[wsfii-discuss] PC withMSWindows/Office for $53? How Feasible? Can it help empower the poor?]

Sat Apr 21 02:02:16 UTC 2007

Here's my thought - $53 is what I spent on dinner tonight. 

Kudos to this program to provide a PC and software for the same cost.

Regards,

Jeff

  _____  

From: wsfii-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org
[mailto:wsfii-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of jeff buderer
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 6:11 PM
To: 'Discuss list on the World Summit on Free Information Infrastructure'
Subject: RE: [wsfii-discuss] [Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] PC
withMSWindows/Office for $53? How Feasible? Can it help empower the poor?]

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 by Microsoft
<http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/apr07/04-19UPLaunchPR.mspx> ,
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 <http://news.com.com/2100-1003_3-6177431.html>  of the deal 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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