On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 10:04:38 +0800, Orlando Andico
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> considering that microsoft is giving a 90% discount
> on office and windows on the people's PC... i can
> hardly see the value proposition of pushing for an
> OSS solution which the teachers won't appreciate
> anyway.
1. viruses, trojans, malware. i know that microsoft has
been working at making windows more secure, but,
i'm sorry, i see no effect. it's just as bad now as it
has ever been.
2. on microsoft PCs, people will install all sorts of
pirate games. a lot of those games will have viruses
on them (well, i've seen several games CDs that were
chock full of viruses, and these were CDs that were
used by computer stores to install games and apps
on computers.
sure, DOE might lock down those computers, but they're
going to get cracked anyway. it is probably impossible
to have uncracked microsoft boxes installed at government
offices. and it'll remain impossible for the forseeable
future. people's need to play illegal games is just
too strong. it's an irresistible force meeting a rotting
plywood wall.
3. what are the license terms on that 90% discount? is the
discount on the first version installed only? or on the first
version and all upgrades? if we pay 10% on the first
installation, and then pay 100%, or even 50% on longhorn,
and on all upgrades every 2 years after that, then we're
paying too much.
are we going to be locked into paying for every upgrade?
or can we upgrade a la carte (i.e., only when we want to)?
if we're forced to upgrade on a subscription basis, then
we're going to be paying too much. 90% discount is just
the drug dealer getting us addicted. after that we pay full
price.
4. now, i'm not sure if we'll pay the same amount in technical
support if we decided to go with open source. we might,
in the first five years, and then after that people would
get used to things and tech support costs would go down.
but even if we do pay the same amount or even more in
technical support, that's money paid to filipinos, and
spent (for the most part) in the philippines. unlike money
paid to microsoft which - apart from salaries paid to
microsoft marketing drones who, frankly, are no benefit
to anyone's economy but billg's - basically goes straight
to Redmond and does absolutely NO GOOD to the
philippine economy.
i'm not even very hyper about the free as in speech part of
open source, others will argue that part. i don't care very
much. i'm a pragmatist, i think that free as in beer is what
this country needs (why pay if you don't have to). and if we're
going to pay someone anyway, i say we should pay filipinos
rather than americans.
*when i say "we", i do that on purpose. that's my money the
DOE intends to give to microsoft. and that money is going
straight out of the country. i want it to stay here, where i have
a chance at getting some of it back. or at least where it keeps
the economy (of which i'm a part) afloat.
tiger
--
Gerald Timothy Quimpo http://bopolissimus.sni.ph
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Public Key: "gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 672F4C78"
Mene sakhet ur-seveh
--
Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph)
Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph
Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph
.
To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug
.
Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to
http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
