Microsoft to train 2 million people FREE

[Jason]

On Mon, 2009-02-23 at 09:59 -0700, James Finstrom wrote:
> Microsoft plans to boost the(ir) economy by offering free tech
> training to 2 million people over the next 2 years via training
> centers and WBT. They wish to train (indoctrinate) 2 million people to
> bring up the "technical standings" in the US.
> http://www.crn.com/it-channel/214502376
> 
> What will be the Free Software response to this?
> 

The free software response to this is that you don't have to pay a dime
to learn how to use it. That is the very basis of the FOSS community.
While MS will *teach* people, will they be providing all the necessary
tools to teach with?

For example, will MS give everybody a fully functional, non-expiring,
full-featured application suite for every situation they will be
teaching?

Of is their goal to give the training (via CBT) for free while charging
the people for the resources, at reduced pricing of course?

Think of it this way...I am MS...I want to increase revenue. I already
dumped my money into R&D...how do I recoup?

I setup a training camp with tons of CBT's that I use internally for my
people. Then I tell people I will give them those CBT's. However, in
order to effectively use those CBT's, those people need to buy licenses.

Now think of this...you want to setup Server 2008, Windows 7, Exchange,
MSSQL...etc.

Take total costs of licensing (let's say serious discount of
$50/each)...that's $200.00.

Multiply by 2,000,000 people...I just generated $400,000,000! 

Good marketing goes a long way.