During the 2nd half of 2007, Microsoft is going to be offering a suite of software products designed exclusively for 3rd world countries. The software will be provided to governments who provide computers to students for work in the classroom or at home. On the surface this appears to be a win-win situation since students around the world will be able to obtain software at extremely reasonable prices and Microsoft will expose these kids to their products.
According to Microsoft the suite of products will include:

• “Windows XP Starter Edition— Incorporates the basic features a beginning user needs with a specialized version of the Windows operating system.
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007— Helps students create great-looking documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, and manage their notes.
• Microsoft Math 3.0— A collection of math tools, tutorials, and instructions designed to help students learn how to solve equations, step-by-step, while gaining a better understanding of fundamental concepts in pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry and calculus.
• Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office— Working with Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint®, and Excel®, Learning Essentials helps students achieve better grades. Step-by-step writing tips and preformatted report and presentation templates give students a quick start in creating great-looking reports and presentations.
• Windows Live Mail desktop — A simple, powerful tool that lets you get e-mail from multiple accounts in one place.”

Sounds good. But it gets better. The cost for the entire suite of products will only be $3.00. Now that is very reasonable compared to what the rest of us pay for Microsoft software. We now have to wonder why is Microsoft doing this?

1. They are a compassionate company and want to be best buddies with countries that can’t afford their software.
2. They see the threat of the One Laptop Per Child, which uses Linux, and need to compete against this worthwhile program.
3. With Dell and other OEM’s contemplating using Linux, and delivering Linux computers to consumers, Microsoft needs a way to expand its product line to other countries.
4. All of the above.
5. None of the above.

So what do you think? At $3.00 a copy is this a deal? What is Microsofts real motivation?

Comments welcome.

Microsoft Unlimited Potential web site here.

[tags]microsoft, software, suite, 3rd world countries, cheap, linux, threat, [/tags]