There *might* be more to it
I notice the story does say "software and computers" - of COURSE they've got to fork over computers because what computers these low-income schools have (those that have any, that is) will likely be donated 286's and 386's that hasn't a prayer of running any software Microsoft might donate.
The story says some 14,000 schools - if Microsoft forks over 20 computers capable of running their software per school, assuming an $800 computer, actual hardware might come to something like $250 million dollars. Still a drop in the bucket for Microsoft, but it is an actual expense rather than the mythical expense of software they can press for pennies a CD-ROM.
