How Microsoft Inadvertently Helps To Fund FOSS

christian.einfeldt writes "The State of California sued Microsoft for anti-trust violations, and now the proceeds of the settlement of that case are being used to fund the acquisition of computers for any school district in California. The terms of the settlement allow every school district in California to be reimbursed a set dollar amount for the purchase of computers with the software of their choice. Microsoft probably anticipated that school districts would mainly use the settlement to buy more Microsoft products, with a few Apple purchases sprinkled in here and there. But now that Free Open Source Software is being commercialized by hardware vendors such as Dell, System76, EmperorLinux, Zareason.com, and TechCollective.com, acquiring computers powered by FOSS is straightforward. I'm a volunteer sysadmin at a northern California public charter school and in my Slashdot journal I detail the step-by-step process for using Microsoft's money to pay for the Linux purchases of your school's choice." And then there's the Ubuntu team in Belgium that is raising funds by auctioning off a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate that a Microsoft rep gave them at a trade show. So far the bidding is up to 101.76 Euros, about $144.

Ubuntu team in danger of liability action ...

[Alain Williams (2972)]

If they knowing sell on something with known defects (that copy of MS Vista) and it screws up someone's machine -- would they not be liable for any loss that they endured ?

Re:Ubuntu team in danger of liability action ...

[Entropius (188861)]

I imagine they'll send the guy a complimentary (or should that be "complementary"? ;)) (K)Ubuntu disk in the mail, with the instruction "You'd probably be better off using this instead, but here's the Vista disk you bought."

Re:

[Bert64 (520050)]

Were that the case, microsoft would have been bankrupted many years ago.

Re:Ubuntu team in danger of liability action ...

[jkrise (535370)]

If they(Canonical) knowing sell on something with known defects (that copy of MS Vista)...

I imagine the support call to go something like this:

Vista User: Hi! I got a problem with Vista.
MS rep: Only one?
VU: Yep.. I can't activate
MS: Where did you get it? Or is it pirated?
VU: I bought it from Ubuntu
MS: Those guys haven't paid us protection money... like the good folks at Novell, Xandros..
VU: But it is still Microsoft Vista on the package... It's got this shticker as well... can I have a license key?
MS: Okay here you go... 54524524087698032413243064087513243404353040453204753047340873453207.
VU: I didn't ask for Ballmer's bank balance; just a license key!
MS: That's what I gave you...
VU: Okay... I typed it all in.. still won't go forward...
MS: Okay do this. Put that number in Excel 2007 and divide it by 345.43521; enter the first 128 digits, and then.. .hello? you still there????
VU: ..................
MS: Status: Waiting for customer. Next call please!

I wonder

[Billosaur (927319)]

Do you think there are people at Microsoft who go home and secretly work Linux by night?

Re:I wonder

[Stanistani (808333)]

You make that sound so... dirty.

Tell me more.

Re:I wonder

[Bert64 (520050)]

From the "CREDITS" file distributed with current linux kernel versions:

N: Raymond Chen
E: [e-mail]
D: Author of Configure script
S: 14509 NE 39th Street #1096
S: Bellevue, Washington 98007
S: USA

So yes, at least some do or have done.

using Microsoft's money

[muuh-gnu (894733)]

> using Microsoft's money to pay for the Linux purchases of your school's choice.

This isnt Microsofts money. This is the money Microsoft extorted from you and is now being forced to give back a tiny amount of this. Any cent that is not going to Microsoft (or even worse, to Apple), but to someone distributing Free Software is great, though.

Even worse?

[jgs (245596)]

Why is Apple "even worse"? Just curious -- Apple has various unappealing qualities but unlike Microsoft they don't have a monopoly which they've been found guilty of abusing to extort money from you. "Even worse" would seem to be a pretty high bar.

Re:

[Machtyn (759119)]

Perhaps, it is because HAD Apple gained the marketshare that Microsoft did, not only would we have closed software, we would also have closed hardware.

While Apple certainly has an extremely creative group of engineers, would we have as much choice and innovation as we do now for hardware if 80+% of the market went with Apple? I think not. This is where the "even worse" comes in, it is in the possibility of what might have happened.

/Won't somebody please think of the games?!

Cool!

[Penguinisto (415985)]

I like the fact that schools are (finally!) looking at Linux as a viable OS for the classroom. Seriously, we've come a long way - I remember trying to get it introduced as curriculum in 2000 at the college I taught at, and it took a metric ton of tooth-pulling to get done.

