A FEW days ago was the last time we wrote about Bill Gates hijacking the US education system (using his foundation). Even the Washington Post dared to warn about it, not just many other publications (books authors, journalists, et cetera). According to Chowdhry, who has just downgraded Microsoft, the monopolist is losing appeal among school children. Perhaps they need better 'discipline' in schools; perhaps they need to be told that Microsoft was founded by an angel, who will also be 'donating' Windows to schools so that pupils can be indoctrinated while they're young. That's what we've seen so far. To quote The Register:
"Our research is indicating that Microsoft is unable to connect with the new generation of users," wrote Global Equities analyst Trip Chowdhry in a research note to his clients on Wednesday in which he downgraded his expectations for Redmond's stock performance.
New Kids on the Block
It is consistent with what I see in schools. Young people are not as locked-in as their parents and teachers. They are willing to accept change for the better and they hate slow anything including PCs. In my community young people express this individuality/rebellion by switching to GNU/Linux rather than Macs. I expect that may be the global movement corresponding to what the analyst sees. If young people in North America had GNU/Linux on the shelves more of them would opt for GNU/Linux. In other places there are many entrepreneurs producing netbooks and smart-thingies that run GNU/Linux so the option is more easily taken elsewhere. In North America, most access to GNU/Linux is on the web where credit cards are needed for purchase and young people are less likely to have credit cards but Apple has North America covered pretty well with retail outlets.