09.02.09
Microsoft Shoots Down Stallman’s Public Speech in Argentina — Claim
“…yesterday we were notified that the Microsoft representative in charge with the education strategy had requested the organizers to pull the Ubuntu presentation because it is ‘unfair competition’ to hold such a presentation at an event sponsored by them. They are indeed co-sponsors but the conference is organized by the Ministry of Education and its local office, and is being held on the premises of a public University.”
–“Then, they fight you,” May 2008
Summary: Microsoft’s deal with UTN (Universidad Tecnologica Nacional) allegedly behind the cancellation of Richard Stallman’s anticipated talk in Argentina
ABOUT a week ago, The New York Times wrote a piece about Stallman taking his message to Argentina (the word “crusade” was inappropriately used, which assimilates Free software to religion and subjugation). Argentina is in the process of moving towards Free software (see [1-9] below), so this speech from Stallman is important.
“Argentina is in the process of moving towards Free software…”Several people at Identi.ca are now pointing out that “Microsoft canceled [this] Stallman conference in Argentina.”
Here is the source of their claim (automated English translation), in addition to others.
Does any of this sound familiar? The events summarised by the quote at the top very nicely relate to the special relationship between Microsoft and Romania.
Later on people ask questions like, “why does the FSF complain about Microsoft?” [1, 2, 3, 4] █
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[1] Argentina considering going 100% open source
Argentina’s congress is actively considering a bill that would require all government offices to use open-source software.
[2] Argentina Mulls Open-Source Move
Argentina may become the first country in the world to require all government offices to use open-source software, pending the outcome of a bill recently introduced in the nation’s congress.
Red Hat (NYSE:RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that YPF SA, a leading oil and gas company in Argentina, has migrated from proprietary UNIX operating systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 with integrated virtualization technology on Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers for its YPF Gas business unit. With the Red Hat on Intel processor combination, YPF Gas’ IT infrastructure has experienced reduced costs, boosted performance, increased scalability and agility and expanded flexibility.
[4] Quick Look at Urli OS 6.10 [from Argentinia]
Hardware support was good, I didn’t really have to set up anything upon boot. I did have to adjust the the X server settings, but that’s par for the course for me and my two vastly differing monitors. Otherwise sound, usb, printer, etc seemed ready to go. System performance was amazing as mentioned before.
[5] Open Source conference in Argentina draws a crowd
Sponsored by international heavyweights as Red Hat and Intel alongside local outsourcing firms Globant and Tecso, the sixth yearly edition of the Linux and Open Source conference -once again perfectly organised by the Buenos Aires Linux Users Group, CaFeLUG was held at Argentina’s capital.
[6] Penguin migration in Patagonia streamed for all to see
Unfortunately, what looks like a small ISP contracted by the government to do the streaming, choose to use Windows Media for this chore, that means that things are not as easy as they could be for Linux and non-Microsoft users. Fortunately MPlayer 1.0 along with the MPlayer plug-in for Mozilla seem to handle MMS just fine. But depending on your Linux distro you might need to install those.
[7] Latin America becomes the fastest growing region for Red Hat in fiscal 2Q09
Latin America was the fastest growing region for US Linux operating systems integrator Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) during the second quarter of fiscal year 2009, ending August 31, Red Hat’s Latin American marketing manager Martín D’Elia told BNamericas.
[8] Red Hat: Gateway to open source in Latin America
Red Hat has an incredible brand here in South America. Customers trust our quality and value. They may not have heard yet of an Alfresco or Zimbra, but they know Red Hat.
[9] South America warms to Open Source
In South American countries, as in most other areas of the world, the government is by far the biggest purchaser of software. Thus the Open Source trend that is now established in the government sector across the continent will doubtless spur Open Source adoption in the private sector.
There are a variety of motives for Open Source adoption in play in there, from the reduction in software costs to the desire to provide a “leg-up” to the local software industry. However, the motivation of the Peruvian government is unique in that the Peruvian supporters of the bill see “Open Source” as a citizen’s right. The ownership and responsibility for the use of data and software have become a political issue in Peru.
This is an idea that is unlikely to go away.
Dario said,
September 3, 2009 at 1:25 pm
it seems it was just a exageration as the update says
(sorry, to lazy to translate)
Actualización: Javier Salinas ha publicado otra versión de la historia, la cual le resta credibilidad a Matías Aguirre, fuente de esta nota. El origen de la confusión parece provenir desde la agrupación Un Solo Grito, quienes, de acuerdo a Javier Salinas, distribuyeron un panfleto a la salida del teatro donde denunciaban el presunto acuerdo UTN-Microsoft, y todo parece apuntar a una exageración de hechos con intereses políticos. Mil disculpas si hemos ocasionado molestia a alguien en la UTN. Nosotros simplemente hemos publicamos una nota a petición de un usuario quien hizo referencia hacia a Menéme y Matware como fuentes y con argumentos bastante convincentes.
http://www.alcancelibre.org/article.php/cancelan-charla-rms-utn-mar-de-plata
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Thanks.
Yes, I was careful with my wording because I suspected it was just an allegation.