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

Sat Apr 21 09:57:35 UTC 2007

Ok!
Let Microsoft do it! Just hope they will bundle the refurbished boxes with a
low-power consuming LCD screen. And while they are at it can Microsoft also
supply the:

- $20 solar panel
- $10 wifi router
- $15 water purifier
- $5 per year Aids medicine
- free ant-conception pills / condoms with MS logo
- $30 wind energy generator
- $20 air purifier

Let them do it!

(my $5 worth...)
Thanks Freddy

On 4/21/07, Jeff Harrison <jharrison at thecarbonproject.com> wrote:
>
>  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 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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