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Microsoft Facing Â25m Argentinian Linux Lawsuit
,----[ Quote ]
| âAbout five years ago, I wrote a detailed
| report on how one could have the choice
| between GNU/Linux and other operating
| systems in Argentina that was most
| surprising for French people, that have
| always had the greatest difficulties in
| getting such a choice,â Di Cosmo wrote.
| âBut starting from 2 years ago, I have seen
| that it has become impossible to find any
| longer a single machine with GNU / Linux in
| retail: worse, we saw some very dubious
| agreements negotiated under the high
| patronage of the founder of the
| multinational software company that
| monopolises the operating systems market.â
|
| Di Cosmoâs blog contains a link to the
| Pixart court filing and alleges that the
| allegations against Microsoft made by
| Pixart may have been repeated in other
| countries. âWell, I happen to have in my
| hands right now a copy of the appeal filed
| against Microsoft by the little Argentine
| SMEs Pixart, and it is very helpful in
| understanding what really happened there â
| and very likely what is happening here [In
| France] too,â he says.
|
| If the Argentinian Commission decides to
| hear the case, and finds against Microsoft,
| the software giant has the right to one
| appeal according to Blustein. âMicrosoft
| can appeal the decision one level further,
| in case they are unhappy with the first
| judgement.â
`----
http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/microsoft-facing-25m-argentinian-desktop-linux-law-suit-6034
Microsoft under fire in Argentina: it faces a fine of more than 50 million euros for anticompetitive activities
,----[ Quote ]
| But starting from 2 years ago, I have seen
| that it has become impossible to find any
| longer a single machine with GNU / Linux in
| retail: worse, we saw some very dubious
| agreements negotiated under the high
| patronage of the founder of the
| multinational software company that
| monopolises the operating systems market.
|
| One may well ask why: this is not without
| reminding us of the situation here in
| France, where after SFR placed on the
| market more thatn 250000 Netbooks all
| equipped with GNU / Linux about two years
| ago, we can not find now a single netbook
| without Windows (yes, I write the name in
| full letters now, because I am particularly
| upset: I wanted to buy one for personal use
| this Christmas, but despite my efforts, I
| have not found a single model with a GNU /
| Linux preinstalled in France).
|
| The few remaining fans of software
| monopolies like to say that this sudden
| vanishement proves that the other operating
| system is superior to GNU / Linux.
|
| Well, I happen to have in my hands right
| now a copy of the appeal filed against
| Microsoft by the little Argentine SMEs
| Pixart, and it is very helpful in
| understanding what really happened there
| ... and very likely what is happening here
| too.
|
| [...]
|
| But this time there is a difference: if
| Microsoft was convicted in Argentina, my
| legal contacts there tell me it would risk
| a fine of approximately 300,000,000 pesos,
| which, at the current exchange rate, would
| amount to more than 55 million euros.
|
| Corruption is rife there: an official, a
| lawyer or a witness might be tempted to
| pocket a tidy little sum for losing a piece
| of evidence, let a legal deadline slip
| trhough, change the judge, or any other
| action that contributes to bury the trial
| before the interesting pieces of evidence
| are exposed to the light.
|
| But I hope that this time, no civil
| servant, no politician in Argentina will
| accept to earn a few pennies to help the
| software juggernaut deprive his country of
| 55 million euros, crush a small Argentinian
| company struggling to maintain local
| industrial capacity in Free Software, and
| imprison again the country behind the bars
| of a Windows prison.
`----
http://www.dicosmo.org/MyOpinions/index.php/2010/03/19/98-microsoft-under-fire-in-argentina-it-faces-a-fine-of-more-than-50-million-euros-for-anticompetitive-activities
Latin America leads in school laptops
,----[ Quote ]
| On March 17, Peru signed a deal for an
| additional 260,000 laptops from the
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology One
| Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, a
| nonprofit venture that is selling laptops
| for $188 each. The new order will bring to
| 590,000 the number of laptops delivered to
| Peru's elementary school children under a
| program that provides most of the machines
| to one-teacher schools in poverty-stricken
| rural areas.
|
| On March 18, Argentina's government
| delivered the first of 250,000 Intel
| ``Classmate'' laptops for students of
| technical high schools, only hours after
| the mayor of Buenos Aires, an opposition
| leader, announced that his city will order
| 190,000 laptops for elementary school
| children.
|
| Last month, Brazil announced a bid to buy
| 1.5 million laptops for elementary school
| children.
|
| Neighboring Uruguay recently became the
| first country in the world to give all
| elementary school children in public
| schools one Internet-connected laptop each,
| which is their own property and they can
| take home.
`----
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/21/1539828_latin-america-leads-in-school.html
Recent:
Open letter to Chancellor of the UTN (Argentina)
,----[ Quote ]
| Soy un ingeniero de computaciÃn venezolano que vive en colombia. I am a
| computer engineer who lives in Colombia, Venezuela. Acabo de enterarme de
| que la UTN cancelà una charla del Sr. Richard Matthew Stallman a darse en
| su Universidad. I just learned that the UTN canceled a talk by Mr Richard
| Matthew Stallman to run in his University. Dicha charla, segÃn la fuente,
| fue cancelada por contratos que la UTN tiene con Microsoft que impiden que
| se hagan crÃticas sobre dicha empresa. Such talk, the source said, was
| canceled by the NTU has contracts with Microsoft that prevent them from
| making criticisms about this company.
`----
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaratux.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F09%2Fcarta-abierta-rector-de-la-unt.html&sl=es&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
"Wow, Microsoft canceled a Stallman conference in Argentina"
http://identi.ca/notice/9236144
http://identi.ca/notice/9236657
http://identi.ca/notice/9236330
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