Bonum Certa Men Certa

Government of Slovakia Sells Out to Microsoft (Updated)

Slovakia's flag



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

Recent Techrights' Posts

It's Cheaper to Pay Bribes (and Produce Press Releases) Than to Pay Fines (After Lots of Negative Publicity)
Does the UK still have real sovereignty or do corporations from overseas purchase decisions and outcomes?
November 2023 Over With GNU/Linux at All-Time Highs According to statCounter
ChromeOS+GNU/Linux combined are about 7% of the "market"
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
UK Government Allowing Microsoft to Take Over Activision Blizzard Will Destroy Jobs
Over 30,000 fired this year? More?
New Report Provides Numerical Evidence That Google Hired Too Many People From Microsoft (and Became Malicious, Evil, Sociopathic)
"Some 12,018 former Microsoft employees currently work for the search and data giant"
Google: Keep Out, Don't Save Your Files, and Also Let Us Spy on Everything You Do
Do you still trust "clown" storage?
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 30, 2023
IRC logs for Thursday, November 30, 2023
Links 01/12/2023: Many Suppressions in Hong Kong and Attempts to Legitimise Illegal and Unconstitutional Fake Patent 'Court' in EU (UPC)
Links for the day
Gemini Not Deflated Yet (Soon Turning 5!)
Gemini numbers still moving up, the protocol will turn five next summer
Links 30/11/2023: Belated End of Henry Kissinger and 'Popular Science' Shuts Online Magazine
Links for the day
Site Priorities and Upcoming Improvements
pages are served very fast
[Meme] One Person, Singular Pronoun
Abusing people into abusing the English language is very poor diplomacy
Ending Software Patents in Recent Years (Software Freedom Fighters MIA)
not a resolved issue
New Article From Richard Stallman Explains Why He Says He and She for Unknown Person (Not 'They')
"Nowadays I use gender-neutral singular pronouns for a person whose gender I don't know"
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 29, 2023
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news
Links 30/11/2023: Rushing Patent Cases With Shorter Trial Scheme (STS), Sanctions Not Working
Links for the day
Links 30/11/2023: Google Purging Many Accounts and Content (to Save Money), Finland Fully Seals Border With Russia
Links for the day
Lookout, It's Outlook
Outlook is all about the sharing!
Updated A Month Ago: Richard Stallman on Software Patents as Obstacles to Software Development
very recent update
The 'Smart' Attack on Power Grid Neutrality (or the Wet Dream of Tiered Pricing for Power, Essentially Punishing Poorer Households for Exercising Freedom Like Richer Households)
The dishonest marketing people tell us the age of disservice and discrimination is all about "smart" and "Hey Hi" (AI) as in algorithms akin to traffic-shaping in the context of network neutrality
Links 29/11/2023: VMware Layoffs and Too Many Microsofters Going Inside Google
Links for the day
Is BlueMail a Client of ZDNet Now?
Let's examine what BlueMail does to promote itself
Just What LINUX.COM Needed After Over a Month of Inactivity: SPAM SPAM SPAM (Linux Brand as a Spamfarm)
It's not even about Linux
Microsoft “Discriminated Based on Sexuality”
Relevant, as they love lecturing us on "diversity" and "inclusion"...
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 28, 2023
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 28, 2023