10.31.07
An open letter to Steve Ballmer
Dear Steve,
Hi, this is François, from Mandriva.
I’m sure we are way too small for you to have heard of us. You know, we are one of these Linux company who is working hard to make its place in the market. We publish a Linux Distro, called Mandriva Linux. Mandriva Linux 2008, our last edition, has a pretty good review and we’re proud of it. You should try it, I’m sure you’d like it. We also happen to be one of the Linux companies that did not sign an agreement with your company (nobody’s perfect).
We recently closed a deal with the Nigerian Government. Maybe you heard about it, Steve. They were looking for an affordable hardware+software solution for their schools. The initial batch was 17,000 machines. We had a good deal to respond to their need: the Classmate PC from Intel, with a customized Mandriva Linux solution. We presented the solution to the local government, they liked the machine, they liked our system, they liked what we offered them, especially the fact that it was open, and that we could customize it for their country and so on.
Then, your people get in the game and the deal got more competitive. I would not say it got dirty, but someone could have said that. Your team fought and fought again the deal, but still the customer was happy with the CMPC and Mandriva.
We actually closed the deal, we took the order, we qualified the software, we got the machine shipped. To conclude, we did our job. And, the machine are being delivered right now.
Now, we hear a different story from the customer : “we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward.”
Wow! I’m impressed, Steve! What have you done to these guys to make them change their mind like this? It’s quite clear to me, and it will be to everyone. How do you call what you just did Steve? There is various names for it, I’m sure you know them.
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 still believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win too.
cheers
François
PS: a message to our friends in Nigeria: it’s still time to do the right thing and make the right choice, you will get lots of support for it and excellent services!
Et maintenant, pour les francophones (traduction par Caroline) :
Je me présente : François de Mandriva.
Je pense que nous sommes beaucoup trop petit pour que vous ayez, un jour, entendu parler de nous. Souvenez-vous, nous sommes une de ces sociétés Linux qui travaillent dur pour se faire une place sur le marché. Nous éditons une distribution Linux, appelée Mandriva Linux. Mandriva Linux 2008, notre dernière édition, a d’assez bonnes critiques et nous en sommes fiers. Vous devriez l’essayer, je suis sûr que vous l’adoreriez. Nous sommes aussi l’une des sociétés Linux qui n’a pas signé d’accord avec votre compagnie (personne n’est parfait).
Nous avons récemment conclu un marché avec le gouvernement Nigérian. Peut-être en avez-vous entendu parler ? Ils recherchaient une solution logicielle et matérielle abordable pour leurs écoles. La commande initiale était de 17,000 machines. Nous avions une bonne offre qui nous permettait de répondre à leur besoin : le Classmate PC d’INTEL, fourni avec une version adaptée de la solution Mandriva Linux. Nous avions présenté la solution au gouvernement local, ils ont aimé la machine, ils ont aimé notre système, ils ont aimé ce que nous leurs offrions, spécialement l’aspect ouvert et le fait que nous pouvions l’adapter aux besoins de leur pays et même plus.
Puis, votre équipe s’est jointe à la partie et le marché devint plus compétitif. Je ne peux faire de commentaires sur ce point mais certains pourront le faire. Votre équipe s’est battue et se battra encore, mais le client était satisfait du Classmate PC et de Mandriva.
Nous avons conclu le marché, nous avons compris la demande, nous avons qualifié le système et nous l’avons intégré à la machine. Pour conclure, nous avons fait notre travail. Et la machine est désormais livrable.
Maintenant, nous entendons différentes histoires de notre client : « nous allons payer pour les logiciels Mandriva comme prévu dans nos accords, mais ce dernier sera remplacé par Windows. »
Je suis impressionné, Steve ! Qu’avez-vous fait à ces personnes pour les faire changer d’avis ? C’est clair pour moi, et ça le sera pour tous. Comment appelez-vous ce que vous venez de faire ? Il y a plusieurs noms pour cela, je suis sûr que vous les connaissez bien.
Bien entendu, je continuerai à me battre cette fois et la prochaine et encore la prochaine. Vous avez l’argent, le pouvoir et peut être avons nous des définitions différentes de l’éthique. Je reste persuadé que le travail, les bonnes technologies et l’ethique peuvent aussi gagner.
Cordialement,
François
PS: message à nos amis du Nigéria : il n’est pas trop tard pour faire le bon choix, vous aurez beaucoup de soutien pour cela et des services excellents !
Joshua Williams said,
October 31, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Probability, Steve spread around something about possible flaws, though, myself finds Windows has many more flaws, that I do not see in Linux. Otherwise, but only theory, government of Nigeria either fears that Mandriva may not live up to expectations or that it won’t not “look right”.
Only a timid guess.
Dankoozy said,
October 31, 2007 at 11:59 pm
The dirty bast*rds. they were probably paid to install windows, thats how these things usually go
Mandrake was the first distro I ever used back in the day
Martin said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:43 am
Bast*rds! Always do the same with their fucking money…no use for ethics, ah ?
Mandriva: An open letter to Steve Ballmer at Planet Cyprix said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:48 am
[…] read more | digg story […]
V. T. Eric Layton said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:49 am
Well, you know the old saying, “Money talks.” My guess is that the wonderful folks at MS probably made some arrangements so that high-level government chaps in Nigeria received a healthy stipend for agreeing to put Windows on these machines after they receive them. That’s business. Money is the great persuader.
Don’t worry Mandriva… your quality and dedications will shine through in the long run.
Signed,
a GNU/Linux user
Sawyer said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:01 am
Stupid for Nigeria, now that South Africa uses Ubunta; they’ll surely get hacked.
Jack Sparow said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:44 am
S. Ballmer is a ugly fox!
Hmmm said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:03 am
Interesting… but if your wordsmithing skills are any indication of your salesmanship, I can understand why they changed their minds. This letter reads like a missive written by a six year-old on an etch-a-sketch.
Ryan said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:05 am
Part of getting your point across is using proper spelling/grammer.
“I’m sure we’re way too small for you to know me. You know, we’re one of these tiny Linux COMPANY working hard for our place on the market”.
It’s not hard to edit before you submit…
Steve L said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:16 am
Not to be a jerk, I’ve been developing on unix most of my life, and I think MSFT stole most ideas they’ve ever had, but I don’t see anything unethical with what Steve did. You still get your deal and your money. You might get less follow on support, but that’s business.
Art said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:16 am
Hey probably got them to fall for the ol’ Nigerian email scam…
vbNullString said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:20 am
You can’t blame Steve Ballmer for your client changing their OS. Maybe there was a killer app that could be run only on Windows? Who knows?
I always wonder why Linux people are so hateful about Microsoft. I like Microsoft products because they work for what I want to do.
Nathan said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:27 am
I have no doubt that M$ coerced them, probably by bribery. That’s what M$ does. They sure aren’t getting my money.
–
The Digital Pioneer
A happy user of Arch Linux (http://www.archlinux.org)
Gringras said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:35 am
This letter needs to be followed up. I urge the readers to send this to your local attorney-general or comparable legal authority. In the US, Microsoft is currently under scrutiny for its past illegal business practices.
averagebeatboy said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:39 am
Wait until they discover Windoze still runs on top of DOS and uses Winsock DLL for communications. ROTFLMAO
Fracois, don’t sweat it you did the right thing.
Cheers
Cartoons Fans Lounge said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:40 am
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Juan said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:44 am
As usual, the evil came and paid everybody who was really convinced that the beatiful and strong solution presented by François was the right one. Nigerian government is so corrupted that Steve decided to pay and they accepted it also they are so unprofessionals that they evaluated and decided for François’ solution at the begining and sudenly they changed.
François this is why the open source will never make it, your lack of value articulation is trying to be justified with the weak argument that MS paid. Is a shame to see how people does not assumes their responsibility when they fail demonstrating value and always are trying to hide it with this type of stupid letters.
