Bonum Certa Men Certa

Cablegate: Government of Oman is Sponsoring Microsoft, Helping to Indoctrinate the Population

Cablegate



Summary: Another shady deal between the Government of Oman and Microsoft, as revealed by a 2007 diplomatic cable

"The agreement, signed by Mohammed Nasser al-Khusaibi, Chairman of the ITA and Secretary General of the Ministry of National Economy, and Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager of Microsoft Gulf, calls for an investment of $6 million in establishing the center, $1 million of which is to come from Microsoft under its investment partnership accord with the Omani government (reftel)."



Wait, what?

Why is the government covering the large majority of the costs for a Microsoft recruitment centre? Does the public of Oman (taxpayers) know that this is going on? It was only yesterday that we wrote about the Government of Oman and Microsoft. The same types of deals happen in other countries and remain secret for a reason. Here is the later Cablegate cable (it came months later):








VZCZCXYZ0002 RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMS #0323 0910806 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 010806Z APR 07 FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8035 INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000323

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, EEB/CBA COMMERCE FOR COBERG

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON, EINV, KIPR, MU SUBJECT: MICROSOFT FIRMS PARTNERSHIP WITH GOVERNMENT

REF: 06 MUSCAT 1282

1. On March 27, Microsoft concluded an agreement with Oman's Information Technology Authority (ITA) to launch an innovation and support center, to be housed at Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM), the government-run technology incubator. The agreement, signed by Mohammed Nasser al-Khusaibi, Chairman of the ITA and Secretary General of the Ministry of National Economy, and Charbel Fakhoury, General Manager of Microsoft Gulf, calls for an investment of $6 million in establishing the center, $1 million of which is to come from Microsoft under its investment partnership accord with the Omani government (reftel). Microsoft Country Manager Abdullah al-Lootah told Econoff that the center will house between 20 to 40 Omanis, who will be trained by Microsoft consultants to deliver services under the government's "E-Oman" initiative in two to three years' time.

2. Lootah explained that the initiative is one of several Microsoft is pursuing to "bridge the technology skills gap" in Oman. In addition to the innovation center, Microsoft will team with KOM and other selected partners in training 300 Omani government professionals per year on Microsoft solutions. To support the government's recent purchase of over 22,000 operating licenses, Microsoft will provide 24 hour on-site support services. In terms of further promoting knowledge transfer opportunities, Microsoft will sponsor six month visits by government officials to the company's Dubai office to educate them on "best financial practices." GRAPPO







Why is Microsoft receiving this franchise in Oman? Does that serve the interests of the Omani people?

Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025