Technology

He said that he was giving away 99%+ 30 years ago, it's just publicity stunts, or as Kyrgizon explains below they "give" things to nonprofits that they control. Why? They no longer pay taxes. So nice!

Bill gates is another billionaire mentally ill evil crap person, no different than elon or zuckenberg etc.

I thought from the headline that it was just a downgrade to Business Standard, no this is to Business Basic! That's a huge yikes, it's so much harder to be productive in those web versions.

I honestly would not be surprised if users work out installing LibreOffice et al. so they can still have a desktop app experience because of this move.

Sadly. An example: I work at a small school that does not have an IT department. Staff and teachers are nearly IT-illiterate, and the students can hardly be coaxed to do stuff on a laptop instead of their phones. So installing Linux would add an additional hurdle for both. Probably much smaller than they think, but still: it heightens the threshold to even consider switching to Linux.

There's a few people who know that Linux is just as valid as Windows, but who would they trust to make the switch safely. Me? I'm not a professional. So they'd have to pay someone, properly. And then it all comes down to money again which usually comes down to "let's not change anything".

So for now I'd just be happy if they used LibreOffice instead of MS365.

The same goes for Google Workspace. Making the effort to roll your own (totally possible with FOSS) would require to pay at least 1 person, and some sort of transitional period. It's cheaper and easier to pay none and just blame it on Google when things don't work as desired. These people just don't see it as a priority. Don't understand the dangers.

There's really no competitor for large orgs with robust technology needs.