Steven Hampton said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:44 am
Well the Nigerian Government has ever right to put whatever, software on the machines they wish after they purchase them, regardless of who they worked with to work out the deal for a purchase. I am thankful for that as you will see below… HOWEVER, if I were them, I would hang on to a few copies of their linux distros, because if they are like me they will be so irritated by the flaws in the Micro$oft based OS that they will want to wipe their machines and install a linux distro on it, just like I have this former XP machine that now kicks buty with edubuntu linux… So yeah I am thankful we can replace the software that comes on our machines… else I would still be stuck on a windoze machine.
Gringras said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:48 am
For those who wish to report this, I have made a smaller URL for this page. It is: http://doiop.com/ballmer
Max Chinn said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:53 am
Don’t worry. Just wait until they try to run any MS Operating system on probably a 256k machine. Then they will have to run Windows software on it. Then they will have to get the 3rd party drivers for it. When it doesn’t run give them the MS Tech Support number in India. Then provide the restore disk with your Operating system.
Boycott Novell » Appalling. Absolutely Appalling. said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:00 am
[…] racketeering schemes took place and gained steam with Xandros and Linspire caving in? Well, get a load of this open letter to Steve Ballmer: So we closed the deal [17,000 laptops with Mandriva] , we got the […]
Anonymous said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:02 am
François,
Why are you assuming that Microsoft did something underhanded? It could very well be the case that a deal with Microsoft is more viable for the Nigerian goverment in the longer run -
- Their products are tried and trusted. Yours is still an unknown quantity.
- Their customer support is supposedly very good. How about yours?
- Maybe the TCO for Microsoft’s solution is lower than your solution.
I’m in no way taking sides. But you must be willing to accept the possibility that Microsoft could have presented a better long term deal for them.
-Anonymous
Negociações estranhas na Nigéria at Bruno Alves said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:09 am
[…] de ler uma carta aberta ao Steve Ballmer, escrita pela […]
EllsworthT said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:23 am
Hey, that’s business. Besides, you sold your product, made a few contacts, and don’t have to worry about the added expense of supporting your software since it won’t be used. I wish I was in your shoes. Quit whining about the competition, keep making great products, and win over some new customers.
Canadian said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:30 am
My condolences, this is utterly contemptuous. How Microsot can interfere with the whole world like this is unbelievable.
The only answer I can think of is keep making the best software out there. (and maybe the best viruses too. ) Those bastards have been doing corrupt thngs with the ISO as well.
II for one will be happy to see them sheared and destroyed someday.
vexorian said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:49 am
Nigerian citizens should be informed or notified or something, this is a terrible case of money misuse.
Aiban said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:09 am
Hello François,
You know you are doing something right when Microsoft has to pull these stunts to try and compete with you. Of course, the biggest victims are the Nigerian students who will now be deprived of a superior set of learning tools (Mandriva 2008 really rocks!).
Anyway, please stay the course. Pretty soon Microsoft will get rid of the middle man and just start sending you checks directly to not ship your superior products (at that point, please rip those checks up!).
Cheers and thanks for fighting the good fight!
Robert said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:10 am
Without the ‘why’ to distract…the fact that a PC was purchased with preinstalled Linux but will then be erased (probably before the 1st boot) and have Windows installed seems balanced.
I reverse that process dozens or more times every year. I have more copies of XP that have never seen a post-consumer boot than not.
The support contract would be a real loss…bummer.
michael said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:12 am
MS is like a drug dealer, they give you your first taste for free then you must pay and pay and pay
Nu said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:26 am
The implication here (may be?) is that Nigerian officials were bribed to install windows. It is a crime (rather than a civil violation, like monopolistic actions) under US law to bribe the citizen of another country.
Consider providing facts to the FBI.
bill said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:29 am
Wonder if any of those government officials need help getting their “stipend” money out of the country
Josh Chacin said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:29 am
Very gutsy!! Even though I don’t use Linux, I know for sure that microsoft just want to tie these countries with proprietary software, and in the future switching microsoft will own them. I wish the best of luck to linux, I really hope that it spreads all around the world. Cause, of all people, they need to begin with os that is reliable, stable, affordable, and powerful to help them to catch up.
Microsoft may give them os’s that are powerful and cheap now, but what will happen if microsoft changes that.
No I like windows xp, and I still believe that countries that need to catch up shouldn’t be using proprietary software. Sure open source software requires a little greater learning curve, but once these countries school systems, and governments get used to open source software, it will give enumerous benfits.
blog no wiki - Hey Steve (Balmer), how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning? said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:35 am
[…] http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/ […]
Mikey said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:41 am
You know, if you have something to say you should just say it. Especially if you’re going to write an “open letter”.
Instead, you go on to accuse Steve Ballmer of … something that’s apparently unspeakable. If you have evidence that Microsoft (because I’m pretty sure that Steve didn’t do anything personally) did something unethical, say so - otherwise you just appear to a whining, crying little kid who’s pouting because you didn’t get your way. What a way to drum up business.
David Tremblay said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:44 am
Is there anyone who wants to stand up ? I mean how long will support that kind of bullying ?
Where are the civil society organizations and NGOs, aren’t they supposed to fight against corruption and fairer markets, or are they simply hiding because they get their licenses for free ?
Brian Watson said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:50 am
God bless the Linux community, you guys make my world go around.
So Microsoft won this round by cheating. That’s okay, we’ll win out in the end when they realize that Windows isn’t what they’re looking for.
I am not a Mandriva user myself, but I highly respect this move by François.
Long live Linux.
kash said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:54 am
You did get your money from Nigerians…?
why are you pissed now…?
Once you sold something, and u got your money, I am not sure how can u blame anyone.I mean the PC is their’s now, they are free to install whatever crap they want to..sont you think…?
An Open Letter to Steve Ballmer « My WaR WiTh WoRdS said,
November 1, 2007 at 6:02 am
[…] November 1, 2007 Posted by Ankur in Linux, Stuff, Windows. trackback I found this on the Mandriva Blog today a must read :– Dear […]
drakedalfa said,
November 1, 2007 at 6:18 am
Microsoft is a dirty cia. Just a stupid goverment can do something like this, sorry but the fact talks for themselves. Windows is an super insecure OS if you can name it OS.
Gazza said,
November 1, 2007 at 6:42 am
There you go, yet another Nigerian scam….
Juln said,
November 1, 2007 at 6:42 am
Wow, playing hardball for Nigeria. For Mandriva, a contract like that is great. For a company the size of Microsoft, it almost seems desperate? It’s clear to me that the days of MS dominance are numbered.
Who knows, maybe the Nigerians will just screw over Ballmer in turn, and not bother installing Windows. Here, we’ll take your bribe! Thanks.
If they do install Windows, well, they get what they deserve. I just feel sorry for all the kids in Nigeria that otherwise would have had a chance to learn a real OS, with a future.
nigeria419 said,
November 1, 2007 at 6:49 am
Who says they are paying for Windbloze? Probably using pirated copies anyway.
Mark said,
November 1, 2007 at 6:58 am
Seems to me that Nigeria likes slow computers, virii and general poor ethics.
Windows seems like the right choice for that nation..
I wouldn’t worry, chances are they will come back to you and ask you to re-install linux. Then you can charge a consulting fee.. Make them pay for it.
Bob said,
November 1, 2007 at 7:15 am
No offense, but sounds like you got outsold. It happens. Learn from it. Whining about is pretty useless. Welcome to the big leaugue.
Thomas said,
November 1, 2007 at 7:22 am
Nothing can stop open source software. Not Steve, not fear,not money.
It is a trend that can’t be stopped; Instead it should be embraced to help people learn about computers, make their companies work better, interface with other systems and earn a living wage.
