[PLUG] Micro$oft at it again.

Jason Van Cleve jason at vancleve.com
Tue Apr 23 06:00:55 UTC 2002


I too am willing to help, in whatever small way I can.  This business of
attacking our schools (you know, the foundation of our knowledge and the
hope of our future) is just plain sinister.  Devouring our young indeed!

--Jason Van Cleve


> -----Original Message-----
> From: plug-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org
> [mailto:plug-admin at lists.pdxlinux.org]On Behalf Of Alan
> Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 8:46 PM
> To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Micro$oft at it again.
>
>
> On Monday 22 April 2002 02:54 pm, Michael Rasmussen wrote:
> > > From: Aaron Baer [mailto:judah at opusnet.com]
> > > So do we volunteer as a group, "We're PLUG and we want to help!" or do
> > > we volunteer individually?
> > >
> > > I, for one, want to volunteer but it might be a good opportunity to
> > > further our communities awareness by volunteering as a group.
> >
> > I sent an email to Eric Harrison asking that he let us know as
> a group how
> > to best volunteer for this effort.  No sense in him getting
> hammered with
> > scores of questions.
>
> Add me to the list of people willing to help. (I live a couple of
> blocks from
> Cleveand High School.)
>
> Here are my thoughts on the issue (for what little it is worth):
>
> [This may get modified to an editorial for the oregonian or similar
> publication after polishing and editorial modifications, so bear with the
> obvious bits.]
>
> The school district(s) need to look at a plan to eliminate all Microsoft
> software from their schools and offices.
>
> All of it.
>
> The reason for this is pretty plain.  Microsoft's current "complience"
> campaign is no more than extortion.  (I was going to say "petty
> extortion,
> but a half a million dollars is not "petty".)  Microsoft knows that the
> school cannot conduct an audit in the time given.  They know that the
> district is in too deep with their software to give it up and
> will have to
> give in to their demands or pay an even bigger "penalty".  This
> is not the
> actions of a legitimate business, this is the strong-arm tactics of a mob
> boss or a drug kingpin.
>
> It is extortion, plain and simple.
>
> The Vikings used to have similar scam.  They would go from town
> to town along
> the British coast or anywhere else where there were people who could not
> defend themselves and make a bargain with the town.  "Pay us X
> amount in gold
> or we sack your town."  Such payments were called "danegeld".
>
> There was also another saying... "Once you pay Danegeld, you
> never get rid of
> the Dane."
>
> If the school districts pay off the Microsoft horde, what happens when
> Microsoft has another bad quarter?  Are they going to fall prey
> to another
> such "complience audit"?  Will there be another way that they
> will come in
> and suck up more revenue from the cash strapped schools?
>
> You know damn well they will!
>
> Next they will want extra licence fees for each printer.  Maybe
> they will up
> it to a per student fee, instead of a per machine.  There will always be
> something more to pay for.  They fees will go up and up because they know
> that the school won't run without their software.
>
> Unless they get out of the game now, while they still can.
>
> The excuses are pretty standard.
>
> "They don't want to have to learn new software"  Hmmm...
> Educators who are
> unwilling to learn new things.  Maybe they should look up the
> definition of
> "irony" at this point.
>
> "It is too much work to change everything over."  Well, yes.  it
> is also about
> as much work to conduct the audit and it will cost less in the
> long run. The
> software applications already exist.
>
> "Linux is too hard."  And Windows is not?  Actually there are
> versions that
> are pretty easy to maintain.  The K12TSP is one example.
> Mandrake is another
> option.  Actually, Linux has been getting easier and easier to run and
> Microsoft has been getting harder and harder to keep running. There are
> community resources that will help with training.
>
> The question is not just how much it will cost now, but how much
> you will keep
> paying over and over again years on down the road.
>
> [This was probably preaching to the chior, but I am wanting to et a basic
> layout fornewspaper rant later.  Send me comments pro and con and
> I will see
> if I can get something useful hacked out of it.]
>
>
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