SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, shortly after Gates had allegedly retired (to do more politics), he met with the head of the UN, which was encouraging Free software adoption at the time. So what did they discuss? Were any favours possibly exchanged through the Gates Foundation? Stories of UN corruption are too easy to forget.

According to this new article, "In partnership with the United Nations, Microsoft recently launched Imagine Cup 2009." Why is the UN liaising with a company so widely known for criminal behaviour and discrimination against underprivileged countries?

Microsoft is also sniffing around for lock-in opportunities and it seems to have just found another victim in Bahrain, which was (or still is) exploring Free software [1, 2]. This new agreement smells like another MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), which is discriminatory. We wrote about these before, e.g. in:

• Quick Mention: Microsoft's Newham-type Scam in the Middle East and North Africa
• Microsoft Tightens Grip in Africa with Memorandum of Anti-competition
• Latest Microsoft Procurement Scandals: Hungary, Quebec, UAE
• Microsoft Dealt Another Big Blow in Europe (UK), Pawns Exposed Further
• Urgent Need for Transparency in Procurement, Standards-Setting Process
• Funny Microsoft Business in UK Public Sector Just Got Funnier
• Richard Steel's and Microsoft Ballnux Franchise (Updated)

There is related information also in:

• Number One Lobbyist Gets Tax Breaks, Government Deals, Innocent Children
• Quick Mention: Microsoft Intersection with the United States Government
• Microsoft and BECTA's Secret Deals: Case Study in Exploitation of Taxpayers
• Activists Battle Microsoft Fascism in Italy
• LG Tops Microsoft 's Linux Patent Deal with Memorandum of Understanding
• BECTA: Still All About Microsoft
• Microsoft Dealt Another Big Blow in Europe (UK), Pawns Exposed Further
• Another Form of GNU/Linux Tax, Courtesy of BECTA (UK)
• Becta, Its Microsoft Affairs, and OpenDocument Format
• Microsoft's Exclusionary Deal in the UK: BECTA
• BECTA's Latest Disappointment: 'Open Source' from a Windows Shop?

All these secretive deals do mean a lot, so someone, somewhere ought to keep track of them for future reference which accompanies complex explanations that are backed by compelling circumstantial evidence from the past. ⬆