Comments on: Microsoft Brings ‘American EDGI’ to Illinois, Virginia, and Indiana

By: pcolon

pcolon — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:53:32 +0000

Free Training? It’s written off in taxes. Microsoft never does anything without an angle. After all, they must look out after the shareholders.

By: Sean Tilley

Sean Tilley — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:08:24 +0000

I honestly fail to see the problem here.

“Governor Pat Quinn today joined Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Chicagoland Chamber’s Annual Meeting to announce a major public-private partnership between Microsoft and the State of Illinois to provide free technology training for up to 51,000 Illinoisans, starting July 31″

Microsoft, as corrupt as the FOSS community likes to label them, is spending money on helping people interested in pursuing technology development by giving them free training. It might not be beautiful training, but it’s free training nonetheless in technology development. Honestly, Microsoft could donate food and shelter to starving people and you’d claim it were some horrible ploy.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:22:01 +0000

Probably somebody’s relative(s)/friend(s) is getting “vigorish” for under the table kickbacks. Business as usual (sic).

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:38:39 +0000

Who would make money from such news?

By: twitter

twitter — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:28:23 +0000

I'd like to add this Indiana reference I captured seven months ago. It is very funny that M$ is touting a 1998 agreement as "ground breaking" when it was clear in 2001 that public school computer labs were a wasted investment. Average students got less than an hour a week using them. Pity such a scare and expensive resource would be used to train people in M$ Word. Indiana has saved tens of millions of dollars by using free software while moving to more useful one laptop per child programs. They are an example to the rest of the country and world. Why is it that a program that can save the US schools billions of dollars a year is not front page news everywhere?

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:59:38 +0000

I don’t see how, in the long term, this can be a winning formula for Microsoft.

Neither can Microsoft, which is why it considers Free software the #1 threat (for many consecutive years).

By: Charles Oliver

Charles Oliver — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:52:05 +0000

Microsoft must surely, at some point in time, reach a limit on the amount of cash they can spend on attempting to push out free software.

Historically, Microsoft might well have destroyed competition by short term tactics like this but that won’t work with Linux, they will have to keep their corporate foot on the gas peddle forever. As soon as they stop free software will come bouncing back to the surface. The longer they continue freebies and giveaways the more they will need to charge for their software to pay for it.

I don’t see how, in the long term, this can be a winning formula for Microsoft.