Comments on: Army to Gates: Halt the free software

The software maker has been mailing free copies of its pricey Office productivity program to government employees, but at least two federal agencies are warning recipients to return the gifts.

[nzamparello]

OoOpS!

Actually... After serving in the navy for 7 years.. That is a direct violation of Naval Rules and regulations in response to gifts from government contractors.. Can't accept freebees from contractors over 50$..

The thing that gets me is...

This giveaway is not targeted at those involved in procurement decisions. It's a general giveaway to employees of Microsoft's biggest customers - and someone there must have pointed out that Uncle Sam is on that list.

Admittedly, Office 2003 is a little bigger than the usual giveaways some companies provide as protional efforts, but absent intent to bribe, is this really worth the fuss?

Microsoft an ethical company?

You know a while ago I heard that Microsoft were putting themself forward to get IC9900 status from the ICharter. Its weird a major component of that status is a major ethical program.

MS doesnt strike me as a very ethical company, maybe thats why they didnt get the status, but its still curious... cant help but wonder if they honestly dont think of themselves as being unethical.

[tbbrickzd]

Denial Ain't a River in Egypt

As the 12-steppers say, you gotta admit the problem before you can do anything about it.

Sheesh...

If I were Bill Gates, I'd probably have developed a persecution complex a long time ago...

[bvckvs]

Foolish US Government

That the government is refusing to allow its employees who want the free copy of office to accept it is cowardly and stupid. They should let their employees use whatever software is necessary to do the job.

It's not unethical at all for the employees to use the software, nor for Microsoft to provide it. It is, however, VERY unethical for government agencies to place these kinds of arbitrary restrictions on their employees.

But hey - the current regime in the US has been making a LOT of bad decisions lately.

[The King's Servant]

Are you for real?

My employees can use the software that is required to get the job done and I am the one to tell them what that software is within my corporation, not Micro$oft!

If my corporate policy prohibits unauthorised software from running on my network then it is unethical for my employees to use it and if M$ knows this (as they have made obvious) then it is unethical for them to send it. In the case of the govt, it is unethical to receive a gift valued over $X.XX simply because it has been decreed to be so. That is enough.

It is very necessary to place restrictions on employees by their employers and if you do not like the restrictions, get a job somewhere else. The restrictions help to control other unethical practices from occuring such as unfair no-bid contracts for rediculous amounts of money to put out an unspecified number of fires that haven't even started yet but is expected under pure speculation due to the pre-emptive...

Maybe you have a point there - the current regime in the US has been making a LOT of bad decisions lately.

[topsarge1964]

It is free software to military folks. Get a grip. The people that are ******** about this are in jobs that should have gone away years ago. We are fighting two wars and we still have people at HQ Dept of the Army that have time for this? Time to cut the Fat!