On Thu, 19 Jul 2001 23:57, Charles Oriez wrote:
> At 11:34 PM 7/19/01 +1000, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> >On Thu, 19 Jul 2001 22:27, Charles Oriez wrote:
> > > so it is. I went back and looked. It is in Geelong, with seems to be
> > > near Melbourne in Victoria. Can't get any further south than that
> > > without ending up in Tasmania. The LUG I sent a note to was
> > > http://www.linuxsa.org.au/ They're in Adelaide.
> >
> >Sorry, I don't mean to be picky but Geelong has nothing to do with the
> >charity or with Fairfax. Adelaide is in the state of South Australia,
> > which is next to Victoria, where Melbourne and Geelong are. The
> > Register's article simply mentions that the charity is in South
> > Australia. Chances are that it is in Adelaide, South Australia's capital
> > and largest city. Fairfax is a national publisher, with its largest
> > offices in Sydney (Australia's largest city, in the state of New South
> > Wales) and Melbourne (Australia's second-largest city, in Victoria).
> >
> >BTW, I live in Sydney :-)
Hmmm... The Register article
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/20378.html) is wrong then. My
apologies.
> I rechecked the original story, and the charity was very definitely named
> as "PCs for Kids". No phone listing in Adelaide. Phone listing in
> Victoria at 151 High Street, Belmont. Wilkins Tourist Maps online map of
> Geelong, and the Australian white pages database, says Belmont is within
> Geelong. They also have a web page at <http://www.pcsforkids.org> E-mail
> contact is <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
> I dropped them a note, and got a copy of their original press release
> almost immediately:
>
> MICROSOFT BRINGS CHARITY TO ITS KNEES
>
> Direct actions by Microsoft in Australia have forced Australia's largest
> "Computer Refurbishing Charity" down on its knees.
>
> Pc's for Kids Inc, a Geelong based non-profit organisation helping less
> fortunate kids obtain their first home computer, has been installing older
> versions of Microsoft's operating system to aid disadvantaged children.
>
> Founder of Pc's for Kids Colin Bayes visited Microsoft in Sydney after
> being issued with a letter stating this practice of hard loading is a
> breach of Microsoft's copyright. Mr Bayes held meetings to try to obtain
> assistance from Microsoft, which unfortunately fell on deaf ears.
>
> In a letter issued to the charity by Microsoft, Microsoft has agreed that
> no further action would be taken for past loading Microsoft software. But
> this impasse has now meant the distribution of over 400 computers destined
> for children in Australia and East Timor has been suspended.
>
> Mr Bayes is now appealing to the public to rally behind the program. "We
> need assistance." He said.
> "This action by Microsoft and the follow-up communication has placed our
> whole project in jeopardy. If we are unable to obtain the operating
> software it will mean a lot of kids will miss out. We will be forced to
> close our doors."
I'm sorry, but this statement just makes me mad. It's a whole lot of BS. If
these people were _really_ concerned about the wellbeing of the needy in
Australia and East Timor they would have chosen to go with an open source
solution. By giving M$ products they're just making them depend on M$
products forever.
> Over the past two years Pc's for Kids Inc has distributed over 1,000
> computers in Australia and has also assisted in the delivery of computers
> to East Timor and seven other developing countries under the guidance of
> Rotary's Donations In Kind program.
>
> Pc's for Kids Inc has collected over 700 tons in redundant IT equipment and
> performs a full recycling program with assistance from the Federal Govt's
> "Work for the Dole" scheme. Mr Bayes said he feared donors could now revert
> to sending the old technology back to landfill.
> Mr Bayes said his loyal team of caring volunteers have more heart than this
> big multi-national company who have just wiped the smile from many
> children's faces.
> "We will be sending Mr. Gates some of the letters of disapproval received
> from children when they hear what has happened," Mr Bayes said.
>
> He said the Microsoft Legal Attorney stated in the letter that the charity
> will have to obtain its own operating system and wished Pc's for Kids the
> best of luck. Mr Bayes stated:" If a computer has been donated to the
> charity in good faith with its donated operating system, and we reconfigure
> it to ensure a donors files are removed and reload it back with its
> operating system, surely Microsoft could consider the needs of our less
> fortunate."
>
> Press Release Issued By:
> Colin Bayes President / Founder (0402) 149719
> Pc's for Kids Inc Ph: (03) 52444146 Fax: (03) 52436026
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www.pcsforkids.org Enc:
> Friday 13 July 2001
>
>
>
> --
> Microsoft, Windows, Windows 98, Bugs, Lacking features, IRQ conflicts,
> System crashes, Non-functional multitasking, the Y2K problem and the
> Blue Screen of Death are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.,
> Redmond, USA.
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan.
"There are two major products that come from Berkeley:
LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
-- Jeremy S. Anderson
