[wsfii-discuss] [Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] PC with MSWindows/Office for $53? How Feasible? Can it help empower the poor?]

Fri Apr 20 22:10:48 UTC 2007

MS is a lumbering giant suddenly awakening the fact its global
domination is at risk.

Yet I think the idea that open source is actually free is simplifying a
complex global ecosystem in which of course OS must fund itself
somewhere. Total Cost of Ownership TCO is a term used to describe the
total cost of the software in terms of training, upgrades,
troubleshooting etc over the long haul. 

The issue is not free but the design of appropriate cost structures and
effective and easy to use software infrastructures suitable to
grassroots empowerment.

Most of all is the issue of how it is all framed what is the cost?

I don't care about the cost in that if it is free and provides no added
value it may as well cost a million dollars per station!

The point is what is the added value that the investment provides?

If the investment can be financed so that the added value it provides
can be paid back over time with a surplus left over for community
development, then we have a compelling value proposition in that the
additional investment can be justified. Better yet is a equity sharing
so that there are no debt burdens but a portion of any profits go back
to the support & implementation supply chain.

So what I want to know is what is the added value that software will
provide over the long term and part of an integrated community
development infrastructure and how this translates into a multiplier
effect that will rapidly improve local conditions in emerging markets
both with additional knowledge and awareness of how to solve problems
and how to translate that knowledge into economic value to promote
sustainable development.

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: wsfii-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org
[mailto:wsfii-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of albert homs
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 2:07 PM
To: Discuss list on the World Summit on Free Information Infrastructure
Subject: Re: [wsfii-discuss] [Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] PC with
MSWindows/Office for $53? How Feasible? Can it help empower the poor?]

Nice way to send our electronic waste to poor countries, what does
"refurbished" means? and "as little as" means the same than in cars
publicity?
2007/4/20, kloschi at subsignal.org <kloschi at subsignal.org>:
any comments?

---------- Missatge reenviat ----------
From: "Satish Jha" <satish.jha at gmail.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients:; 
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:11:13 -0400
Subject: [bytesforall_readers] PC with MS Windows/Office for $53? How
Feasible? Can it help empower the poor?
>From Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
When Microsoft decides to devalue Windows and Office down to $3 per seat
in emerging markets which currently make limited use of technology (no,
you and I won't be getting these great deals!), you know that the
Redmond giant is  Maybe $3 for Windows an Office is an offer that people
can pass up on, but $53 for a PC and software . that's a deal that's
hard to resistworried about the effect that adoption of open source
software would have in these markets.  But is the $3 Windows/Office
bundle too good a deal to resist? 
When I read the statement
<http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/apr07/04-19UPLaunchPR.msp
x>  by Microsoft, the only bit stood out was the $3 price tag.  $3 is a
pretty low price for Windows and Office, not exactly the $0 that open
source software would cost, but it's not far off it.  The statement
highlights the benefits that this deal will have on the economies of
countries such as Botswana, Chile, and China where technology is
under-used and there's a massive potential market for software.   
However, that low value of $3 is only part of the deal.  When I read an
account of the deal  <http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-6177431.html> on
CNET (by Ina Fried), a whole different, and far more significant number
stood out: 
The collection of software, which will start shipping in the second half
of this year, includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Office Home and
Student 2007, Windows Live Mail Desktop and several educational
products. The $3 price includes the software license, while backup discs
and documentation will cost extra. In order to be eligible, governments
must pick up at least half the tab for the PC, though the software can
also be used on refurbished computers, which can cost as little as $50,
Microsoft said. [emphasis added]
Your eye is drawn to that $3 number, but far more significant is the
price at which Microsoft can supply refurbished computers at.  While
there's no doubt that $3 doesn't compete with the $0 that open source
would cost, the $50 per refurbished PC price-tag is a very good deal
indeed, and it far outweighs the benefits of taking the open source
route where you can get the software for nothing but have to pay full
whack for hardware.  That makes it half the price of the hardware on
offer by the One Laptop Per Child initiative.  Microsoft might just have
hit two birds with a single stone here. 
Microsoft is playing hard ball against open source software because the
company is well aware of the size of the emerging markets:
"We've set an internal goal that by 2015 we will help to reach the first
billion of the next 5 billion that have been underserved," said Will
Poole, the corporate vice president who heads Microsoft's market
expansion group. 
Maybe $3 for Windows an Office is an offer that people can pass up on,
but $53 for a PC and software . that's a deal that's hard for emerging
markets to resist.
Thoughts?

-- 
_______________________
Satish Jha
President, JM Consulting LLC
www.ehealth-care.net
www.witfor.org
www.aiti-kace.com.gh
www.digital-partners.org
T: +1 301-841-7422
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