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[News] Portugal Conned by Microsoft and Intel to Fight Free Software

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Pity the Poor Classmate PC'd Children of Portugal

,----[ Quote ]
| Combine that complete outsourcing of computer systems evaluation with silence 
| on the financial terms of the deal and I'm thinking there is a deal in the 
| works - cheap Classmates now for lucrative future government orders.  
| 
| Shady deals being a hallmark of Classmate sales to date.
`----

http://www.olpcnews.com/sales_talk/intel/classmate_pc_children_portugal.html

Read the details.


Related:

Lessons from Africa: How to Kill Your Own FUD

,----[ Quote ]
| So, even as Microsoft claims superior quality over Linux, they act as if they 
| don't even buy their own FUD. If they really believed that Windows was 
| superior to Linux, they wouldn't have to bribe people with “marketing help” 
| to get them to choose Windows.   
`----

http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-11-09-030-26-OP-MD-MS


Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| "We are sticking with that platform," said the official, who would not give
| his name.
`----

http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
http://tinyurl.com/27ycq9


[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer

,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! I’m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? It’s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, I’m sure you know them.  
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too.  
`----

http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/


Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself" 

,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious 
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733


Not Such a Harsh Toke, Actually

,----[ Quote ]
| This is socially, economically, politically and otherwise innovative. It is 
| good for democracy too in some of the few remaining places that good thing is 
| having trouble getting hold. We regard that thing too lightly, I fear.  
| 
| The Gates | Otellini axis directly hurts us deeply. To me, it is a 
| particularly American shame. 
`----

http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/11/not-such-a-hars.html


Open source tour of Europe: Portugal

,----[ Quote ]
| Many of the country’s open source projects to date are in the education
| sector, triggered by the government’s five-year agreement with Sun, signed in
| 2004, to provide open source technologies – including Linux and
| OpenOffice.org/StarOffice – to Portuguese secondary schools.
|
| More recently the Associação Ensino Livre (Association for Free Education)
| was founded to increase the use of open source software in education, while
| the Education Ministry launched a new website designed to promote open source
| usage.
|
| Outside the education sector, the Institute of Technology is migrating to
| OpenOffice, the Ministry of Justice has used an open source system based on
| JBoss, PostgreSQL and Linux for the dissemination of information on
| referendum results and the Ministry of Internal Affairs used JBoss to create
| a new traffic fines management system.
`----

http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2008/06/20/open-source-tour-of-europe-portugal/


OpenOffice.org being distributed to Portuguese schools

,----[ Quote ]
| I was just made aware of this Portuguese blog entry. CDs including
| OpenOffice.org will be distributed to Portuguese schools again. Great news!
`----

http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/openoffice_org_being_distributed_to


Portuguese Schools Learn About Open Source

,----[ Quote ]
| As Microsoft understands - and as Apple first learned - if you get them
| young, you've pretty much got them forever. So it's good to see efforts being
| made to spread the open source word in the educational world, like this new
| effort by the Portuguese Ministry of Eduction...  
`----

http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/04/portuguese-schools-learn-about-open.html


,----[ Quote ]
| In my country (Portugal) we have a very similar deal, available to all
| students and teachers in high school, which is subsidized by the
| cellphone/mobile ISP companies, the government and probably Microsoft, where
| you can get a laptop for 150 euros with a contract for 2 years for the mobile
| internet access with a nice discount from the usual monthly fees, from
| several well known laptop manufacturers (HP, Toshiba), and pretty decent
| machines also (Core Duo, 1 Gb RAM, the only downside is they all have
| integrated graphics cards), of course they all come with Windows Vista Home
| Premium as well.          
`----

http://technocrat.net/d/2008/2/16/36312


IBM is still locked out of the Portuguese OOXML meeting

,----[ Quote ]
| In spite of various communications, we [IBM] are still locked out and will
| not be allowed to participate. Microsoft will be there, as well as a special
| Microsoft guest, as will various Microsoft business partners, and others.  
`----

http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1755


Portugal: Votes Yes with Comments on OOXML

,----[ Quote ]
| Commitee presided over by Microsoft decides in it's favor 13-7:
|
| It's with much disgust that I see that after an initial membership controlled
| by Microsoft of 7 to 1, it was only possible to add the participation of 12
| more entities, 6 in favor of open standards, and 6 in favor of Microsoft.  
|
| If from the the first meeting it was clear that there was a favorable support
| for Microsoft of 7 to 1, the voting just an hour ago of YES WITH COMMENTS is
| sadly revealing.  
`----

http://www.groklaw.net/newsitems.php


Portugal's ISO says no room for IBM & Sun in the room ! ?

