KiXtart: Do You Care?

Introduction

KiXtart was started in 1991 as a spare time project in response to the many requests for logon scripting functionality for the Microsoft LAN Manager environment. KiXtart’s simplicity, speed and lack of competition soon made it very popular with LAN Manager network administrators.

KiXtart was initially distributed as freeware through bulletin boards in Europe. Later, Internet sites picked up on KiXtart and started distribution lists, discussion forums and script archives. KiXtart was also shipped as part of several Microsoft Resource Kits. Over time, KiXtart grew, both in popularity as well as in functionality. Windows NT and Windows 95 support was added, as well as lots of new functions and features.

Today, thousands of organizations worldwide use KiXtart. Banks, insurance companies, colleges, universities, hospitals, power plants, governmental organizations, IT companies, car manufacturers, oil companies, aerospace industries, publishers, amusement parks, broadcasting companies, and numerous other types of organizations around the globe make daily use of KiXtart to configure workstations, install software, and perform many other scripting tasks.

KiXtart has also become a hot topic on various Internet discussion forums, with many enthusiastic participants sharing tips, tricks and scripts.

Over the years, many people have asked when KiXtart would be commercialized. In fact, requests for pricing and licensing information on KiXtart are quite common.

If nothing else, all of this proves that KiXtart has a value.

Rather than commercializing KiXtart, I would like to turn its value into something truly positive. Specifically, I would like to use its value to help people who absolutely need and deserve our support: the people of Nepal.

As part of this initiative, KiXtart 2010 is provided to you as so-called CareWare. Exactly what this means is detailed in the following paragraphs. Please read the information carefully and support the KiXtart CareWare initiative!

What is CareWare?

CareWare is a variant on shareware and freeware. It is sometimes also known as 'charityware', 'donationware', 'helpware' or 'goodware', and is copyrighted software that you are allowed to use at no charge in return for a donation to specified charity/ies or to a charity of the users' choice.

KiXtart CareWare can be downloaded, installed and evaluated at no charge. If you continue using KiXtart, you are kindly requested to make a donation to a non-profit charitable organization. A list of preferred charities is provided below.

How much should we donate?

The answer to this question is in your heart. The donation amount should reflect your perception of the value of KiXtart for your organization. The suggested minimum donation amount is fifty US dollars ($50) per organization/company using KiXtart. Please consider that CareWare is not about making money, but about sharing with and caring for other people.

Making a donation is more important than the actual amount of the donation.

Note that in many countries, charitable donations to officially registered charities are tax deductible, so you may be able to donate more than you think!

Who should we donate to?

The following non-profit, charitable organizations that support the people in Nepal are preferred:

http://www.roomtoread.org/

Room to Read seeks to provide every child with an opportunity to gain the lifelong gift of literacy by attacking the root causes of illiteracy in Nepalese society.

A dedicated group of unpaid volunteers established the foundation in 1998. One village at a time, one school at a time, the Books for Nepal project is reaching out to communities to provide the gift of education.

http://www.rokpa.org

ROKPA INTERNATIONAL is a non-profit organization helping and supporting people in need irrespective of their nationality, religion or cultural background.

ROKPA INTERNATIONAL works in the areas of education, health care, relief of hunger and preservation of culture, self-help and ecology. The organization both offers emergency and long-term help through its projects in Nepal, Tibet and other countries.

If, for whatever reason, you can not donate to these particular organizations, you are kindly requested to donate to Unicef instead:

http://www.unicef.org

For more than 53 years UNICEF has been helping governments, communities and families make the world a better place for children. Part of the United Nations system, UNICEF has an enviable mandate and mission, to advocate for children's rights and help meet their needs.

Note: more details on these organizations can be found in the GuideStar directory.

Why Nepal?

When I first visited Nepal in 1999, I became enchanted with its magnificent beauty and its kind and hospitable people. At the same time, I was stunned by the poverty.

Nepal, home of Mount Everest, is one of the poorest countries in the world in relative as well as absolute terms. More than half of the population lives below the poverty line and 53% of the people live on less than US$ 1 per day. Nepal has few natural resources apart from its beauty and hardworking people. Life expectancy is very low, and illiteracy affects more than 50% of the children. Education, medication, and even basic things such as clean water are a luxury in large parts of Nepal. Malnutrition is another widespread problem: everyday, a Nepali child goes blind for want of vitamin A, something that can be prevented by a medicine costing less than ten cents.

What do I get in return?

Of course, the whole concept of CareWare is about giving, not receiving. However, making a donation on behalf of KiXtart provides the following benefits:

• People elsewhere in the world benefit from your support.
• You get to feel good about using KiXtart.
• You motivate continued development of KiXtart.

Additionally, if you choose to register your donation, you will be kept up to date on KiXtart developments, and your (company) name can be included on the list of KiXtart CareWare sponsors. See below for details on how to register your donation.

How should we make a donation?

To make a donation, simply select the organization you would like to support, determine the amount you can donate, and use one of the donation methods supported by the organization.

When you make a donation, please include a reference to "KiXtart 2010".

Optionally, you can also register your donation by forwarding the confirmation email you send to or receive from the charitable organization to kixtart2001@hotmail.com or ruudv@microsoft.com.

I can’t make a donation to charity!

If you are not able to donate money to any charity, for whatever reason, I would appreciate it if you could let me know why. Understanding what the problem with making a donation is will enable me to improve the KiXtart CareWare process.

I don’t care…

That is entirely your prerogative. The KiXtart CareWare initiative is based on your voluntary cooperation. KiXtart has no built-in registration process or license checks.

Please carefully consider the value of KiXtart to you and your organization, and reconsider making a donation. Your support will be greatly appreciated, by me, and more importantly, by the organizations you donate to and the people they support. Join the growing number of KiXtart CareWare supporters today!

CareWare works!

Over the years, many of you have supported the KiXtart CareWare initiative and have donated to various organizations worldwide. In particular, your support has enabled Room-to-Read to build a school in Nepal exclusively funded by donations of KiXtart users! Additionally, Room-to-Read has used your support to create much needed children’s reading books in the Nepali language. Please see Room-to-Read Local Language Publications for more information on these exciting real world results.

CareWare actually works; if you already support the initiative, please accept my sincerest thanks for your support. If you haven’t made a donation yet, please take a few moments and start supporting the KiXtart CareWare initiative today!