Bonum Certa Men Certa

Gates Foundation Joins Microsoft and Attacks Free Software in Greece

The proud flag of Greece



Summary: In the troubled economy of Europe Bill Gates and Microsoft try to make the population more Redmond dependent and in the United States too the Gates Foundation shapes (changes) public library policies

WHAT clearly contributed to financial problems in Greece was Microsoft dependency and outrageous deals with this monopolist. A couple of years ago Bill Gates traveled to Greece in order to ensure that the country stays stuck with Microsoft. We also wrote about Greece in relation to software patents and in relation to OOXML. Microsoft clearly knows which politicians to exploit there.



“Microsoft clearly knows which politicians to exploit there.”According to this new press release, Bill Gates is now using his foundation to attack the Greek's right to software freedom. Only weeks ago we showed Gates doing the same thing in Vietnam. He was using his foundation along with Microsoft to jointly derail that country's migration to Free software. How inappropriate and unethical, especially for someone who claims his foundation strives to help rather than to harm (or serve a personal agenda and ego). It's a similar situation in Greece now that they try to cut costs. Consider recent articles like [1]-[8] (links at the bottom).

The announcement makes it clear that Gates' foundation is once again 'donating' Microsoft indoctrination in public institutes. To quote the news:

The Seattle foundation presented the library with its 2010 Access to Learning Award. In addition to the prize, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will provide the library with donated software and technology training curriculum. Bill Gates is chairman and co-founder of Microsoft.


Software has no concrete value (Free software is typically gratis) and this so-called 'training' too is worth money to Microsoft, not to Greek people. It creates leverage to Microsoft and dependency to Greece.

For those who want to learn more about this travesty, we have gathered the remainder of the articles in English (it's written like PR for Gates):



Notice what they really do here. It might seem subtle, but they are lobbying to change other libraries using the "models" trick, just like in schools. Basically, they try to present some "model" library or school (the Gates and Microsoft way) and then offer rewards to those who follow this model. To quote one more article:

The award, which is accompanied by a one million dollar cash prize, was bestowed to the Veria National Library as the "most successful library model in Greece and throughout the world".


It is the "change to get a treat" lobbying tactic. How distasteful.

Libraries from the United States have more to teach about what Gates and Microsoft are doing in Greece right now. See for example:



The whole "libraries" spiel is shameless PR for self-serving deeds and it is still being done in the United States too. Earlier this month we found this article about Gates giving computers (with Windows of course) to more libraries while lobbying with his so-called 'studies' that he funded to serve his agenda in public libraries. To quote the Denver Post:

Responding to a rush of recession-time visitors, 88 percent of our libraries now offer access to job databases. And at least two-thirds of library staffs are helping applicants complete online job applications, according to a national survey by the American Library Association and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.


Gates is 'injecting' himself into many articles about libraries this way. It's lobbying. Watch what Gates is doing in Kentucky public libraries this month. The underprivileged citizens are pushed into using Microsoft Office ("write resumes and learn computer skills," says the article).

The article also says: "Kentucky participated in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Opportunity Online broadband grant program and received technical and consulting assistance to develop a competitive funding proposal for BTOP."

See this report for more details. In Idaho they have just made up some euphemisms:

The ICFL will also receive $942,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All the funding will go to the Online@YourLibrary project the commission is running.


What shocks us about Greece is that rarely do we see this lobbying going beyond US libraries. What next? Will Gates attempt to hijack the education systems worldwide, having already taken a lot of control over the US system [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]?

To Greece, Bill Gates is a threat as big as Goldman Sachs. As we'll show in a later post, Gates has just invested a lot of money in Goldman Sachs too (using his foundation). It's all about the money, but it's marketed as goodwill.

"Get me into that and goddam, we'll make so much money!"

--Bill Gates, Microsoft



_____ [1] GR: Municipalities to get open source platform for electronic services

Greek municipalities are building an open source platform to offer citizens and small and medium sized business access to their services. This Local Government Application Framework (LGAF) will be developed by the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (Kedke).

Sixteen cities and municipalites will begin the development project, including Imathia, Ithaca, Konitsa and Chios.


[2] Athens schools promote 'open source' computing

Athens was invited because it is one of few districts in Michigan teaching on Linux operating systems. Linux is a cost-free alternative to proprietary systems, such as Microsoft Windows or Apple's Mac O.S. While some open source software applications, such as e-mail programs, come at a cost, Linux is almost entirely free. Windows or Mac systems can cost up to $400 per machine. €  € 

Open source means the source code for an operating system cannot be owned and is available for free.


[3] Open source tour of Europe: Greece

There are isolated examples of public open source adoption projects, such as Heraklion on the island of Crete expressing a preference for open source software for its e-Government portal, Athens using Linux, Apache and PHP, and Toperos Xanthis using Linux and Joomla.


[4] Agreement between Microsoft and the Greek government

On 1 February 2006, the Greek government and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership agreement (the "Agreement"). At least 6 questions by the parliament remained unanswered by the government. On 10 January 2008, the government created a law proposal that would make the Agreement have the power of law. The law was approved by the Parliament on 29 January 2008. The FFII and the Hellenic Linux Users Group filed a complaint to the European Commission, which is still (as of 28 December 2008) under investigation.


[5] Let’s set the ERT audiovisual archive free (manifesto - draft)

Greek citizens, but also citizens of other countries, we jointly sign this text on the occasion of ERT’s choice to distribute its audiovisual archive non-freely to the public. Our aim and ambition is to publicize our propositions so that they become the starting point of an open dialog among the Greek society, the European and global public audience and to signal the revision of backward policies and the creation of common political wealth.

Few days ago, the ERT administration presented the beginning of the availability, only via Internet streaming, of a part of its audiovisual archive. This move constitutes an important first step, which, however, in our opinion, is tarnished by the fact that the public availability of the archive is not made free, although the Greek and European citizens have paid their money to make the production and digitization of the archive feasible.


[6] Hot stuffin' in Greece?

After the voting of the Greek HoD you may ask why the votes were 14 in total, when the organisations appointed to the committee are just 12. That's only the latest of the magical wonders around OpenXML.

[...]

New voting members are joining the committee at the last minute:
However, during the discussion, the representative of the Information Society showed the fax he had received, to which was attached the decision 19103/08 of the ELOT administration, dated 1 February 2008, which modifies the composition of the Committee by adding four new organisations: the Ministry of Education, two departments of the Ministry of Economics, and Information Society S.A. The representatives of NTUA had not been informed of this decision.


[7] Greece sell-out Proposal

Microsoft Hellas proposes a contract that will take over control of the sovereign European state. Greece would lose the right to speak about other products its government uses and gain the right to support the business interests of the vendor and its policy goals.

[...]

Nice proposal, Microsoft will help Greece to spy on its ICT infrastructure in order to weaken the procurement power of Greece for the benefit of the supplier. Win-Win, right?


[8] GR: Open Source developers protest access restrictions public broadcast

Greek Open Source developers are protesting that ERT, Greece's national broadcaster, will make its online archive available only for users of€ Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OSX.€ €  €  The Hellenic Linux User Group six months ago approached ERT, after finding out the public broadcaster was restricting their access to a new archive. ERT€  is a public organisation, the developers argue, and should not discriminate€  against users of Open Source.€ € €  €  [...] €  ERT is developing an archive of its broadcast material, digitising film, video, pictures and hosting them online. The archive is going to be developed in a 1.95 million euro project, the major part of which is funded by the€  European Union, the Open Source developers say.€ € € 


Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
 
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025