Bill Gates yesterday promised to offer a US$3 Microsoft software
package to poor students both in developing and developed
countries.
Addressing the Microsoft Government Leader Forum in Beijing, he
said the world's largest software company aims to increase the
number of people with access to computers from the one billion
today to two billion by 2015. This, he said, is part of the US
Millennium Development goals.
"Education is the most important investment for the future,"
Gates said on his 10th visit to China. His pledge comes five months
after Intel Chairman Craig Barrett said during his China visit that
the global giant would start selling computer chips for US$300 in
the country from this year. Like Gates, Barret's aim, too, is to
help poor people access IT.
Starting from the second half of this year, the world's largest
software firm will provide its software, including Windows XP
Starter, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math
3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office and Windows Live
Mail desktop for US$3.
Countries interested in the program, however, will have to pay
at least half of the cost of the computers for the students.
The program does not include only developing countries, but also
developed ones that want IT access for their poor students,
Microsoft Vice-President Will Poole said.
Professor Mohammed Yunus, founder of the famous micro-credit
organization, Grameen Bank (Rural Bank) in Bangladesh, and 2006
Nobel Peace Prize winner, agrees that IT plays a key role in
alleviating poverty.
Speaking at Tsinghua University, where he received an honorary
doctorate, Gates said: "Software isn't just for a few but really
about empowering everyone" - whether they are displaced or migrant
workers or the visually impaired trying to use a computer.
Contrary to Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin's claim, Gates
said he has no intention of venturing into space. Instead, the
world's richest man wants China's poorest to one day enjoy the
benefits of the digital revolution.
"We want to make sure digital advances are available to all,"
Gates said, referring to Microsoft's links in China, specifically
Beijing-based Microsoft Research Asia (MRA), a creative research
lab that focuses on cutting edge advancement in computer
technology.
"We've only just scratched the surface of the digital
revolution," he said. One day, people should be able to enjoy all
TV programs online, and a digital tablet, connected without a wire
to the Internet, could replace classroom textbooks, Gates said.
Tsinghua University has been one of the talent breeding grounds
for the MRA since 1998. It was set up after Gates visited China and
was impressed by the "talent, enthusiasm and creativity" of Chinese
university students.
Gates also announced a new joint venture between the university
and the MRA: the Tsinghua-Microsoft Special Pilot CS Class, a
faculty exchange program.
(China Daily April 20, 2007)