Keep going, keep going, keep going, you will prevail.
And don’t forget to have fun along the way.
Cheers,
Thomas
VonSkippy said,
November 1, 2007 at 7:30 am
Ha ha ha.
If there’s anybody in the world that deserves the crapware that Microsoft sells it’s the Nigerians.
Perhaps they heard that if they buy the systems with Microsoft now, as soon as the check clears the international banking system they would be able to get a refund of 96 bazillion dollars from Microsoft for helping them move the money out of the country.
phillip trepanier said,
November 1, 2007 at 7:43 am
Well, i think if all of the linux communities on earth would work all together and make a linux distro that is all what microsoft can offer and for free. I would be the first one to celebrate microsoft bankrupt. I always hated steve balmer cuz he just cant manage a company well. He should loose he’s job. I can’t wait for Ray Ozzie to take the place of Bill Gates, he will be the one to kill windows OS and go open source. I’m leaving an invitation to all hackers of the world to UNITE and do something against microsoft and their evil monopoly. Bill and Steve, YOU wont ever convert me to your poor products. They are incompatible most of the time. Too much problems, we don’t have the time to produce on our computers, we spend most of the time fixing bugs and hack the shit for making apps to work with windows. I am tired of all this. Microsoft JUST DO YOUR DAMN JOB RIGHT !!!!
I am proud to be a linux user and i’ll die as a linux user.
vineeth said,
November 1, 2007 at 7:52 am
Mandriva Guy, Great blog, and steve ……. karma will strike back, mark my words.
Carl said,
November 1, 2007 at 8:09 am
If I am not mistaken, Nigeria is one of the hotspots of scam mails and spam. With 17000 windows machines ready to be usurped into a botnet, that will only get worse. Good deal, Nigerian government. Instead of trying to help your country develop, it has taken one more step towards being ruled by criminals. For now, we already know their names…
Bale said,
November 1, 2007 at 8:36 am
Although it’s certainly cause for getting pissed off, this is a tactic of desperation. If MS has to *pay* people to use Windows, or give it away nearly free (as they did in China) it’s a sign that their empire is crumbling. If the quality of their OS continues to degrade (as it has with Vista), they won’t even be able to bribe people to use it.
BillIsGay said,
November 1, 2007 at 9:07 am
It’s nice that Nigerian Government used Windows on their machines. Government should use an Insecure O.S. so hackers and virus programmers can enjoy banging that 5tup1d Windows again and again. Nigerian should be very afraid that Africa uses a Linux Distro.
Turulcsirip - Finbar Dineen said,
November 1, 2007 at 9:13 am
[…] works to hold off Linux adoption by any means available http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/ « előző | Finbar Dineen — 2007. 11. 01. […]
cp said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:03 am
This is business. You won’t win anything by whining. Try harder.
By the way, when you’re saying that MS has no ethics you’re also implying that the Nigerian government, with whom you were trying to do business, doesn’t have either since they accepted Microsoft’s deal.
Vincent said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:20 am
Because he cares. It’s not just about making profit. The problem is that this is a ridiculous move - if they wanted to use Windows, they ought to have bought it in the first place. This just emphasizes Microsoft’s unjust dominance, that’s the problem.
Carta abierta de Mandriva a Microsoft [ing] // menéame said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:25 am
[…] Carta abierta de Mandriva a Microsoft [ing]blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/ por ibaed hace pocos segundos […]
Antony Jones said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:35 am
I wouldn’t worry about it. Wait until they install windows on those fast, stable machines and realise what a lot of us have known for a long time.
Windows simply sucks.
If somebody installed Windows on my machine i’d be angry.
M$_$ux said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:38 am
It is simple. The kids are learning on a M$ OS, and later, they will use it at home … becouse they know it.
…
Frederik Vos said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:40 am
There are rumours that the son of the ex-president of Nigeria, Obasanjo is responsible for this. This son is on the payrol of Microsoft.
art2usb » Blog Archive » Mandriva: An open letter to Steve Ballmer said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:50 am
[…] you over. New Nigerian Classmate PC’s with Mandriva Linux to have MS Windows installed later.read more | digg […]
Zarko said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:57 am
Microsoft rules. Mwuahahaha
wobo said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:03 am
Well, as a dedicated Linux enthousiast and still being a friend of Mandriva Linux I certianly regret the way things went with this deal. I am sorry for the poor people who will use those machines, instead of benefitting from a superior OS they will have to use Windows.
But what I am really sorry for is this “letter”! It reads like the letter a little helpless and crying boy may write home after he was bulllied around by the older boys in his boarding school. Please, François, wipe your nose and face reality: this is a very very normal business deal. If you can’t sell your product in the first round, try second round with better means and a better strategy. That’s what Ballmer did, and succeeded.
One more: don’t you have a native English speaker to proofread your output? This letter is very embarrassing for someone having been related to Mandriva.
toki said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:10 am
I pity all those folks who honestly think about, or bring MS and Quality/Trust/Predictability into one sentence, without a “not” in it
You can not trust MS. Ask all their former partners or customers. MS is proven and predictable - makes me laugh. Quality products? They even managed to bloat the stolen ideas and products.
However we live in a capitalistic, unfair, dirty reality, where the stronger will win and not the better one. The only hope for Free and OS software (besides adopting MS-like dirty tactics) is to outwit MS, to be way smarter!. GPL3 is a shining example.
Lets assume the MS made a deal before the Mandriva. They surely would have obliged the Nigerians to use MS software and explicitly and only the MS software. They would bind them by several contracts, that also force them to use only MS support, services, etc. MS obviously can not understand how anyone could dare to use a PC without one of their OS-es on it!? We can consider us lucky they did not come with a PC tax yet
regardless of using Firefox instead of IE, or Linux instead of Windows 
Mandriva could also easily have done it that way. But that is all that the Linux community stands against. And that is why they don’t stand a chance against MS.
They can only try to be smarter and to make really good products (instead of only advertising them as good). Btw. a bit of good advertising would probably help, too.
They (Linux/GNU/OS community) should be the first to innovate, and also protect their innovative ideas from MS patents. And the users should finally begin to think and not only to consume what’s said to be good.
Linux, despite the obstacles, is actually gaining the market share. We still can hope and wait for an exciting future .
Ximo Bernà said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:13 am
This is my humble contribution written in spanish to this campaign against the Evil.
Best regards to all the Linux Community!!!
toki said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:22 am
You did get your money from Nigerians…?
why are you pissed now…?
Once you sold something, and u got your money, I am not sure how can u blame anyone.I mean the PC is their’s now, they are free to install whatever crap they want to..sont you think…?
You don’t get it, do you?
He is not pissed about the money! At least not as much as he is pissed about their helplessness in this fight.
MS is the one who is trying very hard to CONTROL you and to forbid you the use of anything except windows. They (MS) don’t think that U are free to install anything you want. Luckily, US-laws reacted as they tried to put that idea into practice.
Lets assume you wanted to by a PC without an OS or (God forbid:)) with a Linux on it, a year ago. I’m sure you would have had a very hard time finding one.
MS tried to forcefeed you with their OS by bundling the windows with all new PC-s.
Luckily they were stopped on time.
Mandriva / Linux could very easily beat MS in no time, only by adopting their dirty tactics, but that is what they are actually against.
They could oblige the Nigerians to use only Mandriva, but they did not. Now, how fair is it??
SCREW NIGERIA! read me. said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:24 am
If a so-called “customer” had done that to me, I would let them receive all of what was coming to them: Windows. I would let them enjoy their lovely, blue-screened, unstable, unsecure operating system. Let the poor be poorer.
Mr. Ballmer is not the only one who violated business morality, it takes two to tango. Let the world spread of Nigeria and Mr. Ballmer’s business practices and find a better, smarter country to support.
Do you really want to support such despicable people, or play their game?
