Bonum Certa Men Certa

India Moves to Free Software, So Microsoft Fights Back with Gentle Bribes and Partners

Summary: Political parties in the country embrace FOSS, but Microsoft carries on with EDGI, gifts, and dumping of software

BEFORE we begin this long post, here is a must-read background story to those who are not aware of Microsoft's abuses against the Indian people. This is part of Microsoft's EDGI in India [1, 2].



Moreover, as we shall see later, Microsoft is assisted by corruptible professors. We already know that Microsoft is bribing professors to merely mention Microsoft software while at the same time bullying professors who do not agree with Microsoft's agenda. This happens even in India (we are still seeing such stories) where it appears to have bribed many local charities (for advancement of agenda).

How low can one stoop? Well, having somehow sneaked a Windows mail server (as in Exchange Server) into the prime minister's office, it turns out that it led to tremendous trouble. As with any platform that's a petri dish to crackers, the prime minister's office too had its server infected by viruses for several months.

E-mail system of the Prime Minister's Office was under the grip of a computer virus for three months last year forcing officials to replace the software.

The technical glitch plagued the e-mail communication system of the PMO, which was based on the Microsoft Outlook Express, from February to April in 2008.

Although the extent of damage was uncertain, the PMO said that most of the e-mails addressed to it were not received.


This article from the Times of India wrongly calls it a "computer virus". It's really a Windows virus. Computers don't have viruses. They are commodity hardware.

The good news (the fallout) is that as a result of this incident the prime minister's office -- or PMO -- will be moving to GNU/Linux.

Just read it this morning in TOI at page 7. PM Office has migrated to Linux based mailing solution. Its a great achievent for the Open Source Community in India.

Here goes the complete report

BUGGED Virus gripped PMO’s email for 3 months New Delhi: Email system of the Prime Minister’s Office was under the grip of a computer virus for three months last year forcing officials to replace the software. The technical glitch plagued the email communication system of the PMO, which was based on the Microsoft Outlook Express, from February to April in 2008.


But this is just a prelude to more good news.

“This article from the Times of India wrongly calls it a "computer virus". It's really a Windows virus.”Someone from Red Hat has just told us that "major Indian political parties support open source and open standards." Here is the relevant page and the vision of The Bharatiya Janata Party [PDF]. According to the person who sent this to us, this document "makes extensive reference to open source as an integral part of their IT plans. This was unveiled on Saturday, 14th March, 2009, by LK Advani who is their candidate for prime minister, if the BJP comes to power.

"The CPI(M), another major national party has been a long time supporter of free and open source software:

  1. We advocate usage of free software at all levels


  2. CPI(M) for free and open source software


"Even in the Congress, the other major national party in India, Prithviraj Chavan who is currently a minister in the Prime Minister's Office had advocated the use of open source in India in a TV interview which was conducted immediately after your party came to power in 2004.

"What this means is that there is a broad consensus emerging around open source and open standards in a market that consists of a billion plus people. The next five years are going to be very, very interesting!"

LinuxToday has a report about this too. In short:

Indian prime minister-in-waiting and Opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani of the BJP has come out with a stand that is seen to strongly favour Free Software and Open Source, released here today. While politicians are known to be lavish with pre-poll promises, Open Source campaigners were upbeat over the development.


Even Glyn Moody has just covered it.

Microsoft Fights Back with "Addiction" Ware



“They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

--Bill Gates



A few days ago we found out that an entity called IDG Ventures, which is not related to another IDG that's in Microsoft's pocket [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], is helping Microsoft "addict" children and startups.

IDG Ventures, Microsoft India partners to aid startups



Bangalore: In a bid to provide to aid the technology startups, IDG Ventures India and Microsoft India partnered to give access to Microsoft suite and funding of up to Rs.25 crore by IDG Ventures. Under the program Early Stage Funding Program, Microsoft will offer suite at no upfront cost under the company's BizSpark program and IDG Ventures will invest up to Rs.100 crore in startups.


This was also covered in LiveMint.

Another person from India (not affiliated with any company) has sent us information about more of the plot which Microsoft organised to fight back against Free software adoption across the country.

"They organize something called bootcamp. The software molester is trying to molest education now. In that boot camp they train (brainwash) students [and] provide them costly food and hotel suits (as bribe) […] [...] pre-grease tomorrow's gov and business leaders. Lots of groups try to be good to tomorrow's leaders, but the Microsoft case doesn't inspire confidence in me.

"I got a lot of pictorial evidence about how Microsoft is cheating engineering college students," wrote our source. Here are the pictures that he sent us.


[Picture removed at the request of the author]
Camp organised by Microsoft India




[Picture removed at the request of the author]
Guys and girls at this Microsoft camp




[Picture removed at the request of the author]
Part of the Microsoft-sponsored tour




[Picture removed at the request of the author]
Microsoft-sponsored tour




[Picture removed at the request of the author]
Microsoft-sponsored tour




[Picture removed at the request of the author]
The luxury hotel where Microsoft put these students




[Picture removed at the request of the author]
The train whose costs Microsoft covered



Here are the crude remarks sent later to accompany these photos:

Microsoft Bootcamp details

Microsoft runs something called "Microsoft campus club" in most of the famous engineering colleges in India (not only from Tamilnadu, there are participants from other states too ). The students of corresponding colleges are chosen to take care of this club, Microsoft calls these students as "Microsoft student partners" (shortly MSP).

