Unlimited earning potential more likely. m$ are not at all altruistic, and if they can monopolise yet another market by what ever means at their disposal, they will.

Next month heralds 25 years since the release of MS-DOS1.1

Has 25 years of micro$oft not taught anybody anything?

And there was me thinking that "The next 5 billion" was the next $5bn that Micro$oft plans to screw out of the public for a sub-standard product that has been forced on them...

Sorry guys, did someone miss the Microsoft wikipedia entry on it being a FOR PROFIT business - Charities, individuals and governments are responsible for the well-being of people's job security and general well-being, not a technology company trying to get into emerging markets.

What is it that makes everyone (well, big corporations with a bottom line to worry about, anyway) think that a shoving a computer into someone's hands is the answer to world poverty/hunger/education/whatever?

I vaguely remember some stupid campaign a few years ago along the same lines.

I can just imagine that if I was a sitting in the middle of Africa, naked and starving to death, I would be thinking "what I need right now is a laptop! Yep, a computer would definitely solve all my problems. I don't want a job, or land or a roof over my head. Oh no - a computer for me! Oh, and if it had some really cool software like (say) MS's latest version of its toy OS, then that would really make my day."

... or taking the pi$$. Choose your poison.

imho, If one cares more for financial reward than their own fellow human beings. it's taking the ....

Yes I know Bill has appeared to be somewhat altruistic in the past, in donating large sums of money to charity. But if this was done for the sake of anything other than Bill and Micro$ofts stage presence, he would have done so anonymously.

I can understand how the average casual computer user is misled by the marketing hype of the m$ PR machine. What I don't understand is how anyone who works in IT can view m$ as a warm, friendly, and genuinely helpful company, whose business practices are wholesome and sincere.

...but it is a lot, perhaps it should be 'Limited but lots of potential', then again they could market MS products to Aliens, then I would be happy with 'Unlimited'.

I am not sure that any self respecting ET would load Vista on their UFO though, it would be Roswell all over again!