K. ralho said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:47 am
F*ck you, Steve Ballmer!
Gazumped Linux vendor tells Ballmer "to look in mirror" - HighPC.net - PC forums said,
November 1, 2007 at 11:58 am
[…] Intel Classmate PCs that were being supplied to the Nigerian Government. However, according to a highly-charged open letter to Steve Ballmer on the Mandriva blog, Microsoft muscled its way into the deal. "Then your people entered the game and the deal got […]
Frost said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Well,
Firstly let me say, what microsoft does is equivalent to what scumbags do.Secondly one thing that microsoft dosent but the linux community have is dedication
Francois said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:24 pm
We already got enough SCAM from Nigeria.
Thanks Microsoft for those new 17000 new windows Zombie PC that will flood us we SPAM.
Anónimo said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:35 pm
I’m sure he paid the nigerian politics, but they may even gave MS Windows for free. The reason is to get another country to become windows-dependant. If you make people to use Windows, they will use Windows at work because that’s what they know and they will get to pay for that.
M$’s moto is “let’em piracy our SW for personal use, and so we’ll make cash from their comercial use.”
Carta oberta a Steve Ballmer de part de Mandriva » Carta de navegació said,
November 1, 2007 at 12:39 pm
[…] Bancilhon ha publicat al blog de Mandriva la següent carta oberta Steve Ballmer,President i “Ceo” (president executiu) de […]
Sergio Hernando » Carta abierta de Mandriva a Microsoft said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:01 pm
[…] Impresionante carta abierta de Franois Bancilhon a Steve Ballmer. […]
Tam said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:05 pm
I wouldnt worry about this, windows is a sinking ship, well vista is anyway, i work in the IT industry and Vista is pretty much a bad word, with Russia aiming to be windows free by 2009 (govt policy) and china and japan changing all thier schools to linux, windows vista has killed microsoft, DOT and DOD in the US, the NHS in the UK, have ALL stated they WILL NOT USE VISTA, and about time as soon as linux and other open source software is as popular as windows these big corporations wont be able to hold us all back with thier locked down software, the more linux and such OS’s catch on the more people will see how much more powerful they are than windows, job done, Thank You Vista!! (possibly the worst OS in the history of OS’s, and before you say, windows ME may BSOD everytime you blink, but it still runs faster than vista!!!)
Uma carta aberta ao Steve Ballmer | Open Mania said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:08 pm
[…] chega de conversa, podem ver esta carta aqui, mas está em inglês. Para quem não perceber nada de inglês podem usar o Google translate. mas […]
[Open Blog] » Blog Archive » Lettre ouverte a Steve Ballmer (Trad') said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:21 pm
[…] http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/ […]
Gary said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Just one gripe…
Before you send out these letters, you should have someone check your grammar and spelling.
It’s a lot more powerful of a message to read if the letter is professionally written and the prose is proper.
I get the context of the message, but found myself cringing a couple times.
Earered said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Just a note on corruption.
A company paying officials to ensure that they get their product isn’t a “desperate move”
Here is the plan:
1. Give money to the official
2. The official decide to buy your product at a higher cost
3. ????
4. Profit
The higher cost is on the country.
Nothing specific to Nigeria
Now, I have no idea if it is what happened.
A reason (true or untrue, but which will be as a justification if bribe was indeed used) is the “R&D” (hardware, software) investment that M.S. can pull: creating a viable ecosystem vs a niche.
They can pull that stunt because their system isn’t managed with the same tools, so the student who learn windows supposedly won’t be able to manage linux (the non-standard and incompatibilities aspects (at least perceived as such) are a boon, because Microsoft can easily provide a full answer (they will certainly play down the existence of samba, apache or any standard product which would allow to create a foothole for alternatives).
Earered said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:33 pm
BTW, François
Have you considered contacting the DGSE? If an official is asking that you counter a bribe (in a subtle way), they’ll be able to help (at least some counsel, if it’s a serious bribe or just a scam).
Mandriva attackiert Microsoft wegen Windows auf Classmate PCs - Fedora-Blog.de said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:42 pm
[…] Winfuture berichtet, hat Mandriva Boss Francoise Bancilhon in seinem Blog Microsoft und Steve Ballmer scharf attackiert. Grund für diese Attacke ist, das sich Nigeria […]
Patrick said,
November 1, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Ok this is actually funny, a company makes a sell then cry’s because another company came in behind them and sells their product, well too bad. The Linux community will always cry about microsoft say they steal their ideas, while they peddel a product Open Source Linux which come in so many versions that you never really know what you are getting, every user is not a computer geek and wants to take the long road to a end goal. Mabye you are a small company and Steve did not know who you were because you spend time Blogging about how could Steve Ballmer do this to you instead of telling how good your product is and working hard on the next sale, no other company is gonna look out for your best interest not Microsoft, Apple, or even Red Hat you must first beat other Linux Builders before you look to take on microsoft.
Franz said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Nigeria should have selected OLPC …Windows is so bad and heavy that it can not even run on the XO.
Josias said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Well… Mandriva = Mandrake + Conectiva. Conectiva wasn’t the most ethical company in the world. Imagine that in Brazil.
We’re used to say that “unless proven otherwise, you’re one of them”. Don’t believe in companies, most of them will do anything to get everywhere. Including Mandriva.
With that in mind, come on François! Haven’t you spread some FUD around so you can get that big time contract? That’s what business is all about.
crisis said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:15 pm
printed!
go on fighting! thank you!
greg gregory said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:20 pm
You should realize too, that Intel probably had a lot to do with this. They are equally as slimy as Microsoft, especially in the division responsible for the classmate PC.
Paden Clayton said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:26 pm
With something like this, M$ has probably paid the government or offered something in return. I have been a long time linux user; Madrake 8 was my first romp with linux and ive loved it ever since. Mandriva is an amazing OS much better than windows (ive been with them since 3.1 and the DOS days).
Windows imho is not a good OS for these systems, it is a huge memory and resource hog, i mean install it on a 3 year old system and then compare its performance with linux on that system, its just plain reason that you need a system specifically built for these pcs and not a dumbed down version of windows.
Microsoft’s crooked ways probably went something along the lines of “Madriva stole our IP to build its OS if you use it we’ll sue you”
I hope you guys fight it and win, you have an amazing product and even though im an Ubuntu user, you will always be my favorite OS, also awesome job on Metrissa!
axel said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:33 pm
cheaters!
Jimbo said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Foreword: I am NOT an advocate of Microsoft’s business practices or products. Really. I sell enterprise “middleware” products that directly compete with them. I know where you’re coming from, but reacting as you have _in a public forum_ is not productive.
I’m sorry, but this kind of “open” message is not what I would expect from a responsible executive who is respectful of his customers and looking to grow a business. All you’ve achieved in posting this is to tarnish your own reputation.
1) Why not ask the Nigerian government instead of targeting Microsoft? Ultimately, it was the customer who chose the product.
2) This letter fails to relate any meaningful argument for use of your product or service. It paints you as the loser in a battle against a business with market power and substantial assets. Those two points might be the very ones that won Microsoft the contract.
3) It’s obvious you’re upset, but it’s never a good idea to write in anger.
4) As a leadership figure you can’t get visibly upset like this. It’s bad for company morale and tends to turn away customers. Leaders don’t focus on problems - they focus on solutions.
If this kind of tone and lack of respect for your competition and customers is typical for the way you conduct your business you should consider hiring professional sales and public relations groups and _step away_ from public forums. Let them act as a guiding force to channel your passion in a focused, constructive way.
All you’re doing is fostering the perception that Mandriva (and, sadly, the rest of we “linux kids”) are arrogant and disrespectful. That makes it very difficult for the rest of us to compete with groups like Microsoft and achieve a sale.
