Why is the BBC Running Microsoft Ads?

I wrote below about Microsoft's rather desperate BizSpark. It all seemed pretty transparent to me. But not to the BBC, apparently, which has fallen hook, line and sinker for the Microsoft line:

"The rising tide of people building new companies, building successful companies using our product is good for us because we share in that over time. The goal is to remove any barriers to getting going." he told BBC News.

Except, of course, there are no barriers to getting going as far as software is concerned, because the LAMP stack has always been there, always free and always excellent - as evidenced by the fact that it's currently running 99.9% of Web 2.0.

But it's obviously too much to expect a technology reporter in Silicon Valley to mention such trivia in the face of the *real* story about Microsoft's perfervid altruism.

If You Can't Beat Them...

...bribe them:

Microsoft BizSpark is a global program designed to help accelerate the success of early stage startups by providing key resources when they need it the most:

* Software. Receive fast and easy access to current full-featured Microsoft development tools, platform technologies, and production licenses of server products for immediate use in developing and bringing to market innovative and interoperable solutions. There is no upfront cost to enroll.

Fortunately, people don't choose the LAMP stack predominantly because it's free, but because it's better.

What next - *paying* people to use Microsoft's products? Oh, wait....