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Solve : Microsoft Targets Next Billion Customers? |
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Answer» WOW !!! Hey there, great to hear the western world gets to finance people from all over the planet!! We pay 300.00 for "our software" then the mothership just drops a few 00's off for the 3rd world!! what a deal...... Microsoft Increases Software, Education for Underserved Billions SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will build on existing efforts to bridge the digital divide worldwide and announced several new ventures, including a $3 software package for governments that subsidize student computers. The software maker said it will sell a Student Innovation Suite, which includes Windows XP Starter Edition and Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, for $3 to governments that subsidize a certain percentage of the cost of PCs for primary and secondary students for use at home and at school, starting in the second half of the year. The Redmond-based company also pledged to open 90 new "innovation centers" in countries around the world. Microsoft has already opened 110 of the centers, which offer classes and access to technology for academics, local startup software companies and other groups. In addition, the company said it designed a Web site to help graduating engineering students in India get additional training and find jobs, a model it may extend in other countries if successful. The site will go online by the end of the year. Microsoft also announced it forged an alliance with the Asian Development Bank, but the company did not specify its financial commitment. Orlando Ayala, a senior vice president for Microsoft's emerging segments market development group, said it took 35 years for the company's software to REACH a billion people; REACHING the next billion isn't just a side philanthropic project for Microsoft. "Many of these people we think are going to be consumers down the road," Ayala said in an interview. Ayala would not say how much money Microsoft will spend on the programs announced Thursday. "We don't want it to be seen as an initiative, 'Oh, these guys are announcing another billion dollars,'" he said. "We're bringing this whole business strategy mainstream for Microsoft." In Beijing on Thursday, Microsoft Chairman Gates said more opportunities would be created as technology becomes easier and cheaper to use as it advances. "I'm often asked, is the technology REVOLUTION going to reach an end? And the answer is certainly that in the decades ahead, we don't see any limits," Gates said. Gates cited the growing prevalence of video on the Internet as an example of how quickly and dramatically technology improves. "Five years ago, we talked about music on the Internet; we talked about photos on the Internet. But video was not a mainstream thing. Today, it's very mainstream. Why? The power of the systems, the power of the software tools, and the use of high speed connections allow video to work very well on every one of these systems," Gates said. "We see the fact that the power will just get better and better." http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070419/microsoft_unlimited_potential.html?.v=4 * If you think this is a great idea and a feel good measure, your a liberal. (you think with your heart) * If you are kinda mad and feel like you have subsidized this ummm "venture", you just might be conservative. (you think with your head) Conservative - think with your head and speak with your wallet.Corporate sponsored schools are not a good thing.. Quote "Many of these people we think are going to be consumers down the road," Ayala said in an interview. There's nothing philanthropic about collecting new souls for the grinder; I'm sure that if they had a reason to get AIDS patients to use Microsoft software, they would have funded AIDS research and not third world students.. No amount of money or time any kind of corporation puts into 'philanthropy' is going to convince me they've got the heart in the right place, corporations simply do not carry hearts. They might sell 'm, though, to rich people that is.. I ALMOST feel ashamed for using Microsoft Windows after this publicity stunt. By the way, why would they spent $3 on Microsoft software when Linux is entirely free? I'm sure shipping will cost a bit, but in the end it'll be cheaper than $3 per copy and probably LESS painful too, I'd hate to see the third world having to go through the shite MS made us go through with spyware and viruses and the like after all the trouble we've had.. you said it better than I brother ! Yeah I think it is more of a publicity stint with surcharges jacking up the actual price that these poor souls are going to pay for actually getting the software. Open Source is gaining ground in third world countries so it would not be competitive for MS to charge $300 for something with an alternative that comes free. |
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