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Steve Ballmer Egged. Is Microsoft Still Evil?
By Daya Baran at May 19, 2008 2 Comments
Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, was egged by a student during a speech at the Hungarian University in Budapest. The student threw eggs at Mr. Ballmer and accused Microsoft of stealing 45 Billion in Hungarian taxpayer money.
Many African countries have said that the aid Microsoft provides them in the form of free software, benefits Microsoft many times more in the end. Microsoft donates free software to governments and universities and hence gets them hooked on it. Shortly after the donation, the software requires upgrades, if not it becomes unusable. By then the governments and universities have become highly dependent on the software and have no choice but to fork out millions of dollars for upgrades. These cash strapped countries have many requirements competing for their money such as buying food, medicines, and other necessities for their populations. Hence, Microsoft came to be known as the evil empire.
The Government of India, was faced with a similar situation with Microsoft and decided to launch the Linux Initiative, which had a significant negative impact on Microsoft’s business. In fact, the State of Tamil Nadu has rolled out Linux and Open Source Software in all the government departments.
Is Microsoft still evil? Will the rise of web applications give rise to a new axis of evil?
Labels: africa, india, linux, Microsoft, Open Source, web applications
2 Comments
30 percent of search dollars are attributed to click fraud - they end up in coffers of the respective companies
Microsoft wants us be dependant of their products. That’s not new.
Aiming new markets like Africa and Latin America with this “donations” strategy is very…very low.
Let’s hope that The One Laptop per Child stays away of Microsoft.
Go Open! go Free!