Charles said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Would you entrust your country’s educational computer future to a company whose CEO writes whiny unprofessional conspiracytheories on his blog? I sure as hell wouldn’t.
Even if bribes were made (and I’m just saying hypothetically ‘if’), the reality is that for this to have happened somebody must have seen value in a Microsoft solution over your ware. It’s your fault for not being able to convince the customer otherwise, not Microsoft’s for behaving like a business.
Grow up.
Anonymous Coward said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Sounds like Nigeria is installing windows to further their 419 Scammers. If everyone uses windows then they can install back door government spyware to catch them.
Mark said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Bob,
I’m sure he got outsold because Microsoft offered the products for negative cost + a free support contract or some such.
If you see no problem with a convicted monopoly engaging in this behavior in the developing world, I hope you enjoy the coming depression in your economy :).
Cheers!
Mark
Nigeria: cumpărăm Linux, instalăm Windows « Andrei Maxim | ro said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:07 pm
[…] fan al categoriei/tag-ului “wtf”, dar era cât pe ce să-l folosesc aici. Motivul este scrisoare deschisă către Steve Ballmer a lui François Bancilhon, CEO-ul de la Mandriva, o distribuţie destul de populară de Linux […]
Yovko Yovkov said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Hi,
I read some of the comments, not all, so please excuse me …
How it happens here in my country (Bulgaria) the deal with MS… The deal was closed, w/o any competitors to be invited. The Govermentals buyed the licenses (30 000 pcs.) on the prise like you can go to the closes shop.
The problem is not only, and not mainly in MS, the problem is in people living in the country.
If you ever know how strange are people sudied in the komunist schools, you will understand the problem.
P.S.:
I do not use Mandriva, but every news regarding people who use Linux, spend effort to improve the quality of the freedom is interesting for me. I hope Nigerian customer will do their best not to spend money to MS, but for their own software ingeneers to develop this so called “killer apps”.
Wish you well Mandriva!
XYZ said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:13 pm
GOD Damn Linux. To hell with Linux and Open Source!!!! Long Live Microsoft!!! Linux is worthless crap
Adam said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I love it when people get all emotional. One that was particularly gratifying was Ryan who penned this “Part of getting your point across is using proper spelling/grammer.” The irony of his awful spelling and syntax is pure joy!
D. Lambert said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Wait a minute …. you’re getting paid for your software, right? And then, MS is going to install Windows instead of your software, and the support calls for these machines go to MS, right?
So you’re getting paid, and you’ve got no support obligation????
Shoot, I’d send Steve a Christmas card. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Haapi said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:15 pm
For those of you saying, “That’s just business,” consider that there *was* a competition for the contract, where Mandriva and MIcrosoft gave it their best shot, and the Nigerian government chose Mandriva on its merits. Microsoft lost.
But to have the game changed after that competition — that takes influence and power beyond normal business, so I sympathize with Mandriva on this one.
As for François, spelling and grammar, I would bet that Steve’s writing in French would not be very polished, either.
noddyz said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Since i discovered mandriva in 97 i never switched OS and i work with other OSsses at work. So what can be said, it was business as usual, see the movie blood diamond, in that movie they have one expression about Africa, i guess it is “This is Africa!” to mean that is a chaotic place that is governed by guns and corrupt leaders. Don’t expect anything different from that.
Carta abierta a Steve Ballmer : Un lugar en el mundo… said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:17 pm
[…] de la carta abierta que François Bancilhon, Presidente de Mandriva Linux, hace a Steve Ballmer de Microsoft con […]
J-F said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Mandriva won a contract fair and square. The goods a being delivered, and all of the sudden, without explanation, the client changes it mind.
Oh sure!
Microsoft had _nothing_ to do with that. Obviously it has to do with Francois writing quality and the fact that the Nigerian government woke up and realized that they should have gone with Windows from the very start.
I can’t believe the amount of poster who assume that Microsoft had nothing to do with this. Wake up folks! Microsoft made is mandatory that they _cannot_ allow Linux to win anywhere in the world and will go to any ends to ensure that this is the case.
Francois, you have my support and backing. In fact, I’m heading to the Mandriva store right now, and I’ll happily purchase a copy of Mandriva to support you.
Enough of this despotism in the world of computing. We need choice and freedom.
– J-F Bilodeau
– Proud Linux user
Chris said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Do you suppose, it’s just possible, that maybe they’d rather use a better product? Pretty obvious, if you ask me.
Hudson said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:23 pm
To all those who are making comments about the author’s spelling - don’t forget, the guy’s mother tongue is french. I’d like to see how well you’d do writing something in a different language.
And to cp - yes, this stinks. It reeks. Corruption does that. If it walks like a duck …
Randall Smock said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:27 pm
A shame, Steve more than likely through in *free* windows for each machine in return for a long term support contract, of course that doesn’t include productivity software, that will be an unpleasant extra.
On the grammer/spelling, I suspect knowing that François Bancilhon more than likely speaks English as a second language and this post was a convient translation for Steve and the lazy lot of US (or is that U.S. ?) I appreciate the effort as its better than a Alta Vista translation but agree that communication at this level needs to be clean and precise.
Best of luck with these folks, they will do whatever is necessary to get their products into the hands of people that they see as a developing market.
Randall Smock said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:28 pm
through, or threw…. doh.
Bob said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Is this your commercial strategy ? Complain each time you lose a deal.
MS softwares are almost free in emerging markets (http://www.microsoft.com/emerging/default.mspx) , you ‘d better spend your time and energy on improving your products.
Compete, don’t complain.
SuD said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:30 pm
Will they install Vista and increase hardware requirements, or do what they don’t allow me to do (replace it by XP) ?
noddyz said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:32 pm
begin troll:
So I began in DOS 3.3, then i upgraded to 5.0 , 6.0 windows 3.1 … windows NT, 95, 98, me, xp, with some linuxes, redhat, slackware, etc in the middle and then i finished my OS evolution in Mandrake, that latter became Mandriva.
I paid for all the hardware/software from my pocket in between all those evolutions. And now those ugly, poor, ignorant, future scammers africans kids will get a free laptop that would come with the best OS i found until today for free ?!?!? NO WAY !!!! Make them known that evolution doesn’t come for free ! GIVE THEM VISTA !!! Make them know that evolution has a path and a price ! Leave them to suffer with Vista light with DRM and crippleware, don’t forget to install norton antivirus and WGA. After that when they think that they can live well without computers offer them slackware linux, them give them gentoo, and when they understand the evolution of the OS finally let them install Mandriva.
Jim Hartley said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Hey, maybe the TCO of Windoze **IS LOWER** in this case. Of course, since Linux is free, that would mean that the cost of Windoze would have to be LESS THAN ZERO …. M$ is now paying people to use Windoze … wow!
mejason69 said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:34 pm
hey its Nigeria…. they are probly gonna put hacked windows on it!!!
and spam the hell out of Steve!!
midi-man said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Don’t worry the will get what they disserve. I hope they get hacked up the wazo!
They will spend a fortune just buying applications to protect it.
Prime News Blog » Blog Archive » wonder woman facial cum Mandriva: An open letter to Steve Ballmer said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:35 pm
[…] Classmate PC’s with Mandriva Linux to have MS Windows installed later. wonder woman assread more | digg […]
Juan Martin said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Nigeria, a country that wants to leave all the miseries affecting the zone, choosing MS Windows as their solution for teach their students, hmmm…
And what would be teached to his students? How to find bugs? How to not make an operating system? How to not do the right things?.
Sincerely, nigerian governors, I’ll expected more of a country that is, technologically speaking, in underdevelopment. And after this surely you still ask why the more developed countries still don’t give you more support.
Cheers.
Bobby said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Dudes - the guy is French. His English isn’t perfect and he’s made some classic Franglais mistakes. WTF - So he should have had a native speaker edit the post? Like a f*&^ing politician? He’s human. I’m sure your English is just flawless. How’s your second language? Yeah, I know already you don’t have one.
