From: Mike '/m' 

On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 19:04:13 -0500, "Joe Barr"
 wrote:

>On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 00:24:11 +0200, Peter Sawatzki wrote:
>
>> In article , warthawg{at}austin.rr.com says...
>>> On Thu, 10 Apr 2003 20:27:53 +0200, Peter Sawatzki wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> > Seems MS made also good progress with their Shared Source
initiatives
>>> > as it made finally a deal with our German government
about licensing
>>> > of Microsoft products within the government IT world.
After making a
>>> > deal with IBM on Linux support our government was also
able to make a
>>> > good deal with MS:
>>> >
>>> >  http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/jk-10.04.03-007/ (german only)
>>> >
>>> > Peter
>>>
>>> Significant savings from the extremely high prices they normally gouge
>>> folks for?  Tell us more.  How much of a savings did they get.  And how
>>> much freedom did they have to give up to get it?
>>
>> AFAIK the details were not and will not be disclosed. The
"bundestux"
>> website also seems to have no further info:
>>
>> http://www.bundestux.de/presse/10111.html
>>
>> Peter
>
>
>That makes it a little more difficult to tell if it is a good deal,
>doesn't it.


http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0411germagover.html

===
For all you governments and big multinational companies out there, take
note of Microsoft's willingness to bend on prices to keep key accounts for
its Windows operating system from wandering into the open-source Linux
camp.

The German Interior Ministry has signed a licensing agreement with
Microsoft to receive favorable conditions for both buying and leasing the
U.S. company's software products, the ministry said Thursday in a
statement. ...

Under the agreement, German government agencies can acquire Microsoft
software at favorable rates without having to commit themselves to using
the company's products exclusively, the ministry said in the statement. A
ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the new pricing scheme.
Microsoft has also agreed to publish specifications for interfaces and data
formats, in addition to supporting open standards in its products,
according to the ministry. These assurances will give the agencies greater
flexibility in building their IT systems, it said.
===


So how is Microsoft going to justify its high p/e ratio if it keeps on
reducing its ridiculous profit margins?

  /m

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