Free software from Microsoft !

Back in 1995-97 i was indirectly involved with a product which was a successor to Clipper. During a freewheeling discussion session, i suggested that the product competing with VB and Delphi, be given free of cost to all universities. The idea was not accepted. Today i feel somewhat vindicated. When you cannot sell something to someone, you simply give it away, provided the manufacturing (here copying) costs are negligible.

Microsoft today announced, Free software tools to Universities and schools in an effort to kick start innovation based on its windows platform and to promote more usage. All universities are pitching in for Linux and IBM's eclipse as they are open source and free. This move is seen as a strategy to keep open source at bay.

This offer will include Visual Studio the suite - which includes VB, ASP, C# and C++. With this students of colleges and Universities can learn all the tools at college level and be better prepared when they step out for entering the Job market.

Microsoft has sought to plug one easy entry point for free open source software. While, this offer does not include - open source it includes only free tools.