David said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Ryan and Hmmm, did it ever occur to you that English is likely not Francois’s first language? Let’s see you write a letter without any mistakes in a second language, if you are even enlightened enough to learn another language.
——————————————————–
“Interesting… but if your wordsmithing skills are any indication of your salesmanship, I can understand why they changed their minds. This letter reads like a missive written by a six year-old on an etch-a-sketch.” -Hmmm
“Part of getting your point across is using proper spelling/grammer…It’s not hard to edit before you submit…” - Ryan
Ralf said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:45 pm
It’s called business. Microsoft’s dominance did not come out of nowhere. It was earned hard with thousands of people working 100 hour weeks especially during the early years.
Open source companies have to understand that you can’t make money with “free” stuff.
Open source companies have to understand that you can’t re-write the rule of free markets (also called capitalism).
Personal notes » Blog Archive » Open letter to S. Ballmer said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:49 pm
[…] the first, and most likely not the last, open letter that has been addressed to the nice calm and open minded man we all know under the name of Steve A. […]
Some Guy said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:51 pm
So, what you are saying is…. the Nigerians want an OS that can actually run applications…. Wow, thats a shock. But I think it’s more that they want test boxes to send spam too.
josh said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:56 pm
you guys are nerds, they chose windows because windows owns linux.
Nado said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:56 pm
[quote]#
cp said,
This is business. You won’t win anything by whining. Try harder.
By the way, when you’re saying that MS has no ethics you’re also implying that the Nigerian government, with whom you were trying to do business, doesn’t have either since they accepted Microsoft’s deal.
[/quote]
What kind of planet are you coming from ? A client doesn’t need to have ethics. A client simply accepts the best deal it is offered period.
Now I’m sure Mandriva came up with a pretty competitive deal, but these power hungry monopolistic dick heads over there at Redmond must have come up with “a better one”.
I’m just wondering if they really care about their image anymore…
Joshua Preston said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:56 pm
I think you guys are missing the point… The Nigerians didn’t have a choice. How else can they create a massive ‘botnet’ of spam zombies? I’m sure nobody else has received a 419 scam. By switching to Windows, they can now have an instant 17,000 botnot to do its evil spam bidding. We can only hope that Steve et al., help out that nice young heir who needs help transferring his recently deceased father and sick mother…
Andy said,
November 1, 2007 at 3:59 pm
If you’re trying to teach computer literacy it’s probably a better idea to teach dose than Linux. Many users never progress beyond rote learning which icon to click and are completely inflexible with interfaces. Dose has a fairly consistent interface and is commonly used in businesses.
Not many people outside the IT field really care about the technology underneath an OS. That’s the thing about computer nerds - they forget that a computer is a tool and not an end in itself.
It really doesn’t matter if your box runs dose or *ix. All that really matters is the learning curve - how quickly can you get up and running to use the computer as a business tool?
Computers as science tools is a different kettle of fish. But scientists should be fairly intelligent and cognitively flexible enough to learn Linux.
Any purist will shoot me down, but the real world is not pure. Deal with it and stop whining.
Ramiro said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I just wanted to make a comment about this posting:
“Interesting… but if your wordsmithing skills are any indication of your salesmanship, I can understand why they changed their minds. This letter reads like a missive written by a six year-old on an etch-a-sketch.”
This is a very US centric comment. Francois has most probably English as a second (or maybe third or fourth because Europeans are taught to learn about cultures, history and languages besides their own). He is having the courtesy of trying to write this open letter using the recipient mother language (being an American, Ballmer most probably only speaks English since, to the contrary of European countries, Americans are taught to only get interested in their own closed circle).
Regards
Ramiro
Disclaimer: I am an English as a second language person (please do not bash me for any grammatical mistakes I may have done).
Buzz Aldrin said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:01 pm
To the Microsoft apologists:
vbNullString said “I always wonder why Linux people are so hateful about Microsoft. I like Microsoft products because they work for what I want to do.” so I guess you don’t care if child slave-labor made your shoes, as long as they’re comfortable?
Bob said “sounds like you got outsold.” no, sounds like they were a victim of a mega-corporation illegally dumping its products in order to eliminate competition.
Wake up, people…
Layman said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I liked the letter so i translated to Spanish o Castellano in http://layman-news.blogspot.com/2007/11/una-carta-abierta-steve-ballmer.html So more people can read it.
Anonymous hero said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Hi There,
Anyone knows where I can apply to claim I replaced my Mandriva 2007 with whatever Windows version and receive money in exchange ? How much can I expect ?
Just one wish, if possible: may I still use my Mandriva 2007 afterwards ? Since I abandoned Windows on my PCs, it’s the Linux I found which satisfies me perfectly. Not even thinking to upgrade to 2007 Spring or 2008 !
Seko said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Well… why all this? Every time that a company looses a sale it`s normal to talk very bad of the Winner… that`s normal. If Nigeria chooses Windows, is because it`s better for Nigeria and not Linux. Damned all robotic-linux-users…
Everyone have it`s own choice! Windows or Linux, choose the best for YOU! And don`t care about the other`s choice of anothers company…
the_piano_man said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:08 pm
To some people, money is not the most important thing in life - integrity is. Those who worship money will never understand this. The minions and their leaders at ms worship money. ( Oh so you think they don’t worship money - visit the Redmond Wa. area and look at some of their houses and cars and then tell me they don’t worship money ok? If you have not been here you don’t know.) They will never truly understand the ethical basis for open source software, free software or reasons for sharing information. What is that old proverb - something about they won’t get it until they discover that money cannot be eaten? Like it or not, money (greed) is the basis for most evil in this world. The actions and implied actions in this case reflect the worship of money, greed, and inherent lack of integrity of the parties involved (most of the people at ms and just a few of the people in Nigeria), and the users suffer with an inferior software product (ms) that, among many other drawbacks, promotes the discarding of millions of computers every few years because of upgrades that are incompatible with old hardware. Not so with Linux. Think of how many older computers are kept out landfills because they work quite will on Linux.
george said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:12 pm
averagebeatboy said, Wait until they discover Windoze still runs on top of DOS and uses Winsock DLL for communications. ROTFLMAO
averagebeatboy, Win hasn’t run on top of DOS since all versions were moved over to the NT kernel.
Please dont try to help if you dont really know.
That said - they will proqbably have to install Win 95 since the other versions dont run well in a small memory box.
.. so they will be running DOS..
Fred said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:14 pm
LMAO
I don’t see what the problem is. You’re getting paid for your machines and software. It just happens that the end user has decided to change parts of THEIR product THEY have paid for.
Unless you happen to be Apple, this is well within their rights.
If the right thing was to help the Nigerians got cheap computers then its worked, whether you like their choice of OS or not.
kereberos said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Did any of you think for a second that the cost of the mandriva deal + cost of windows was cheaper than the cost of a microsoft offered windows + hardware deal? If so, they may have bought the mandriva based solution just to get the hardware in the first place.
Of course we all know linux zealots love conspiracy theories.
Pedro said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:21 pm
That is a typical business practice. Is unethical and immoral but is very common around the world. One person here say why we are so hateful towards MS. Well is not about been hateful, is about choices. I like the freedom of choice. Yes, their stuff works, well? Sometimes and there is a place for MS in this planet. Lets put this on a perspective that some people might understand….
Is like the only car in the world is MS and we all buy MS because works, not the greatest but works. Everyone knows how to fix it. But there is one problem, they all come on one Color and one Shape… They are other car manufacturers that wants some different (like Henry Ford said… You can buy a Ford in any color as long is Black). Do we have to blame other people because they want to drive some else? Now imagine a world with the same car, color and shape.
