Fwd: Re: Deer in the Headlights

Dear Jeff:

Thanks for keeping us all informed.  I attended the University of
Waterloo (mentioned in the article) and fought the good fight.  People
don't realize some of the deep implications of Microsoft's 'gifts' to
universities and I'll be clear:  Microsoft is at war with Linux.  They
are doing everything in their power to capture the mind-share of
students by bribing facutly with 'goodies' like Microsoft-only labs,
free software and $$$.  On the surface, there is nothing wrong with
this but what if Coca-Cola or McDonalds (for example) started donating
to laboratories on nutrition?

I did the math on the Waterloo donation and figured out the following:

If all the money Microsoft donated were subtracted from all the
licenses (at student rates) that all the students purchased who
attended Waterloo, Microsoft would still show a profit!  Whereas, were
it all Linux, the benefit would be that students would have a net lower
cost of computing and hence, a net lower cost of attending university. 
Moreover, any enhancements that came out of student research and ended
up as GPL code would be a benefit to all of mankind.

In short, Microsoft is simply advertising inside the student
head-space.

Sincerely,

Sim Brigden


> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Gov-list] Deer in the Headlights
> 
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 11:58:54AM -0400, [email protected] wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues,
> > 
> > Here is the beginning of an article that appeared today in the
> Washington
> > Post:
> 
> Here is the actual URL direct to the article
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40000-2003Aug24.html
> > 
> > (start)--------------------------------------
> >    Microsoft's Big Role on Campus
> >    Donations Fund Research, Build Long-Term Connections
> > 
> > 
> >    By Ariana Eunjung Cha
> >    Washington Post Staff Writer
> >    Monday, August 25, 2003; Page A01
> > 
> >    REDMOND, Wash. -- Bearing gifts of cash, software and computers
> worth
> >    $25 million, Microsoft Corp. came to the Massachusetts Institute
> of
> >    Technology in 1999, saying it wanted to jointly develop
> educational
> >    technologies. Some scholars expressed more suspicion than
> gratitude.
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Jeff Kinz, Open-PC, Emergent Research,  Hudson, MA.  [email protected]
> copyright 2003.  Use is restricted. Any use is an 
> acceptance of the offer at http://www.kinz.org/policy.html.
> Don't forget to change your password often.
>  

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