laptops and desktops and, of course, licenses to businesses. Microsoft actually wants users to migrate, for many reasons, most of which are good for consumers.
"I see your free operating system. And I raise you waiting two years then complaining the price your charging is too high"
This meal is awful.
And the portions are so small.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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.
A vector for them to force their contribution to the mass surveillance drag-net onto millions of innocent people
"I see your free operating system. And I raise you waiting two years then complaining the price your charging is too high"
Have you ever done business in India? This move makes perfect sense to them.
The business culture in India is the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition minus long term planning and the charm.
They were thinking:
Rule of Acquisition 11: "Even if it's free, you can always buy it cheaper."
Now they are thinking:
Rule of Acquisition 184: "A Ferengi waits to bid until his opponents have exhausted themselves."
Rule of Acquisition 34: "War is good for business." (or disaster in this case)
But what they forgot:
Rule of Acquisition 82: "The flimsier the product, the higher the price."
Unknown Number : "The more time they take deciding, the more money they will spend."
Sure we'll do that if give us a 20 year tax break on building new manufacturing facilities. Someone has to build all the wireless keyboards, mice, and Clippy Amiibos for the next Smash Bros. game.
I see you may need help doing that hadouken..
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
do you mind if we can upgrade all our pirated copies of windows? It would be nice to receive security updates again!
imagine a world so secure that microsoft has just cause to charge as much as they do. if discounts were requires by law every time they fuck up a lot of things would be nicer.
There is a billion people in India, and only 50 million (5%) use Windows?