MS's stance on the cost of software...

This just made me laugh!

According to MS, Africa - of all places - doesnt need free software. Here in the Philippines, where the per diem income is just under $5 (roughly $150 per month), people can barely afford to buy computers, much less the most well known peice of software on the planet (which can cost up to 50% of a low cost machine). What more with Africa?

As the ZDnet article I linked to referenced, the yearly income of the average African is $160! How are they supposed to buy software that costs, oh, I dunno, $100?

Their argument? Expertise. Let me see... in the Philippines alone, I have met and spoken with Computer Science students who are even less tech literate than my own mother... and these people are being taught what, VB, .NET, and several others from the same line.

I know this looks like an MS bashing post, but lets get real here. Expertise (or lack of it) is the same for both camps, and both are doing their best to get their product out. Unfortunately, it seems that the best (and most effective) weapon for this is more FUD from their PR machinerey.