On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 3:59 PM, ashok _ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > What they actually do is partially "fund" computerization by providing > licenses gratis.
uh, oh... not gratis, isnt the cost inbuilt ? Its just that the buyer is unaware of it. Partly why the reseller distribution channel works so well. > The organization then implements various systems on the "gratis" > software. After, > a couple of years, they are back in the hole when they realize the > upgrades were not > "gratis", and migrating means spending thousands of man hours and > millions of dollars. I have heard that MS does a lot of charity through their foundation in India, as a part of which the software is given at throwaway prices (initially). When the receiving organisation decided to go the Libre software way it annoyed folks who thought the charity-org was being ungrateful. On that note, excluding the company provided laptops, I seriously doubt if an MS employee in India would buy the full version of MSOffice for his/her home PC. IIRC, they make do with beta versions which, although buggy, is still legal.
