Nice to get some audio on MS Watch! My take is that MS is trying to build global lock-in just as MS and other big software makers have used the approach to hook students in North American colleges and universities for years. MS is just advancing the technique to include flooding foreign markets.

MS has a problem in this respect because it is trying to flood foreign markets that may already resent the high real-world price of Windows and MS software, and which are also foreign markets that don't spend so much on their citizens as on their own ruling elites.

Why would any self-respecting third-world autocrat want to spend $3 per citizen on MS wares when he or she doesn't spend even that on food for citizens?

MS moreover has for a long time been THE firm that has cautioned that the real cost of software IS NOT the software price but the Total Cost of Ownership. As such, if foreign governments follow the MS mantra of the past, they will realize that $3 a user is no bargain relative to the real cost of a proprietary OS and proprietary software that have in effect a perpetual pay implication.

What has MS been fond of saying regarding the real annual cost of a running a Windows PC is, factoring in support, these past 10 years or so? Something like 20 grand a year to run a PC, to my recollection, in stressing Windows is CHEAP at full price in comparison.

Now we are supposed to forget about TCO. I think not.

That $100 One Laptop Per Child project still looks good in context. Darn that Windows TCO.

The $3 deal will not help Microsoft in any way. Here's why:

In China, you can get pirated XP (the full version) for less than $3. The U.S. is putting pressure on China to combat piracy. If they ever succeed in stopping Windows piracy, will the Chinese turn to $3 WinXP Starter Edition? Hell, no! They'll turn to free Linux. No one wants a crippled version of Windows.

It's actually in Microsoft's best interest to let Windows piracy continue in China! Just to block Linux!