The same is with computers. I remember a TV commercial when Apple introduce the Mac in 1984. Everybody was bald headed, wear some kind of gray suit, and they were watching an old guy telling them what to do. Some girl comes around with a sledgehammer and she hard colors on her clothes. She end up been chased and smashed the TV.
See here… http://www.apple-history.com/movies/1984.mov
That was the company that Bill Gates co founded with Steve Jobs. Going against the status quo. Now they are on the big screen TV preaching what we have to buy.
Ironic?
Shiko said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:21 pm
Speaking as an African linux user, I don’t think MS won anything though it may look like a great victory. The number of pirated copies of their OS in Nigeria effectively makes this victory worthless. Yes they shall get a few government contracts and many students wont be given the freedom to choose a decent OS and would end up being shoddy techs. The only loss here is to the students and workers who would carry on not knowing that there are indeed better alternatives.
Victory eh? They just handed the first few hundred Cd’s to their demise. Wait till the real Nigerian racketeers looking to make a fast buck gets hold of a few of those disks. Burn and spread shall begin and there goes their target market of ordinary consumers.
If they are indeed smart they would leave the African market to the open source guys. The open source sells support and basically charges next to nothing for the OS itself (the cost of the optical disk and manuals). Their business model suits Africa just fine… “OS free and support for sale”. But come in with MS restrictive licensing and you are beckoning to pirates to make a fast buck off you.
Mandriva there is nothing to bother about. Anyday now those MS OS disks would surface in the black market prepackaged and cracked for the convenience of the customer and there is nothing MS can to enforce proper use out there.
Cthulhu Linux » Blog Archive » Irony, Thy Name Is Microsoft said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:22 pm
[…] Oy. Mandriva sells 17,000 pre-installed Linux systems to Nigeria, and then at the last moment Microsoft steps in and wham, the systems are all changed to XP. Or could it be Vista? Nah, too heavy for those lightweight computers. Mandriva 2008 is such a nice system, clearly best of breed this year. Poor, poor MS; having to butt in and finagle such a tiny deal. Some chairs in a certain somewhere must be pretty nervous right now. Hahahaha. […]
Benjamin Sergeant said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Je suis scandalise par ces methodes et vous manifeste tout mon soutien.
ibrahim said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Good Work , go on Mandriva , go on Nigeria
Adam said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Maybe they realized that their Nigerian spam bots don’t run on Linux :).
An open letter to Steve Ballmer from Mandriva at Jeremy’s Blog said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:40 pm
[…] The CEO of Mandriva just posted an open letter to Steve Ballmer: […]
Dave said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Dear Mandrake Guy,
You must consider that the Nigerians intended to go with Windows all along. They probably told Microsoft that if they didn’t get the price they wanted, they’d go with Linux.
It wouldn’t be the first time…..
Y vino Microsoft y los cagó | Blog de Tinchio said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:41 pm
[…] por esta situación que el presidente de Mandriva, François Bancilhon, escribio una carta abierta a Steve Ballmer reclamandole el porque de su modo de actuar tan […]
Mandriva - An Open Letter to Steve Ballmer | AVINASH 2.0 said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:41 pm
[…] can money buy? The answer is in Mandriva’s (previously Mandrake) open letter to Steve Ballmer: […]
OSmaniac said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:43 pm
M$ ethics $UCK$ will all know that!!! tell us something new.
El blog de Casidiablo » Blog Archive » Microsoft frustra la compra de 17.000 PC con Mandriva Linux said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:46 pm
[…] pagado a Mandriva, ahora todos esos PC tienen Windows instalado. El CEO de Mandriva ha escrito una carta abierta a Steve Ballmer (en inglés). Para los que no hablen la lengua de Shakespeare, un miembro de Blogdrake ha […]
HernanKowalsky said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:48 pm
So Nigeria has purchased your products and wants to try Windows on them,
Are you tellimg me that an open source guy like you prefers to restrict the software that should be used in the final machine?
I mean, It is their decision, have you got any proof of wrongdoing by microsoft?
If they do not have the brains to shoose the right product why do you complain regarding microsoft tactics ( and what tactics are you implying? your open letter is kind of obscure)
Oh, i forgot , you “Care” you Care that the choose Windows over linux but you do not care their system is so corrupt that foul play can be performed, do you actually understand what the word choice means?
If your product is superior they may still install it back.
has it occurred to you that maybe the first people to test the system were not familiar enough with it and decided to install windows becasue they were familiar with it ( probably the IT boss who saw it was afraid to change, happens everyday in IT)
CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant · DigitalEarth - Make digital future said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:49 pm
[…] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments […]
Marc said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Why Would microsoft need to care about nigeria enough to bribe them? Why would they pay anyone to install 16,000 copies of Windows? this is small potatoes.
this is what actually happenned. Some nerd pushed Linux internally and when the people who used them said, Hey why cant I print, why can’t I open this PDF, Why can’t I open this webste, Why can’t I open this word document, Why can’t I install Itunes, they realized they bought something not worth the money.
foxy lady said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Hey, they’re nigerians.
The guys at the coalface evaluated and selected and will use Mandriva on Intel, the skanks in the gov took steve’s money, issued the press release and everyone’s happy.
My money is that the guys at the coalface will continue to install/use mandriva and the guys in the gov will continue to look for money and monkey boy will continue to jump around waving his press release or latest paid for gartner report.
So it goes….
Girls Love Gadgets | CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:52 pm
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omz said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:56 pm
“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.”
Greetings from Argentina and keep the good work ( go Mandriva ! ).
–omz
Mandriva Blog » An open letter to Steve Ballmer said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:56 pm
[…] alejandrops wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt […]
Dragă Ballmer… by RObuntu said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:57 pm
[…] Bancilhon de la Mandriva, i-a trimis o scrisoare deschisă lui Steve Ballmer, în care cerea o serie de lămuriri cu privire la intruziunea dubioasă a […]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant - Tech|noob said,
November 1, 2007 at 4:57 pm
[…] that hard work, good technology and ethics can win too."[Via Yahoo News/PC Magazine] Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the […]
Artuir said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:03 pm
It’s too bad this letter was written without any proofreading whatsoever. The english is horrible and it comes off as very unprofessional.
CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant | Start Tech News said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:06 pm
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Dekimasen said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:06 pm
>I always wonder why Linux people are so hateful about Microsoft. I like Microsoft products because they work for what I want to do.
The problem is not so much Microsoft’s products (like Windows), but the fact that the company seems to have a complete lack of moral/ethics in everything they do. I wish for them to burn in hell for all eternity for all they have done.
- Linux person
ruben savazzi said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Francoise can you explai me why the nigerian gov muat pay for mandriva sw like you say,is this not open source sw?
DiBosco said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:09 pm
I’m amazed at some of the posts here defending Microsoft’s actions. This is just another in a long line of Microsoft using their financial muscle to bully other, smaller companies. Just another example of their anti-trust (horrible phrase) behaviour; it is *not* just about normal business practice.
Someone put it quite nicely earlier on with the drug dealing analogy. Microsoft is a huge corporation that is swimming in simply obscene profits, so why are they worried about a little order for an African country? The reason is because as well as their overpriced, unreliable operating systems, they sell overpriced applications such as Office; once organisations such as local and national governments start to switch to Linux and other open source tools like Open Office and KOffice, they won’t be able to push these products either. The more people latch on to Open Office standards, the more Microsoft will be forced in to adopting these open standards too - all of which will open up more and more people to the possibility of using non-Microsoft operating systems.
This is why they are desperately going around making these deals that at best cannot be earning them any money and at worst will be losing them money
To the person that said they liked Microsoft because it’s always just worked for him I would say two things:
1. You haven’t actually used Microsoft very much or pushed their products very hard. In my experience it often breaks, it constantly slows down with time and is always suffering badly at the hands of attacks by works, viruses or trojans. I had to smile in Basel airport the other day as I say the blue screen of death on one of the monitors showing departure times; it can’t even do a simple task like that without falling over. The standard of Microsoft’s software is quite simply appalling - it does not “just work”.
