First, big ups to @arstechnica for the link: Microsoft doubles food donations for IE6 to IE8 updates.
Technically, Microsoft is "doubling" the per-download donation, while continuing to cap the total donations at $1 million, so the title is somewhat misleading. But, hey, that's a million bones that food pantries didn't have before. And it's certainly more constructive--in premise as well as result--than 2005's ill-fated attempt by Opera CEO von Tetzchner's to swim across the Atlantic to "ante up" for one million downloads of the browser.
All the same, I couldn't help but be reminded of the email chain-letters I received in the late 90s, claiming that Bill Gates would donate $1 every time the email was forwarded. And I also can't help but wonder whether that memory would--in some small part--sabotage Microsoft's attempts to put IE 6 out to pasture.
It's an interesting concept, though, all the more interesting in that it has plenty of room for tweaking. 'S'matter of fact, I'll be upgrading on the rebuilt XP box before the evening's out.
