If a tech company donates hardware and software to schools, does this make you more likely to buy their products?

We want your take on this, so please chime in. Thanks!

Sanitized Bing For Schools

This is a good move for Microsoft, and it is great news for schools, educators, and students. Along with rumblings about offering Windows Runtime(RT) Surface Tablets for very low prices ($199 vs. $399), Microsoft is sending the message that it is willing to compete with Chromebooks, the iPad, and Macbooks for education dollars. All three want users to see their products and services early on so that they develop a brand relationship. Also, by committing to education, the three companies may inspire more students to enter tech, which improves the quality of the workforce.

For years, Apple had developed a great relationship with education institutions because it had offered deals and promotions to schools. Students and teachers used the products and got hooked. Microsoft was viewed as the supporter of business and did not seem to have a cool factor. Offering Bing search that has results that are ad free helps schools offer a product that is not exploitive of children and puts power at their fingertips. Competition is also good because school boards now have a variety of options to help them offer the best education policy possible.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2042822/microsoft-to-sanitize-bing-for-schools.html

It is important to protect intellectual property rights. Otherwise, if there are no protections for intellectual property, there is no incentive for profit seeking businesses to risk their resources and capital.

This policy was not communicated well, and it ended up being too restrictive. Most users have Internet connectivity, so the policy that states the XBOX One must ping back was not that big a deal (unless you have a console that has been modded). The used game policy, in contrast, was a big deal. Some gamers plan on buying a favored title, winning it, and then selling it so that they can subsidize their game playing habits. The new policies would have affected this strategy because some games would not be able to trade titles at all (depends on the publisher) without the purchaser paying a fee to activate content.

This attempt at changing the relationship between the gamers, publishers, and the console manufacturer is too much too soon. It also played into Sony’s hands. Great move reversing course, but the policy should have been better planned, better executed (value price proposition should have included more value), or it should not have been announced at all.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2042445/microsoft-reverses-policies-on-xbox-one-rentals-online-check-ins-and-region-restrictions.html