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From: andy@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Freeman)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: unused gifts
Message-ID: <500@rocky.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: Mon, 17-Aug-87 22:23:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocky.500
Posted: Mon Aug 17 22:23:37 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Aug-87 03:33:17 EDT
References: <407@ndsuvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: andy@rocky.UUCP (Andy Freeman)
Organization: Stanford University Computer Science Department
Lines: 38

In article <407@ndsuvax.UUCP> ncmagel@ndsuvax.UUCP (ken magel) writes:
>
>      My original question concerning unused computer equipment donated to 
>prestigious institutions while lesser schools get nothing has not yet been 
>addressed.  It was:
>        Why do companies donate equipment to prestigious schools which those
>    schools either do not want or do not have planned uses for, when there
>    are many deserving schools that would be delighted to develop plans and
>    compete for the gifts?
>Advantages to the donating company of giving the equipment to less
>prestigious and equipment-rich schools include the assurance that it will
>be used, if a plan had to be developed to get it, and the greater
>appreciation students at that school will have since the donated equipment
>is likely to be the only sophisticated equipment they use in school.

My previous reply was unclear and buried in a longer message; I'll
try again.

Companies donate when (they think) it is in their self-interest to do
so; mere use isn't worth anything to them.  (From their point of view,
the only difference between systems dropped in a river and those used
for coursework is that the latter require maintenance.)  Student
appreciation and goodwill may be worth something, but donated hardware
is expensive.  (Not only isn't there any profit, but the expenses are
just as large.  Software can be easier to get donated because the
duplication cost is low.)

Donations to Stanford have strings attached; they are for specific
research projects.  We don't get any hardware for general use.  Yes,
some schools get donations to develop systems and demonstrate them
using coursework, but the development "paid" for them.

-andy
-- 
Andy Freeman
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