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"$100
mn to fight HIV, $400 mn to fight Linux" said the headline in the UK-based
The Register of Gates’ third India visit. And that these funds for Microsoft’s
jihad showed that Linux was four times worse than AIDS for "his happy
Redmond family".
Facetious and caustic? Microsoft’s evil-empire image, strengthened through
the rise and fall of the antitrust cases, keeps getting a boost from its
"handling" of the Linux issue. An image that causes even multimillion
dollar charitable contributions to be questioned.
Of course, any Microsoft investments here (keeping aside Gates’ own $100-mn
commitment toward fighting HIV in India) will indeed go largely toward marketing
of Microsoft products. Its small software development center in Hyderabad needs
under $5 mn a year to keep it running. Taking it to 500 people by 2005 will take
another $5 mn in capex.
But there’s nothing wrong with marketing. Or market development. It’s a
valid, and key, business expense. In fact, there’s a whopping amount of market
development that $400 mn can buy. Microsoft’s ‘Project Shiksha’ plan to
train 80,000 teachers, going by the outsourced model used by Intel, will absorb
one percent of the funds. (Which leaves us wondering what on earth Microsoft
could spend the rest of it on.)
It’s likely that the big figures, even if real, were designed and timed to
get the establishment’s attention, especially after the latter’s recent
official leaning toward Linux. Intel’s active market development in India has
been a lot quieter–and effective. No pre-announcement of millions to be spent:
the focus is on a quiet, effective campaign aimed at increasing the overall PC
market.
How can Microsoft manage its public image better? Well, for one thing,
instead of overreacting to Linux and evading questions about it–finally, in
the same breath, Gates said that Linux was a competitor, but that it had made no
significant inroads and it would affect only Sun, et al)–it could publicly
support Linux and OpenSource, without necessarily giving its products away.
It can still do an image course correction in India. Focus on overall market
development, and not just on Windows and Microsoft products; if PC usage goes
up, Microsoft gains. Two (with Gates’ confidence that Linux won’t eat into
desktop Windows shares) support or even encourage Linux use, such as for cheap
and light servers. Three, to counter Linux-equipped Rs 15,000-genre PCs, work
out a cheaper alternative to Windows XP–a lighter version for cheaper PCs,
helping stretch budgets of schools, government departments, et al. Or work out
very special deals for such usage (including with vendors and channels, for
hardware).
Wait…the Empire Supports Linux? Am I kidding?