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July 20th, 2002


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Peru receives generous Gates donation

Tuesday July 16, 2002 - [ 12:34 PM GMT ]

Topic - Advocacy
Mikael Pawlo writes: "As previously reported by Greplaw, Peru considers a law requiring governmental software to be free software. The prosposed law mandates that the government use only open source software. The move may stimulate the IT industry in the region, hence more development will be carried out locally. Yesterday Mr Bill Gates had a tete-a-tete with Peru president Toledo. The meeting ended with Microsoft donating 550 000 USD worth of software, cash and consulting to Peru. How this will affect Peru's move for free software is unknown, but The Register has an idea..."

( Post a new comment )

Wow! (#19732)
by Zrd11 on 2002.07.16 8:25 | User Info | Home Page |

Are you sure that's $550 thousand? Geeez, that's enough to buy about 50 computers, if you're talking servers. If they were really skimpy, they might be able to outfit one school with a decent network and software, with a one or two computers per classroom, especially if a good chunk of that money is "consulting" (i.e., doesn't really cost Microsoft anything.)

Now, if that was millions, then it'd be worth sitting up and noticing.

One thing to remember though: This is a donation towards education. The legislation mentioned here is for computer systems in government. There's obviously some overlap, but the reasons for Open Software -- open access to the public, security and freedom of competition -- don't apply in the same way in the schools.
--
Your Servant
B. Baggins
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

2002.07.16 9:29

2002.07.16 11:05

2002.07.16 11:22

2002.07.16 14:48

A bone thrown to a dog (#19738)
by Anonymous Reader on 2002.07.16 9:01

I will pass on the fact part of those 500K$ are software so the cost for Microsoft is near zero. So much for generosity.

But even for a relatively small and not overly rich country 500K$ is a trifle (a few cents per inhabitant) not something who would sink national budget. And don't forget to discount the cost of the travel to USA by president, his body guards and other people accompanying him. Net benefit for Peru: near zero $. So I don't understand. Or do I understand too well?
[ Reply to This | Parent ]

so how can we do better next time (#19749)
by DCallaghan on 2002.07.16 10:13 | User Info |

So, Peru needs a donation for education. President Toledo looks around and goes to the only one that will help him. He comes away with a half a million in donations.

Why did he go? Because he knew he could. The criticisms that MS should have given more or that the money won't solve all of Peru's problems are unfounded and bizarre. Are you actually criticizing an education donation to an impoverished country?

Also, please remember not to take the Register seriously. Its not intended to be taken so any more than the New York Post is a replacement for the Times. It takes topical geek issues and puts a humorous spin on them. Use it for amusement and as a jumping point for finding out the facts.

Lets look at this article alone.

The Register says that its not widely known, but CEOs are often used as the top salespeople. I'm not sure who exactly wouldn't know this since that's a basic responsibility of a CEO.

Then it purpotes that Bill Gates wouldn't take a call from the Prime Minister of Canada. Actually, Marc-Antoine Audette, a mimic, tried and failed to get Bill on the phone for a radio station gag.
www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/24685.html

And the statement 'Peru, you see, has been threatening to outlaw Windows by mandating Free Software in government departments.' just isn't true, nor would the bill proposed by the good congressman have anything to do with the software used in schools.
pimientolinux.com/peru2ms/

And would the proposed legislation have impacted only Bill, or would Larry, Scott and Lou also have been left out of the loop?

So, you want to see open source software used in schools. So do I. Not more than I want to see technology used in schools, but if I had my preference, I'd go with open source. President Toledo didn't feel that he had a choice, because he needed it free and he needed it now. The deal is done and Linux lost, primarily because they didn't come to the table.

When this issue first came up, I brought up Red Hat's K-12 Pilot Program and recommended that people contact them on this issue at education@redhat.com. If someone needs to get on a plane to get money for their schools, the Linux community needs to offer them a landing strip.

Other education links include www.ltsp.org/index.php, www.k12ltsp.org and www.schoolforge.net. Get in touch with LUGs around the world at www.ssc.com:8080/glue and Peru in particular at www.ssc.com:8080/glue/groups/nonus/peru.

Imagine how much more productive this could be then sitting back and bashing Bill for charitable contributions.
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