Maybe he foss should now stand up to be counted. How about foss trains teachers and offers to save the government money by running android, Linux etc . My issue here is he foss community here tends to be be talk/ workshop driven. Mic Sent from my msoft guys in the meantime have partners everywhere ready to execute. Their livelihood and future earnings depend on this. I'd this were chess I'd say Microsoft checked you. Your move foss ! But if your move is to rant I expect a very quick endgame I say take some action, make noise where it matters educate the president present your options .... Jgitau On Jun 5, 2013, at 6:07, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru@gmail.com> wrote:
RE:If Microsoft is donating that software, please tell me what problem....
The first dose of the dope <snip> Microsoft is set to earn billions of shillings from supply of software for the free laptop plan after it signed a deal with President Uhuru Kenyatta to support the school-based computer idea. </snip>
Second dose <snip> Microsoft will supply the software at discounted rates to support the project,” Bitange Ndemo, </snip>
The annual dose "for the rest of your life" <snip> Microsoft is expected earn to annual fees from each computer that will be attached with its software, which is expected to run into hundreds of millions based on analyst’s estimation </snip>
./bernard
On Jun 4, 2013 10:56 PM, "Conrad Akunga" <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
@Evans - there is no need to politicize this matter.
If Microsoft is donating that software, please tell me what problem you have with that. Zero cost to the taxpayer. Lots of options. I'm very sure you are aware there is plenty of Open Source software for windows.
I said virtualization is a good thing. I refuse to subscribe to the view that I am free to choose as long as my choice is the same as yours. Kids being exposed to Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOS is a good thing. In fact, there is nothing stopping anyone from formatting the machines and installing an OS of this choice. Windows is not like a building. It can be removed instantaneously. There is nothing wrong with commercial companies capitalizing on opportunities. How come nobody complains when Huawei, Nokia, General Motors, Siemens etc set up shop here to scratch our itches? Let us be practical. Not everyone must be an NGO. Making money is not unethical!
It is also disingenuous to attribute children dying in hospitals to Office Licenses.
Bill Gates's riches are not relevant to this discussion. Why didn't you mention Mark Shuttleworth, Sergey Brin, Larry Page et al as well? They're billionaire off open source software. Why are they saints?
Guys. Let us not lose the forest for the trees. What software (or lack thereof) is a non issue compared to the larger problem of the sustainability of the laptop program as a whole.
If there is no power it doesn't matter what OS the software boots into!
—
On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 7:09 PM, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans@gmail.com> wrote:
Wow, I saw that one coming a long time ago.
@Bogi, MS will be happy to give free or subsidized OS on the laptops. I wish we can get the details here. Butt remember that Proprietary software is like dope. The first dose may be free, but its the second one that you pay for. And you pay dearly. For the rest of your life, till the dependency kills you. So MS is just happy to get the kids hooked and to get even closer to the Government so that they can continue reaping the licenses windfall, as a valued partner.
@Conrad, this is not a technical issue. It is a commercial and a strategic issue. MS is very sharp to exploit the commercial and strategic opportunity that this deal presents. Unfortunately the people advising the president have no clue what this means to the country. Either this or they are have sold their motherland to the interests of the global multinationals. At the same time, I wonder which virtualization you are referring to when we are still spending millions of dollars paying for Windows and MS Office licenses, while our children die in hospitals that don't have enough money to buy fuel for their generators.
Do we really believe that MS is here to help us? Really? So they have produced the richest man in the world by helping poor third world countries?
On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 4:42 PM, Bogi Benga <bogibenda@gmail.com> wrote:
But Microsoft is only a software company. What exactly does this deal entail. Free OS?
On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 2:58 PM, Conrad Akunga <conradakunga@gmail.com> wrote:
As usual, every technical discussion eventually degenerates into needless open vs closed source fighting.
In this era of virtualization this is a non-issue!
—
On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 3:54 PM, Peter Karunyu <pkarunyu@gmail.com> wrote:
@Kivuva, in as much as I would love to go into hypersleep in a space craft auto piloted by an open source implementation, I think our young generation needs to be exposes to ANY computing platform, whether windows, linux, unix, etc. This will help break the initial fear of computing, and lay the foundations and open up the future.
Of course, if I was asked, I would say that if the young generation was exposed to Linux, they would be better skilled in future than if they were exposed to Windows, but that point is moot because...
If you consider our government as a young corporate, then the decision to go Microsoft will make logical, corporatey-sense.
IMHO, the reason Brazil, Germany, China and the other governments are heavy into open source is because they know better, which our government, does not, all factors considered.
On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> wrote: > So Microsoft will ensure our young generation don't grow on the mature and robust Open Source platform. As an economy, we will suffer more with licen$e$ and chasing the ever evolving Window$. > > Can the local FOSSFA liaison persons Evans Ikua and Bonface Witaba see to it that FOSS interested is looked after? > > Regards > > > -- > ______________________ > Mwendwa Kivuva > twitter.com/lordmwesh > > _______________________________________________ > skunkworks mailing list > skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke > ------------ > List info, subscribe/unsubscribe > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks > ------------ > > Skunkworks Rules > http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 > ------------ > Other services @ http://my.co.ke
-- Regards, Peter Karunyu -------------------
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