FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Governments Must Reject Gates' $3 Bid to Addict Next Billion PC Users 

30th April, 2007

On April 19th, Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corp., unveiled a plan
which seeks to enlist the help of developing nations in a
barely-concealed attempt to get the next billion PC users hooked onto
Microsoft software. Under the guise of trying to bridge the digital
divide, Microsoft will instead aim to extend its desktop monopoly by
using the same technique it's used for years through software piracy:
platform addiction. An addiction it will milk in future decades. An
addiction that governments should reject in favour of free and open
source software - the only way to truly bridge the digital divide.

"Microsoft's strategy of getting developing nations hooked on its
software was clearly outlined by Bill Gates almost a decade ago," said
Con Zymaris, CEO of long-standing open source firm Cybersource. 

Specifically, Bill Gates, citing China as an example, said:
 
  "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but
  people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though.
  As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.
  They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to
  collect sometime in the next decade."[1]

"From this, we analyse the following strategy. Microsoft would allow
users in developing countries to use pirated software, which in turn
would lock those users into Microsoft's proprietary data formats,
proprietary protocols and proprietary Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs). Once so tithed to Microsoft, these users would find it almost
impossible to move to alternatives, thus providing a captive future
revenue stream," explained Zymaris. "And this new strategy is even more
insidious, as Microsoft is expecting governments to pay for the
hardware, thus paving the way for Microsoft to snare its next billion
addicts in a friction-free manner."

"What is equally apparent is that Microsoft would prefer to lose money
initially, to prevent competitors from capturing mindshare. Today, Linux
and open source software are Microsoft's biggest competitor. And Linux
and open source software are capturing huge mindshare in developing
nations, thus Microsoft's knee-jerk reaction in offering its
$3-meal-deal," Zymaris said. "Instead of accepting the Microsoft deal,
governments should push open source software, guaranteeing freedom
from vendor lock-in and future price hikes."

And where Microsoft offers a handful of cut-down applications in its
$3-meal-deal, open source supplies thousands of complete applications,
for no cost at all. Highly functional applications such as Scribus
(desktop publishing), Gimp, (photo editing), Blender3D (animation),
Inkscape (vector drawing), MySQL (database), Python (programming
environment), will help students in their creative endevours. Other
landmark applications such as Linux, OpenOffice.org (office suite) and
Firefox (web browser) will help all users. 

"By helping to make users aware of open source alternatives, by
disseminating that software through CD give-aways and via subsidised,
low-cost PCs, governments will be reducing their reliance on proprietary
vendors and improve access to 21st century technology. It's the
only way to ensure that their citizens will be free to use quality
software, without constraints, in perpetuity," concluded Zymaris.


References:
[1] http://news.com.com/2100-1023-212942.html


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About Cybersource Pty. Ltd.                                                     
                                                                                
Cybersource, founded in early 1991, is the second longest running open
source solutions company in the world. We have been demonstrating the
better value, security and robustness of open source technologies to
our clients since then. We also produce products like:


The Small Business Linux Server: the best value small business server on the market and 75% less expensive than the Microsoft alternative.

Datasafe: Stores copies of all your documents. Easy and direct access
to all past revisions.

Cybersource TrimClient; All the advantages of a thin-client with
none of the disadvantages.


http://www.cybersource.com.au

Spokesperson/Contact: Steven D'Aprano 
Phone: +61 3 9621 2377                                   
Email: info@cybersource.com.au
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