Government of Slovakia Sells Out to Microsoft (Updated)

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2012-05-26 15:19:58 UTC
Modified: 2012-05-27 08:41:46 UTC

Summary: Reports from Slovakia suggest that another outrageous government deal has been signed with the monopolist from Redmond

"Yesterday [the] Slovak government approved controversial MS deal: 52 mil EUR for (mostly) useless licenses," wrote to us a reader some days ago. "Subsequently," he added, "Slovakia has been chosen by MS as testing country (market) for their new (unspecified) products."

"Slovak language only articles so far," claimed the reader, who also informed us of this thing before. We'll post an update if/when we receive more information. ⬆

Update: We have received additional information from our source:

...some info about recent issues in Slovakia:

1. MS agreement

http://spectator.sme.sk/articles/view/46462/10/government_approves_extension_of_microsoft_agreement.html - this is the only news article in English language I was able to find - source - TASR (The news agency of Slovak republic)

http://www.soit.sk/sk/aktualne/oit-doma/2012-05-23/186-vlada-schvalila-problematicku-zmluvu-s-microsoftom-a-prislubila-hladat-alternativy - it's very good analysis made by SOIT (The Society for Open Information Technologies) - unfortunately only in Slovak language - I've asked original authors to write short info in English language for you (but I'm not sure they will do that actually)

2. Slovakia as testing ground

I have written recently: “Slovakia has been chosen by MS as testing country (market) for their new (unspecified) products.”

I'm sorry, It looks like it's not 100% true. The truth is that Laura Ipsen (MS VP) was 23.5.2012 here in Slovakia and she's met with government officials from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak republic. She was probably just lobbying for MS agreement approval (#1 issue), but they had to tell news reporters something else of course, so they told them they were discussing an opportunity for Slovakia to become a testing ground for new products. But MS refused to comment or confirm this statement.

Related article in Slovak language: http://ekonomika.sme.sk/c/6388754/microsoft-moze-na-slovensku-testovat-nove-produkty.html

3. Eura Slovakia

- a couple of articles about an older issue:

http://www.cio.com/article/706053/Critics_Say_EU_Guidelines_on_Avoiding_Software_Vendor_Tie_in_Ignored_By_Slovak_Authorities

