The nerve these people have is just baffling...
German site heise.de (http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/anw-27.05.03-005/) reports that our dear friends at Micro$oft suddenly cry for... wait for it... FAIR COMPETITION!
What happened? Well, basically the city of Munich/Germany needed new Software for 14.000 Computers, requested offers and then the city council decided IBM/Linux was the way to go. As Micro$oft obviously saw this decision as a precedent that other (german) citys would maybe follow, Steve Ballmer personally went to Munich and made another offer, drastically lower than Micro$ofts first offer. Now the city council of Munich had the insolence to not fall down on their knees and thank God for the lower offer from Micro$oft but show it to the IBM/Linux camp who then made an lower offer themselves that the city council subsequently accepted.
Upon hearing this, Micro$oft made ANOTHER last-minute offer that was ANOTHER 7 million Euros (approx. 7 million USD) lower than their already lowered 2nd offer - but the city council STILL decided to get Linux on their Comps because (quote) "it's also a strategic decision to free ourselves from a company that aggressivly defends their monopoly-like market position".
It's just very ironic how Micro$oft, who in so many well-known cases stopped at absolutely nothing to destroy their competition, now cry for "fairness" just because someone dared to take the offer of another company.
Well, the final voting in the city council is today, so keep your fingers crossed that there will be no last-minute twist to this story...
German site heise.de (http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/anw-27.05.03-005/) reports that our dear friends at Micro$oft suddenly cry for... wait for it... FAIR COMPETITION!
What happened? Well, basically the city of Munich/Germany needed new Software for 14.000 Computers, requested offers and then the city council decided IBM/Linux was the way to go. As Micro$oft obviously saw this decision as a precedent that other (german) citys would maybe follow, Steve Ballmer personally went to Munich and made another offer, drastically lower than Micro$ofts first offer. Now the city council of Munich had the insolence to not fall down on their knees and thank God for the lower offer from Micro$oft but show it to the IBM/Linux camp who then made an lower offer themselves that the city council subsequently accepted.
Upon hearing this, Micro$oft made ANOTHER last-minute offer that was ANOTHER 7 million Euros (approx. 7 million USD) lower than their already lowered 2nd offer - but the city council STILL decided to get Linux on their Comps because (quote) "it's also a strategic decision to free ourselves from a company that aggressivly defends their monopoly-like market position".
It's just very ironic how Micro$oft, who in so many well-known cases stopped at absolutely nothing to destroy their competition, now cry for "fairness" just because someone dared to take the offer of another company.
Well, the final voting in the city council is today, so keep your fingers crossed that there will be no last-minute twist to this story...