“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

--Bill Gates

Summary: An analysis of what's coming when Vista 7 marketing wears out and a little more about pharmaceuticals and Gates

THE title of this post -- while a little dramatic -- probably just states the obvious. Microsoft is no charity and its attempt to have people subscribe to the next iteration of Vista (test build) is very much like the offering of 'free' drugs (under trial) to people who become dependent on them. Bill Gates would understand this business model. In fact, he sure does. As Goblin put it a few days ago:

On a particularly interesting article from April 2008, Bill Gates is reported as saying:

“I think if you invent drugs, you should be able to charge for them,”

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2008/04/bill-gates-the-gp...

I believe that Microsoft is getting the RC out to the masses quickly and before the EU makes any ruling. That way, if it does, people will already have Windows 7 on their machines. It is reported on Boycott Novell that Bill Gates has in the past said words to the effect of “get them hooked, we’ll work out how to get a return later” If this is correct then in my opinion its like the local drug dealer giving out freebies to the kids prior to the drug becoming illegal expecting a return from the addicts at a later date.

Think my example is a little OTT? Well its Bill Gates mentioning drugs, not me.

Speaking of which, 2 hours ago a reader mailed us this news story from India.

Journal critique on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant pattern

New Delhi: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s pattern of funding in the form of grants for global health programmes and projects has been criticised in a research paper in The Lancet.

The paper, by David McCoy of the Centre for International Health and Development, London, and others, is accompanied by a commentary by Robert E. Black of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, U.S., and others, and an editorial. Dr. M.K. Bhan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, is a co-author of the commentary in his capacity as a scientist of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

“Although it is driven by the belief that ‘all lives have equal value,’ it seems that the Foundation does not believe that every voice has equal value, especially voices from those it seeks most to assist,” said the editorial. The commentary said very limited direct funding to low-income and middle-income countries is “arguably the most unfortunate imbalance in the research portfolio of the Foundation.”

[...]

“Gates Foundation is not a passive donor,” observes the paper.

“The Foundation actively engages in policy making and agenda setting activities; it has representatives that sit on the governing structures of many global health partnerships; it is part of a self-appointed group of global health leaders known as the H8 [that includes the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and the World Bank]… and has been involved in setting the health agenda for the G8.”

For more information about this, see:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Instruct Countries They Invest in to Feed Pharmaceuticals They Invest In
• Bill Gates and the Business of Disease

Regarding the original issue of this post, an IT Pro blogger asks (in the headline), "Has Microsoft gone mental?"

Here is what Mental Microsoft has to say on the matter: “The RC will expire on June 1, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, your PC will begin shutting down every two hours. Windows will notify you two weeks before the bi-hourly shutdowns start. To avoid interruption, you’ll need to install a non-expired version of Windows before March 1, 2010. You’ll also need to install the programs and data that you want to use.”

This has "disaster" written all over it and here is what Roughly Drafted has to say about Vista 7. Published yesterday:

Why Windows 7 is Microsoft’s next Zune

[...]

Having staked out a business that serves PC makers first, IT drones second, and consumers dead last, Microsoft is left only to advertise that its software arrives on cheap hardware that isn’t burdened with being cool or sexy like Apple’s. As a marketing strategy, that’s so blatantly moronic that it’s hard to imagine a Fortune 500 company could decide to do that.

This company delivered also Vista and the Zune, and all I’m pointing out is that the company is getting ready to do the exact same thing this year. Now will all those people who insisted that Microsoft would never stop making increasing amounts of automatic money regardless of how badly it performs please post an apology? Thanks!

Vista and Vista 7 have been good for GNU/Linux adoption (unlike XP). Let's save Windows Vista. ⬆

"[W]e're not going to have products that are much more successful than Vista has been."

--Steve Ballmer

“Wine is a better Windows than Vista”

--David Gerard

"I am currently testing the Beta of Win7 in a closed VM environment. I am considering deleting it. It's actually worse than Vista. Multiple program crashes, refusal to install any software, naff looks and many other complaints."

--Moog