http://fsfe.org/news/2012/news-20120509-01.en.html

IBM Firings (or Silent Layoffs) After Bluewashing; "IBM’s Employment History is More Troubling Than its Patriotic Marketing Suggests": "It has zip to do with race but everything to do with the greed of the 1% who have been doing all they can to destroy the middle class..."
“Week van de Werkstress” and Work-Related Stress at the EPO, Where Staff is Bullied Into Granting Illegal Patents for Foreign Monopolists: "poor working environments, including discrimination and inequality, excessive workloads, low job control and job insecurity pose a risk to mental health"
Czech Republic: GNU/Linux Rises Above 5% in Desktops and Laptops: A year ago it was somewhere around 4%
Links 08/11/2026: Why Vikings Stayed in Iceland and "TikTok Accused Of Promoting Sex Industry To Young Girls": Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/11/2026: "Before Sunrise" and LLM Scrapers Versus Self-Hosting (or Web in General): Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIII - Weaponising Cops in Another Continent (Europe), Knowing They Cannot Come to Your Home in America, While Threatening Women: This year it culminated in death threats
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 07, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, November 07, 2026
The Decade Ahead, a Decade of Suppressed Stories: Our stories aren't discouraged or considered taboo because of racism or "toxic politics" or anything like that; they just hurt powerful people and corporations
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part V - "Reports Closed Without the Evidence Being Examined.": Totally what the SRA did regarding Brett Wilson LLP
Gemini Links 07/11/2026: Illusion Garden and Lagrange 2: Links for the day
Complexity is the Tyrant's Friend: Slop is for feeble minds and cheaters
EPO's Local Staff Committee The Hague Says Almost or About a Third of Staff Assembled to Organise at "a Time of Continued Social Unrest": They speak of "circa 850 staff members in attendance" (in The Netherlands there are about a couple thousand)
Suggestions That XBox Will be Offloaded by Microsoft, Rather Than Shut Down, Make the False Assumption XBox is Profitable (It's Not, It's a Liability): Microsoft has serious financial troubles
Which "Smart" "Phone", Which "Social" "Media", and Which "Cloud" "Storage"?: Let's take back control of the language
State of the (Linux) Slop, Late 2026 Edition: Google News (Gulag Noise) is a plagiarism booster
Year 21: It's 5PM here
Links 07/11/2026: "Flock Cameras Got Eviscerated by the Midterms" and Joshua Wong Shows China is Highly Repressive and Fully Controls Hong Kong: Links for the day
At The Register MS the Net Liabilities Doubled in One Year, Tangible Assets Down About 35% in One Year: signed off in 2026
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXII - Running One's Mouth: British Police told me "making a false complaint to police is a crime" in relation to Lozza
Another 20 Years of Exposing Corruption: We'll focus on carrying on what we do
EPO Budget and Finance Committee (in Very Recent Meeting) Increases Bribes to People Who Vote on Campinos Reappointment ("Cooperation Activities"): Buying 'elections' to protect the cocaine-stained regime in Europe's second-largest institution
Links 07/11/2026: London's SLAPP Industry Now Targets Kirkenes (Northern Norway) at the Behest of Corrupt Thieves in Russia and Microsoft’s 'Buyout' Offer Crashes Microsoft Systems: Links for the day
Links 07/11/2026: "The Moon is Waning Crescent", Homeworlds, and "Can't Handle The AVIF!": Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 06, 2026: IRC logs for Friday, November 06, 2026
IBM Compels Workers - Even at Red Hat - to Become "Retired-ish": Who needs RAs (layoffs, which have been rebranded as "buyouts" like pink slips are generous "gifts") when workers can have their butts kicked every day and WARN Act reporting thresholds are never approached?
Links 06/11/2026: "XBox Is Closer Than Ever to Being Sold Off" and "BuzzFeed Stock in Free Fall": Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/11/2026: Dao and Dreams: Links for the day
20 Years of Techrights: Celebrating 2 decades of abuses of power being watched (and looking back at key changes)
Linux (and Linus Torvalds) Sleepwalking Into a Binance-Level Catastrophe With Slop 'Code': Someone should ask Linus Torvalds or his boss (Linux Foundation) if they deem slop, which nobody audits, trustworthy enough to add to every computer out there running the Linux kernel
Vitaly Orlov Weaponises Deep Pockets to Leverage High Court of Justice in London for Censorship and Punishment of Critics: reproduced in full for more exposure and to make censorship harder
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXI - What I Told British Police About Lozza the Same Month Garrett Was Preparing His First Nastygram From 'Hired Guns' Brett Wilson LLP: Lozza and Garrett
Outsourcing at IBM: Cheapening of the workforce is hardly a new problem
The Register MS: Turnover Fell by Over a Million Pounds (About 20%) in One Year, Administrative Expenses Rose by Almost Half a Million Pounds, The Register MS Operates at a Loss: This is not a (commercially) healthy publisher
Links 06/11/2026: Slop "Companies Race to Lock Down Oil Clients" and Salon Shuts Down: Links for the day
Our Third Decade: Our anniversary is tonight at midnight
Freedom Is Not Free of Charge, Freedom Can be Very Expensive: Being someone's "slave" is the "default" when no resistance exists
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXX - Swatting by Proxy: Using imbeciles who lie to cops and then dox cops (and already have arrest record and court documents wherein they admit being stoned in front of the cops)
Intel Craters at Taxpayers' Expense (Bailouts for Failing Companies Simple Don't Work): GOP, which did this, has lost many seats
Mass Layoffs at IBM, Also Outsourcing to India: What IBM does to itself it is doing to other entities as well
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 05, 2026: IRC logs for Thursday, November 05, 2026
During Strikes and Industrial Actions Lots of EPO Staff Organised Yesterday and Will Do the Same Next Week: There really needs to be a genuine election, not a reappointment
Gemini Links 06/11/2026: Hadestown and "Where Has the Electronics Shop Gone?": Links for the day

Government of Slovakia Sells Out to Microsoft (Updated)

Recent Techrights' Posts