Microsoft Denies Paying Nigerians $400K To Ditch Linux 148
Da Massive writes "Microsoft has denied paying a Nigerian contractor $400,000 in a bid to retard Linux's movement into the government sector. Media reports alleged that Microsoft had proposed paying that sum to a government contractor under a joint marketing agreement last year, in order to persuade the contractor to replace Linux OS with Windows on thousands of school laptops. Although a joint marketing agreement was drafted to document the best practices for using technology in education, it was never executed, said a Microsoft regional manager for Africa. It became clear, he added, that one customer wanted a Linux OS."
Of course they didn't pay the "partner" ... (Score:5, Insightful)
As they do in other countries (see Eastern Europe for an example), Microsoft will just pay the government officials that award the contract.
It is a lot easier, safer (there are lawyer intermediaries, so it is impossible to catch the perpetrators) and works well, as the government has a "legitimate" reason to increase the budget, and the larger the budget, the merrier it gets.
Retarded (Score:1, Insightful)
Microsoft...denied paying a Nigerian contractor $400,000 in a bid to retard Linux's movement into the government sector.
What could be more retarded than a government sector using windows? (grammar nazis, let it slide...)
Re:Corruption is normal in Nigeria (Score:2, Insightful)
That's right. Even trying to build a house requires the bribery of several people!
Even if it did happen, this is not Microsoft specific.
Re:Is vista really that bad? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's probably XP, as school laptops are involved. They're not likely to be vista capable.
Re:REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP (Score:1, Insightful)
The REAL reason microsoft decided not to pay... (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft could have paid $400,000 and the Nigerians could have gone ahead and used linux anyway. Bribes only work when you trust people to stay bought.
Re:hmmm... interesting bribe? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, read between the lines:
Although a joint marketing agreement was drafted to document the best practices for using technology in education, it was never executed, said Thomas Hansen, regional manager for Microsoft West, East and Central Africa. "As such, the joint marketing agreement became irrelevant; no such marketing agreement was ever agreed to, and no money was ever spent," he said.
You'll notice he doesn't deny attempting to pay 400k dollars to ditch Linux, he simply states that the plan to do so fell through.
Re:hmmm... interesting bribe? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Corruption is normal in Nigeria (Score:3, Insightful)
Those are "Nigeria's rules"? That's a bit like asking how much someone like Gary Kasparov should play by the rules of FIDE.
Re:Customers deciding! What will MS think of next? (Score:1, Insightful)
You are naive as members of ISO commitee
Re:ah november (Score:3, Insightful)
No, it's just you. Truthfully.
You can't win a war without staying on the offensive. The best you can attain with that strategy is a stalemate. A loss is more likely.
At digg.com it appears that either Microsoft has paid people to come and digg down negative comments and/or digg up positive ones. Even if you comment stating your belief or feeling (and your points are valid) you'll get dugg way down. This just started happening about the time that Microsoft announced Windows 7. I guess they understand the digg effect and how sites such as slashdot and digg play a big part in perceptions about technology.
I'm not the only one that recognized that. Others have commented as well. I do believe that it will be the start of the decline of digg as people will loose trust in it if that behavior continues.
Now maybe they didn't pay anyone and it is just a few people that have set up multiple accounts to alter the vote. Who knows, but something is going wrong.
Maybe you are just reading too much digg.com regarding Microsoft products and you noticed the effect too, attributing it to the wrong thing.
But, no, really, slashdot has not been coming down harder on Microsoft that they deserve. In reality, they haven't even begun to touch the breadth of the insanity Microsoft has caused to the software industry.