,----[ Quote ]
| [PJ: OpenXML.info is reporting (in Portuguese, but a Groklaw member
| translates for us) that the person who is head of the ISO technical committee
| about to vote on Microsoft's Ecma-376 wouldn't let IBM and Sun
| representatives in, claiming there was no room! This, if true, is ridiculous.
| And  here is a second source reporting the same thing, also in Portuguese. So
| in the US, we hear reports of packing the TC. Now, it's weeding out those who
| are not likely to vote a certain way desired? Is this how standards
| get "approved"? I don't recall ODF having to play such games. Here is the
| rough translation:]        
|
| Portugal, and more concretely, its national organization of certification IPQ
| is a member "O" (observator) of ISO/IEC for the voting of OOXML (ISO DIS
| 29500).  
|
| WARNING: the first meeting of the Technical Commission "Language for document
| definition" was on Monday 16 of July. The vote was delayed. Representatives
| of IBM and Sun were not allowed to attend because there "was no available
| space in the room"  
|
| Dear G [Sun Microsystems] due of restricted number of members of the CT
| (Commissao Tecnica) that can attend the scheduled meeting room to host the
| meeting, we cannot, in this stage, accept your proposal of integration of the
| CT.  
|
| With my best regards,
| D [Microsoft as president of the Technical Commission]
`----


http://mv.asterisco.pt/2007/Jun/cat.cgi?MS%20OOXML

,----[ Quote ]
|     * More details are emerging from Portugal regarding the kerfuffle there
|     over Ecma-376. If you read Portuguese, here you go -- just click on the
|     link. I asked a Groklaw member to do a rough translation, and if you see
|     ways to improve it, sing out, but it gives a bit of the history of how
|     this committee that has no room for Sun or IBM (see previous News Picks
|     item) was formed and how it happened to choose a Microsoft representative
|     to be president of the committee that decides whether to "approve"
|     Microsoft's submission as a "standard". Unless I'm missing something, it
|     appears to have been set up so Microsoft can "approve" itself. Now that's
|     handy. Here's the translation of the part about how Microsoft is
|     represented on this committeee with no room for IBM or Sun:]          
|
|       I was present on the meeting of the Technical Commission (CT) created
|       to award the ISO standards in the area of structured documents (in
|       Portugal)  
|
|       A Technical Commission (CT) did not exist when ISO 26300 (Open
|       Document) was submitted neither when there was a submission of OOXML
|       (ECMA 376, potential ISO 29500) for the the fast track, and that was
|       the reason why Portugal did not submit any opinion nor had any right to
|       vote. We expect that now, with the pressure made and the CT created
|       there would be right to vote.    
|
|       The CT was created by the Computing Institute, in which is delegated
|       the responsability for the norms of the IT sector; a delegation granted
|       by the Portuguese Institute of Quality (IPQ), the point of contact of
|       ISO in Portugal. Its creation is motivated mainly by the pressures and
|       availability of some people when the proposal for fast tracking of
|       OOXML and a neccessity to avail now the OOXML as standard ISO and as a
|       Portuguese National Standard      
|
|       In the meeting they were present:
|
|     * 2 persons from II (Instituto de Informatica [Computing Institute])
|     * 1 person from the local government (Alentejo region)
|     * 1 person from Jurinfor [Jurinfor is a Microsoft partner]
|     * 2 persons from Microsoft
|     * 1 person from Primavera [Primavera is a Microsoft partner]
|     * 1 person from ISCTE
|     * 2 persons from Assoft [reportedly, most members of ASSOFT are Microsoft
|     partners]
|     * 1 person from the Inst. Informatica da Seg Social [Computing Institute
|     of the Social Welfare Department]
|     * 1 person from the Inst. Tecn. Informacao da Justiça (eu) [Technical
|     Institute Information of Justice (eu)]
|
| The meeting dealt basically with the bureaucracy details of the creation of
| the CT. It didn't go into details of OOXML; that discussion will be held in
| the next meeting, on July 16th about 14:30 in the II [Instituto de
| Informatica, I assume]  
|
| The CT, thus, was composed of 8 vocal elements, one representative for each
| of the organizations present. The II [Instituto de Informatica] is arranging
| and hosting the initiative and is a not-named representative.  
|
| The 8 vocals will readily follow to the election of the president of the CT.
| There was 1 candidate in the place (Miguel Sales Dias, from Microsoft). I did
| not present my candidature but made myself available in case the rest of
| representatives deemed it neccesary -- informed not adequate since to begin
| with, as a member of the OpenDocument Alliance, I had a conflict of interest.    
|
| The vote results were 7 votes in favor of Miguel Sales Dias, of Microsoft,
| who was designated to preside over the CT, and a (1) blank vote.
|
| It was decided to adopt consensus as the form of adoption of any proposed
| norm, following to majority vote in case there is no consensus in the CT and
| if there is a strong opposition to submit any norm.  
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