Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Works to Eliminate FOSS/GNU/Linux in Kenya, Maryland, and Illinois

Kenya



Summary: In addition to shameless propaganda, Microsoft is dumping software and Microsoft training in places where GNU/Linux gains traction, such as Kenya; Maryland and Illinois receive 'American EDGI'

IT HAS only been less than two weeks since we last wrote about Microsoft in Kenya. "We wrote about this region before," as we put it at the time, "shortly after Microsoft had allegedly blackmailed the country using withdrawal of incentives. Microsoft actively fights GNU/Linux adoption in Kenya while Bill Gates creates agricultural monopolies over there."



This week we are finding more Microsoft propaganda in the Kenyan press (the usual crocodile tears):

Microsoft decries high rate of piracy



Leading computer software manufacturer Microsoft has decried the high rate of piracy on its products and vowed to curb the vice at all costs.

[...]

He voiced his Board's support for the campaign mounted by the Microsoft to crack down on the counterfeits and called on all Kenyans to participate.


Notice how the article uses propaganda words like "piracy" and never mentions Free software, which is crucially important here. This is how they fight GNU/Linux. To quote:

"It's easier for our software to compete with Linux when there's piracy than when there's not."

--Bill Gates



Yes, Bill Gates said this to the press just a couple of years ago, but as Microsoft captures Kenya's business this month, why bother saying the truth rather than spin? Here is more information about what Microsoft does in Kenya at the moment, probably because the nation turned to GNU/Linux in some places.

Computer Technology Corporation Microsoft is set to partner with local firms to re-evaluate their business operations and identify areas for improvement.


In the following new article, more Microsoft propaganda from Kenya can be seen, fueled by exaggerated and made up numbers (usually from the BSA), daemonisation terms, and no mention at all of Free(dom) software.

It ought to be added that not only Kenyans are targeted by Microsoft at the moment. This Seattle Web site speaks about a similar scheme in Maryland, and one that the press covers very poorly.

Microsoft and the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) have joined forces to provide free technology training in the form of vouchers to 13,500 Maryland residents.


Will there be Free software training? Or just the preparation of more Windows/Office drones? As the following new article shows, this is all part of "Elevate America", which is similar to EDGI [1, 2, 3, 4].

Microsoft is calling it the Elevate America Program. The training is available to any Marylander who wants to beef up their job skills, but it's being targeted at workers who've been displaced in the economic downturn.


Marylanders are not the only victims in the United States, not in the past week even. We found the same type of thing in Illinois a few days ago -- passing Windows indoctrination as "charity" or at least "goodwill".

The East Central Illinois Community Action Agency, in collaboration with the "Elevate America" program, will distribute 20 Microsoft online training vouchers.


We have seen this in Illinois before [1, 2, 3], even with the endorsement of Governor Pat Quinn, who shook hands on this with Steve Ballmer.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
 
Links 24/09/2025: Qt Creator 18 Beta, Microsoft Cannot Bail Out "ChatGPT" Anymore, China and US Intensify Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/09/2025: Gemlogs and Politics
Links for the day
Links 23/09/2025: Japan Limits Uses of Skinnerboxes ('Smartphones') With Toxic "Apps", Fentanylware (TikTok) Tapped by "MAGAts"
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Been Sued (by Their Own Clients!)
Vladimir and Alla Yanpolsky sued Brett Wilson LLP in BL-2025-001167 at the end of last week
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025