Summary: Microsoft captures the brains of more young people using "partners in learning" deals with governments while Ireland gets more employees, probably in exchange for the tax haven its government provides

THIS post presents a set of developments that smack of (or remind of) misconduct. The first one is this story from the Gulf, where Microsoft recently signed a UAE MoU [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] to exclude its competition from the market. There is a Gulf education event that Microsoft announced it would participate in earlier this month:

Microsoft Gulf today announced that it will showcase its latest academic software at GESS 2010 (Gulf Educational Supplies and Solutions), the Middle East's premier educational supply and solutions event.

Around the very same time, watch what Microsoft is doing:

Furthering its commitment to transform Kuwait into knowledge based society, Microsoft today announced that it has signed the Partners in Learning agreement with the Ministry of Education in Kuwait for technical co-operation.

They call it a "partners in learning agreement".

An incestuous Microsoft relationship in the Gulf can be tied to some of Bill Gates' shady partners in trade [1, 2, 3, 4]. Here is more news coverage of this:

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the Undersecretary of the Kuwait Ministry of Education, Tamather Al Sidirawi, and Country Manager, Microsoft Kuwait Ehab Mostafa today.

Yes, it is yet another MoU whose role is explained in Comes vs Microsoft exhibits. See this "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL" Microsoft presentation. Kuwait is also listed in a few [1, 2] of Microsoft's EDGI documents from Comes vs Microsoft (there were also Kuwait seminars and mentions in some other places).

Malta

Moving on a little, something similar happens in Malta this month. We wrote about how Microsoft seized the Maltese system in [1, 2, 3] and now comes this. It is called "partners in learning", just like in Kuwait. They are capturing schools so as to indoctrinate the young. Very typical. See for some background the following posts:

1. Bill Gates Puts in a Million to Ratify His Role as Education Minister
2. How the Gates Foundation is Used to Ensure Children Become Microsoft Clients
3. More Dubious Practices from the Gates Foundation
4. Microsoft Builds Coalitions of NGOs, Makes Political and Educational Changes
5. Microsoft's EDGI in India: Fighting GNU/Linux in Education
6. Microsoft's Gates Seeks More Monopolies
7. Gates Foundation Funds Blogs to Promote Its Party Line
8. Microsoft Bribes to Make Education Microsoft-based
9. Lobbyists Dodge the Law; Bill Gates Lobbies the US Education System with Another $10 Million
10. Gates Investments in Education Criticised; Monsanto (Gates-Backed) Corruption Revisited
11. Latest Vista 7 Failures and Microsoft Dumping
12. Microsoft Hijacks More of Education Sector in Carolina, Michigan, and Georgia

Ireland

We previously explained how Microsoft uses Ireland as a tax haven. Ireland (usually Dublin) is rewarded for the haven in the sense that Microsoft does not cut jobs over there (or cuts very little) and sometimes adds a few [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Here come more and more:

Parity is to establish a Microsoft centre of excellence with software development and consultancy positions to be filled over the next three years.

Microsoft does the same thing in Reno, which is its US-based tax haven [1, 2]. While the company fires employees all around the world, it still expands in places that enable it to dodge billions of dollars in tax. ⬆