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Microsoft in Peru, Living Room

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nanoprobes-everywhere dept.

Two pieces of Microsoft news today. tfofurn writes "According to this AP quickie and this Reuters story, both on Yahoo, Microsoft is donating 'about $550,000 in money, software and consulting services to the Peruvian government for educational and "e-government" initiatives' to Peru. The AP story mentions the conflict of this with Edgar Villanueva's proposal to have the government use only open source software. Villanueva (/. interview), you may recall, wrote a famous letter to MS Peru a few months ago." And many people have submitted stories about Windows XP Media Center, coming this winter to a living room near you.

5 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Good posting on Advogato by tomasdore · · Score: 2, Informative

    There's a good story on Advogato about just this thing, provides more info about the current state of play.
    (Unfortunately the 3rd, and most informative, comment is by a guy miffed that /. didn't accept his story!)

    --
    In Social Democratic Sweden ... Ikea comes looking for yew!
  2. More background info on Advogato and on 24horas by Carl · · Score: 3, Informative
    See also the following article on advogato: The positive things happening in Peru

    One of the comments links to a article with a picture of the president and Bill Gates: PRESIDENTE TOLEDO SUSCRIBE CONVENIO CON BILL GATES

  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. Free Software in the US by apt142 · · Score: 2, Informative

    MS has done this with companies in the United States as well. I work at a non-profit. We have very little funds. And, MS donates a lot of software to our organization. Because, I believe if they didn't we'd look more for open source solutions.

    Now, they aren't making a dime off of it in the short run. But, they are keeping employees here well trained in the MS apps.

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    Star Pirates
  5. Escalation - A chronlogy of events by Cinabrium · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm not currently authorized to reveal my sources, but have some first hand information about the events surrounding Peru/MS case that could help to clarify things a little bit. The process of countering Dr. Villanueva's bill had several escalation steps; some of them saw the light, and some others didn't. I guess it's time to tell what I know.
    1. Dec 14 2001 - Dr. Villanueva introduces the Bill.
    2. Mar 06 2002 - Public Forum in the House of Congress (attendance > 500), chaired by the President of the Congress.
    3. Mar 08 2002 - Universidad Nacional de Tumbes, a public university in Northwestern Peru, communicate their official support to the bill.
    4. Mar 19 2002 - First counterattack: the Peruvian Software Producers Association (APESOFT)'s Chairman objections to the proposed Bill in "Gestion", a local newspaper.
    5. Mar 20 2002 - Reply by Dr. Villanueva, in the same newspaper
    6. Mar 25 2002 - Second counterattack - The now infamous letter of MS-Peru's General Manager to Dr. Villanueva
    7. Apr 08 2002 - The well known reply of Dr. Villanueva
    8. May 20 2002 - Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (second largest public university in Peru, specialized in engineering and science) gives official support to the Bill.
    9. May 27 2002 - Third counterattack - The American Chamber of Commerce of Peru (AmCham) sends a letter to the President of the Congress, opposing the bill. Same arguments as MS ones, plus some diplomatic threats as "...negative signals to private investments..." and Godzilla will eat our children.
    10. Jun 07 2002 - Dr. Villanueva replies AmCham's letter.
    11. Jun ?? 2002 - Fourth counterattack - Conversations, informal talks and "occasional meetings" of U.S. Ambassador Hamilton wih several high-ranked Peruvian officials, reminding them the dangers of approving the Bill.
    12. Jun 11 2002 - Fifth counterattack - Letter from the Prime Minister, enclosing a memo of the head of the e-government project objectioning the bill. Same arguments as MS ones, plus "...negative impact in the process of renewing the APTA (Andean Trade Preference Agreement", plus the usual seven plagues of Egypt. Mr. Bermudez, the e-government guy, is known as being closely related to MS. Mr. Dañino, the former Prime Minister, is a lawyer whose law firm has MS-Peru as one of its most prominent clients
    13. Jun 25 2002 - Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (the largest public university in Peru and the oldest in America [est. 1551]) gives official support to the Bill.
    14. Jul 15 2002 - Sixth Counterattack - President Toledo's pilgrimage to Seattle, to receive the 30 coins (or less) from the hands of Mr. Gates

    Except Mr. Hamilton's talkings, which were not recorded AFAIK, there is written evidence of all the facts stated above.

    In addition, let me point out that, if Microsoft is pricing its consulting services at the same rate it did for their agreement with the Chilean Ministry of Education, the $550K "donation" means just 5000 person/hours of consulting.