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Army to Gates: Halt the free software | |
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| Time: 13:35 EST/18:35 GMT | News Source: CNET | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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Microsoft has been mailing free copies of its pricey Office productivity software to government employees, but CNET News.com has learned that at least two federal agencies are warning recipients to return the gifts or risk violating federal ethics policies. Since the launch of Office 2003 last year, Microsoft has given out tens of thousands of free copies of its flagship software, which retails for about $500, to workers at its biggest customers. The giveaway was expanded to government workers this year, but ethics offices at the Department of the Interior and Department of Defense have said the offers constitute unauthorized gifts and must be returned. | ||
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| #1 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at 3/10/2004 3:45:07 PM |
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"I think thats unfair, at least let the employees keep it for their own personal use."
Actually that's specifically what the law is there to prevent. |
| #2 By 8589 (66.169.175.50) at 3/10/2004 5:06:28 PM |
| Typical CNET dribble. They are so far left wing, they have a statue of Stalin in their front office. |
| #3 By 3339 (64.160.58.135) at 3/10/2004 5:44:09 PM |
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Dumb@sses, there are federal laws preventing employees of the government from receiving gifts of any kind. This includes a free ticket to a ball game, a bottle of beer, a box of chocolates....
Microsoft sending tens of thousands of people hundreds of dollars of software is definitely against the law. It has nothing to do with political affiliation, vendor lockin, etc.... It is about gift giving to federal employees. This is illegal for most every branch and department of the government. |
| #4 By 9589 (68.17.52.2) at 3/10/2004 6:33:51 PM |
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While half of our service personnel, those with the rank of e-5 and below, with families (an e-5 will see about $18k after all taxes this year and it takes 3-5 years to attain this rank) are on food stamps, the Department of the Defense is telling them to send back to Microsoft a free copy of Microsoft Office 2003. Yeah, that's going to happen.
Help me out here with that return address will'ya, how do spell Redmond? |
| #5 By 12071 (203.185.215.149) at 3/10/2004 6:45:59 PM |
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"federal ethics" =)
Surely if they can afford to just give away their software to the government (where there has been an increasing number of "use OSS if you can" comments lately), they should also be able to give away their software to everyone else! Small businesses could greatly benefit from some free software, and don't stop at just Office, include Windows, Project, Money, VS.NET etc as well. It's amazing how certain companies can afford to give away their software for free, but complain to no end if anyone else does it! |
| #6 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 3/11/2004 12:14:54 AM |
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I can understand why the government wouldn't allow such things... Microsoft should know better. My guess is that someone wasn't thinking about this issue.
At any rate, it's not only government and big companies that have received free copies, though--everyone at the Office 2003 launch received one, too, and all you had to do was sign up.... |
| #7 By 2960 (156.80.64.137) at 3/11/2004 8:33:19 AM |
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#6 is absolutely right.
These tough "no-gift" laws have been in effect since the 80's, and for good reason. My later years in the Navy (late 80's), a factory Tech Rep couldn't even give us a Coffee Cup. They had to 'accidently' leave them outside the door for anyone to take on their way out. Whoever headed this project up at Microsoft didn't do their job. It's simply not possible to not know that you cannot give gifts to government employee's. TL |
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