Charity gives 40,000 PCs a fresh start

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A fair go

A lot of linux advocates seize on these kind of deals and use them as evidence that Microsoft is on the way out. I think that third-world shifts to linux, charity deals, and anything else that doesn't have much money attached to it are not really signs of Microsoft stumbling in the market, but rather are characteristics of conditions outside the main PC markets.

A market is, at its core, a place to make money and the size of a market is measured in money. If something does not affect the money, it is not, by definition, part of the market. If there were no source of cheap PCs, the charity cases and world's poor would simply do without. Satisfying their needs does not affect MSFT income since no money would be spent in any event.

Using linux for the opportunites below the market simply taints linux with an image of cheap and throwaway, much like the bottom end boxes from WalMart have already done. The affluent consumer is quick to disassociate from these images.

Posted by: amicus_curious   Posted on: 02/04/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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