[kictanet] [Fwd: Re: [Idlelo2] M$ Vendor Lockin In Kenyan Schools]

Thu May 31 13:55:28 EAT 2007

>I think the issue here is unethical business practices from Microsoft.

>Why are they hiding behind the ignorance of government officers in developing >countries. I sent a mail asking Ministry of Education to provide what this 'free >computer technology' is but i have not seen a response. 

Until and unless the ministry comes out open on the details to the contrary, then we consider this a "contract" where the ministry is using the "Official Secrets Act" to shield the transaction from the public? 

The Freedom of Information Bill  obligates government to immediately release information that is of great public interest. 

Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni at gmail.com> wrote: I think the issue here is unethical business practices from Microsoft.

  Why are they hiding behind the ignorance of government officers in developing countries. I sent a mail asking Ministry of Education to provide what this 'free computer technology' is but i have not seen a response. 

  It's certainly possible that many OSS products will eliminate their proprietary competition, but that's the nature of competition. If OSS approaches pose a significant threat to proprietary development approaches, then proprietary vendors must either find ways to compete or join the OSS movement.

  It is extremely unethical to tweak the concept of free so as to create confusion while marketing. 

 In OSS it is freedom.  

On 5/30/07, alice <alice at apc.org> wrote:  

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: [Idlelo2] M$ Vendor Lockin In Kenyan Schools
Date:   Wed, 30 May 2007 15:00:27 +0200
From:   Derek Keats < dkeats at uwc.ac.za >

Another way to view the same information......

Microsoft pulls marketing coup in Kenya

School children in Kenya will grow up dependent on foreign-created
proprietary software, transferring the innovation transactions arising 
from educational use of technology out of Africa to the developed world
thanks to the latest marketing Coup from license vendor Microsoft. The
digital freedom of Kenyan children has been given away in this manner in 
the misguided belief that free licenses will give more access to
computer technology.

Microsoft Corporation pulled off the coup by playing on the ignorance of
the Ministry of Education about alternatives to Microsoft licenses that 
provide as good or better access to software while respecting the
freedom of Kenyan school children. Higher education education
institutions are also to be victims of the ploy to gain control of
future markets for licenses to Microsoft software. 

Under the arrangement, Microsoft will work with organisations currently
in charge of supplying computers to the institutions to first install
the programmes on the machines, thus creating its future customers with 
the bulk of the cost of this marketing being born by the victims.

Learning institutions in the developing world have often avoided
becoming marketing victims to license vendors such as Microsoft because
 of license fees that are locally unaffordable. Lacking awareness of the 
long term implications, it seems that education institutions in
countries such as Kenya are easy prey to this latest marketing strategy
from one of the world's most predatory near-monopolies.

With the free licenses, schools can use the computer technology to 
create the next generation of unfree dependents and customers for
Microsoft licenses among teachers and students. This type of loss leader
is common among companies entering a new market.

Mr Mark East, the general manager for Microsoft's International 
Education Solutions Group, said the main drive for offering the fees
waiver was the lack of computer uptake in the region's education system.
He made no mention of the tremendous marketing value for Microsoft of 
this ploy, nor did he mention the cost to Africa of transferring all of
its innovation transactions out of the continent.

Mr East said the company learnt a lesson from Ghana, where an attempt to
use school teachers to market Microsoft licenses to school children ran 
into trouble. "In Ghana our approach first was to build capacity for
teachers but we came to learn that even after training the teachers they
still didn't have this basic tool—the computer," he said. His words 
 somehow create the impression that having access to software without
cost, which is also available in the form of Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS), somehow leads to the de novo generation of computers.
It remains unclear how this de novo computer generation works, but 
perhaps Steve Balmer will come and invoke some form of hitherto unknown
magic.

On Wed, 2007-05-30 at 09:06 +0300, Dorcas Muthoni wrote:
> Microsoft waives software license fees for schools
> 
 > Schools  in Kenya will have more access to computer technology, with a
> free license deal from the world's leading software producer.
> Microsoft Corporation  forged the deal through the Ministry of Education 
> to allow local schools and higher education institutions to use the
> company's software free of charge.
> Under the arrangement, Microsoft will work with organisations currently in
> charge of supplying computers to the institutions to first install the 
> programmes on the machines .
> Learning institutions in the developing world have often been held back
> from using legitimate copies of common software such as Microsoft's
> Windows operating system and Office application suite because of license 
> fees that are locally unaffordable.
>
> With the free licenses, schools can use the computer technology to build
> capacity among teachers and students.
> Mr Mark East, the general manager for Microsoft's International Education 
> Solutions Group, said the main drive for offering the fees waiver, was the
> lack of computer uptake in the region's education system.
>
> Mr East said the company learnt a lesson from Ghana, where its approach to 
> increasing computer usage in schools ran into trouble.
> "In Ghana our approach first was to build capacity for teachers but we
> came to learn that even after training the teachers they still didn't have 
> this basic tool—the computer," he said.
>
> More>>
>  http://bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1232&Itemid=4298 
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Idlelo2 mailing list
>  Idlelo2 at fossfa.net
>  http://mailman.dst.gov.za/mailman/listinfo/idlelo2
--
-------------------
Prof Derek W. Keats
Executive Director, Information and Communication Services
The University of the Western Cape, P. Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South 
Africa
Email: dkeats at uwc.ac.za    Skype: dkeats    Yahoo: derekkeats
Web:  http://ics.uwc.ac.za  http://avoir.uwc.ac.za 
http://digitalfreedom.uwc.ac.za
Ph +27 21 959 2304  Cell +27 82 787 0169   Fax: +27 21 959 1201 

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