Microsoft in Peru, Living Room

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.

Comments

Escalation - A chronlogy of events

[Cinabrium]

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.