2. Linux just works these days for the majority of hardware. Imagine what it would be like if Microsoft weren’t playing these dirty tricks to encourage people to do only closed source drivers.
The one valid criticism I have seen is the standard of François’ English, but then again, I’d love to see Balmer’s attempt to write a letter in French! François, if you ever need something like this proofread by a native English speaker, just ask, I’d be happy to give a little more back to your company. A company whose products I am very proud to use.
she said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Hey guys, you are quite aware that everyone knows what you call it, right?
I mean… if someone suddenly changes his opinion… and installs proprietary solutions at a given same quality…. we all know the word for it.
PS: Damn the EU, they turned a “victory” for free markets into a tightlock for a single company not long ago… sad sad sad.
FreeSoftNews » Blog Archive » An open letter to Steve Ballmer said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:12 pm
[…] Read more at Mandriva Blog […]
Warez Cat » CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:13 pm
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Incremental Blogger » Blog Archive » Is it good or bad if the Classmate PC runs Windows? said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:14 pm
[…] open letter by François Bancilhon CEO of Linux-maker Mandriva does a lot of complaining and innuendo about the Nigerian government evidently going with Windows […]
Websites Reviewer » Blog Archive » CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:15 pm
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Oliver said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:16 pm
As others have said, I would love to share this blog but the spelling and grammar are not professional enough. If someone could help edit this I would love to share it!
rod / techfold.com said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Quit pouting and let the nigerians make their decision as they see fit to do. There is no “right thing” in software, just what happens to fit at any given moment based on the combination of information available and motivations.
Focus your attention on crafting a superior product, not linkbaiting the blogosphere.
GadgetsPlanet.info » CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:21 pm
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MS subverts OLPC « 0ddn1x: tricks with *nix said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:24 pm
[…] MS subverts OLPC Filed under: Hardware, Linux, News — 0ddn1x @ 2007-11-01 16:24:15 +0000 http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/ […]
Patrick said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Hey Ryan, before you go on teaching others how to use proper “GRAMMER”, its GRAMMAR you idiot. Picking on people that make mistakes, that the tactics 12 years old use to try and discredit someone when they have nothing better to add. I wonder, how many languages do you speak Ryan? Probably just english right? Thats what lots of english speakers do, because they know only one.. Why don’t you try learning more than 1. See how well you can cope then..
And next time Ryan, try to read yourself twice.. “GRAMMER”…
On another note. I know its dissapointing for Mandriva to have lost this. But unfortunately money does talk louder than ethics sometimes. And sometimes its not just about money but just being manipulated. Linux will have its share of the cake eventually. Its hard to make people see things another way when you are used to seeing one thing around all the time. Patience is the key.
MKx said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Microsoft step is more about preventing Linux from having ground than to gain money. They could be losing money in this deal, but it’s nothing to MS. Preventing Liniux from spreading is a higher priority. Playing dirty is a non-issue for MS.
Ian said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:31 pm
So, here is my take.
First: To all the peeps whining about the inconsistent grammar in his letter… get a grip. I would make a small guess (with no information one way or the other on which to base the guess, you know what worth it has) that with a name such as Francois his first language isn’t English.
Second, if this guy has proof that Steve (or his minions) bribed anyone, he should come out with it. Everyone knows, or should know by now, the lengths to which MS will go in order to profligate its crap. Why be surprised then (much less whine about it) when they do what they have always done. Could it be that they just offered up a free operating system + free support in perpetuity for the 17,000 machines? Is that a bribe? I wonder what the support contract was going to pay Francois? Maybe instead of being morally-outraged-‘bout-bribery, you are pissed now because you lost out on future revenue? Could it be that you are just sore because MS took away all the post-sales lucre that was YOUR only profit? Could be that you sold the machines at a “discount” or “loss leader” so that you could get in on the support funding stream post sales? If this is so then who *wasn’t* using the power of their pocketbook in Nigeria? … Your ability to buy 17,000 machines gives you an economy-of-scale which gets you cheap machines that you sell at-cost or below (right?), then you whine when the stream from which you were expecting your only money has now been dried up by MS who also is looking to give away something at first so that they can get FAT on the down-stream end of the seed planting. Come on, who’s fooling who here.
Oh, I guess those were my take(s).
Charlie said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Ryan reminded us:
“Part of getting your point across is using proper spelling/grammer.
“I’m sure we’re way too small for you to know me. You know, we’re one of these tiny Linux COMPANY working hard for our place on the market”.
It’s not hard to edit before you submit…”
I’d remind Ryan that
- grammer is an actor (Kelsey Grammer)
- grammar relates to the rules of language.
Perhaps editing before submitting is too hard for Ryan?
Jansait.NET » Blog Archive » CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:33 pm
[…] I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win too.”[Via Yahoo News/PC Magazine] Read | Permalink | Email this | CommentsOffice Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the […]
Richard Chapman said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I see the Microsoft vultures are circling here. Must be a memo from Monkey Boy himself. “Hang on the refresh button on http://blog.mandriva.com and pounce the minute Francois posts his reply to our ‘move’.” Oh, and to the [expletive deleted] who complained about English grammar, let’s see you post a comment in French.
That Mandriva got a deal at all with Nigeria is a mark of good salesmanship. That the most corrupt government made a deal with the most corrupt corporation is, unfortunately, to be expected.
Francois, we encourage you to fight. You may not win, but the process may expose where and how the money changed hands in their unclean partnership. There is not much we can do except to counter the propaganda from Microsoft, their partners and developers.
Like another poster mentioned, I strongly suspect that Mandriva will end up on most of those computers anyway. Never ask an aging invalid to do the job of a young man.
Feed Me Feeds » Blog Archive » CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:34 pm
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SesoLibre.com » Blog Archive » Carta a Microsoft de Mandriva por cambiar decisión Nigeriana said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:35 pm
[…] la intención del gobierno Nigeriano para instalar Windows sobre Mandriva. Pongo una liga a la carta original escrita por François Bancilhon el presidente de Mandriva dirigida a Steve Ballmer de Microsoft (Carta) y copio la […]
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XLVIII: Mandriva CEO slams Ballmer in blog rant » Developages - Development and Technology Blog said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:38 pm
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Juego sucio de Ballmer « enredando said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:43 pm
[…] la propuesta bajo una justa competencia, ahora de la noche a la mañana, como nos cuentan en el blog oficial de Mandriva, viene Microsoft y les quita el negocio así como […]
user said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Some people and some companies are simply unethical. I won’t support them.
Larus said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:44 pm
I thougth that Mandriva was bigger than this. By keepin up good work you can grow. MS and Steve _are_ shaking allready. My support for Mandriva and Linux!
Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning? : PornoMania said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:44 pm
[…] Pueden leer la carta original aqui. […]
Manu Ullas said,
November 1, 2007 at 5:45 pm
This is really sad!
My very first PC came with Windows 95 pre-installed in the year ‘97. I used only Windows, being naive at the time about Linux, I kept thinking that Microsoft had a grand vision of the future and theirs was the way to go. I also thought they did good work, and had some good planned for the consumers.
In short, I held them in high esteem, but now, after Vista and then this!
There’s a very huge compromise the OLPCs will be taking on. You’re actually talking about loading M$ into these machines, there’s a lot of performance to be sacrificed. Mandriva is probably better suited and more optimized to run in low-load environments, I shudder to think of how those PCs are going to perform once loaded with Windows.
Come on Steve, being referred to as M$ is just shameful, why don’t you guys re-think your dominate the world strategy? Let others work with you.
Think about this: “…the best solution will come when everybody in the industry does what is best for himself and for the