[thelist] The Mac Market (was: Mac runtime for java update?)

[Julia Frizzell]

At 12:54 PM -0700 7/26/00, jeff wrote:
>greg,
>
>:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>: From: "Greg Strange" <gstrange at e-tsi.com>
>:
>: Microsoft gave nearly $200 million dollars to schools
>: in 1998 and 1999 for the explicit purpose of buying
>: PCs only.
>:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>and that is $200 million those schools wouldn't have had if it hadn't been
>donated.  it would have also been $200 million worth of computers that
>wouldn't be available to the students of those schools to use and learn on,
>irrespective of the platform.
>
>i also find it hard to believe that a charitable donation would carry the
>stipulation that a certain platform was purchased.  i know firsthand of a
>charitable donation to a non-profit where the money will be used to build
>something that uses technology that is a direct competitor to asp and yet
>there is no stipulation in this instance.

Having worked at a high school that received donations, I can tell 
you that *yes*, the charitable donation *can* specify specific 
donations.

We had a few Microsoft alums that pretty much forced us to give up 
Macs. No, not Microsoft itself, but it was a donation. They allowed 
us to purchase at their employee rates any and all MS software we 
wanted...but would *not* allow us to get Mac versions of the software.

So while Microsoft may not tell the schools that they have to 
purchase Windows machines, they may instead only donate Windows 
software. I think you see where this might lead.

-- 
-------------------------------
Julia Frizzell
julia_frizzell at brown.edu
glyneth at netspace.org
http://www.netspace.org/~glyneth
http://www.theblackroad.org
"Insert pithy quote here."