I've seen (at least in Utah when I lived there) schools transitioning from NetWare servers to Linux-based ones, but the classroom pretty much was all Windows, all the time.

Now when will we see OpenOffice being taught in the High School and collegiate business courses, instead of you-know-who?

/P

Re:

[ExE122 (954104)]

I come from a nerdy IT college that was almost exclusively Linux. However I've worked on setting up labs with a friend of mine at another college down the road, and they insisted on being exclusively Windows. Their argument was that Windows was more "user friendly".

I think the problem is that most schools don't realize that running Linux doesn't mean you have to learn how to write bash scripts, develop C code, and use vi to edit documents (even though regex editing pwns).

I think Linux vendors just n

I wish...

[mpapet (761907)]

... they insisted on being exclusively Windows... I think Linux vendors just need to do a better job of marketing themselves

This is the equivalent of the Photoshop/GIMP discussion that's endlessly recycled on /. "If only GIMP had feature X...." Well bad news, even when GIMP gets feature X, they'll have a new reason for not switching.

In both cases they are so single-minded they happily accept all of the limitations/expenses they bring upon themselves. Trying to convince them otherwise is a steep, nasty,

Re:

[halber_mensch (851834)]

I come from a nerdy IT college that was almost exclusively Linux. However I've worked on setting up labs with a friend of mine at another college down the road, and they insisted on being exclusively Windows. Their argument was that Windows was more "user friendly".

I rather think that users and observers commonly mistake "user-friendly" to be "a familiar type and amount of pain". Windows is less easy to use than it is familiar, and remembering the pain it took to gain that familiarity many users will shy from diving into something new fearing what new pain to unveil from a different system.

But they own linux

[neokushan (932374)]

But Microsoft owns all of the copyrights for Linux anyway, according to Ballmer, remember?

Libraries can do this too...

[by Anonymous Coward]

with the Gates Foundation grants. Unless the process has changed since the last time my organization went through it, it's possible to spec out alternate equipment and software instead of accepting the "recommended" equipment. That, and if you have funds remaining after your purchase, you can buy more equipment, so long as it's for public computing. I funded a LTSP-based thin client server that way...

Re:

[jimstapleton (999106)]

Look at all the Linux users who buy pre-built machines with Windows, because until recently, they lacked many alternatives short of building their own.

That's not just Soviet Russia my meme spouting friend.

Re:Who exactly do I pay?

[speaker of the truth (1112181)]

The fines Microsoft were given are being used to buy computers that have Linux installed on them. Rather simple to understand really.

Re:

[bcattwoo (737354)]

The fines Microsoft were given are being used to buy computers that have Linux installed on them. Rather simple to understand really.

Perhaps I missed it when Dell announced that a portion of every Linux purchase would be donated to the FOSS project of your choice.

Re:

[russ1337 (938915)]

MS paid a fine. What the state chooses to use that money for is their own business, and has nothing to do with said fine.

It seems ridiculous to use the money to buy Microsoft products with the money you took off them, essentially giving them the money back.

Re:Still not funding

[russ1337 (938915)]

Well, at least the smart ones will buy Windows PCs for their students, since that will best prepare them for their future in the monopolistic non-thinking 'customer-is-a-criminal' world they'll going to grow up in, where large corporations dictate all terms, including the fines they receive, and tell you what is good for you whether you like it or not.

There, I fixed that for you.

Re:Wow.

[Sumadartson (965043)]

IANAE (I am not an economist)

Actually, I really like the initiative. If done properly (that's a big if), the auctioned price could give an indication what people perceive the value of Vista to be. My guess is that it will be significantly lower than the price Microsoft set for is. Which, in itself, is an indication of the market power of MS.

Re:Wow.

[jimstapleton (999106)]

Conversely, the though of supporting FOSS could artificially inflate the price, MS could ignore that fact, and could argue that people percieve Windows to be worth more than they are charging.

Double-edged-sword, that.

Re:

[speaker of the truth (1112181)]

Why would anyone be trying to promote Linux here at Slashdot? Everyone is either converted or never will be.

Re:

[ozmanjusri (601766)]

A hundred bucks or so that would raise wouldn't "fund" anything more than a catered lunch, if that.

Are you insane?

Do you know how many copies of Ubuntu that'd buy you?