They use these students to teach (brainwash/addict) other students with Microsoft’s technologies like Dot net, etc.

  1. These students mostly act as a ambassador of Microsoft in colleges
  2. They motivate students to take part in competitions like http://www.goalivechallenge.com/ (Web design contest by Microsoft, the only technology allowed is ASP.NET and Silverlight)
  3. They distribute free copies of Windows, if the academic institution has a academic alliance license (colleges have to pay 2laks to get this license... just heard from someone, not sure)
  4. Setting up Microsoft ELMS (details below)
  5. Recruiting the next MSP


About bootcamp: (Recently in Hyderabad, Andra pradesh)

It's a camp for these MSP's

Microsoft pleases/bribes the MSP's by providing them free copies of their DVDs, t-shirts, lots of small gifts... they take them to tour (like picnic :D see picture) They make the students to stay in luxury hotels (see pictures) and a lot more.

The main objective of this club is to get them addicted, get the education system in their control.

It's too bad... see how many students are getting cheated.

[...]

I haven't included any pictures that could show individual MSP's face for their privacy


This informant "wonders why they are doing this in India [and] also wonders if it only happens in India." But another readers of ours, who studies in the United States says that "there are professors at my school that push Silverlight [...] these are older professors [...] they use the excuse that it's what employers want these days (Silverlight, Adobe Flex, etc [...] I don't know if I told you but they teach VB.NET at this place too. [...] I have a friend that's convinced that ASP.NET is the way to go [and] considers other stuff "toys" [...] they also teach C# [...] information science majors must take a year of VB.NET based programming."

“They wrote cheques for $200 to people who just dropped names of Microsoft products publicly.”Look back at the beginning of this post where we referred to solid proof that Microsoft had bribed professors even just to mention Microsoft software. They wrote cheques for $200 to people who just dropped names of Microsoft products publicly. It seems to be similar in parts of Europe.

Going back to India, it ought to be added that they also exploit schools for their "addiction" that's directed squarely at students. We have this leaked letter about Microsoft ELMS, which is how Microsoft achieves a lot of the above.

Again it's worth stressing: For those who think it's an India-only issue, well... it's not. Just looking a few days back at the news, we find similar stunts happening in Thailand. It's worth remembering dirty tricks that Microsoft was pulling in Thailand because there are some large adoptions/deployments there of OpenOffice.org. Let's not forget the OOXML irregularities in Thailand and Microsoft's EDGI over there [1, 2]. Well, right now Thailand is being further manipulated by a Microsoft top executive who visits the prime minister. Microsoft is trying to extend an "e-Learning project" by another 5 years.

The commitments discussed with the prime minister included a five-year extension of the Partner e-Learning project, a re-training project involving 2 million unemployed workers in Thailand, and a three-year joint research and development project with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec).


All these sudden "extensions" are very reminiscent of what we find in Finland. Informed citizens must not let them get away with it.

"As a supplicant to government, you cannot afford to bulls't! Government reserves that right for itself."

--Famous quote, Anonymous

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Macho Patent Office
At the EPO there's always room for women in top roles
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: "Bream Gives Me Hiccups", Making Chinese Tea, and More
Links for the day
This is Why Codeberg Issues an Apology Today
This response was clear and relatively swift
Destruction and Distortion of Information, Including Facts About Linux (Bonus: This is Destroying the Planet)
All that LLMs have going for them is hype, and moreover media that intentionally misrepresents them and their supposed capabilities
Google Seems to Have Just Killed All Instances of Invidious
YouTube is rapidly becoming just "another Neflix"
 
Links 12/02/2025: Crytek Layoffs, Security Holes, and Giving Ukraine to Russia
Links for the day
Relaying GAFAM Talking Points and Lies Using GAFAM LLMs, or Slop Pasted in by Brittany Day
linuxsecurity.com is relaying slop, i.e. misinformation
Photos From This Evening's Talk by Dr. Richard Stallman in Torino, Maybe a Video Soon
The talk that Dr. Richard Stallman gave today (a few hours ago) was recorded and streamed
IlSoftware.it Covers Richard Stallman's Visit to Give Talks in Italy
The publication is in Italian, the talk was in English
EPO Staff Representatives Confront the President Who Says 'F--king' in Front of Female Workers Over Measurable Discrimination Against Female Colleagues
Central Staff Committee versus Lukashenko's sponsor
The Register Studies (to Affirm) Reports of IBM Layoffs "at the Finance and Operations business unit"
something about that specific unit
Links 12/02/2025: SSL FUD, DEI Phase-out, Felonies Committed by MElon (Data Breaches)
Links for the day
Italian Media Covers Richard Stallman's English Talk Ahead of Tonight's Public Appearance
article in La Stampa
Microsoft Skype in a Freefall: About 20% Decrease in Site Traffic in 3 Months (Amid Microsoft Phasing Out Credits)
Microsoft axing more services/features may mean that now they scrape the bottom of the barrel and Skype will simply die, discontinuing service (like ICQ) in a matter of years
Gemini Links 12/02/2025: Depression, Gabbro, WikiTok, and More
Links for the day
Links 12/02/2025: Health, Security, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol is Increasingly Important to the Net
Gemini Protocol will turn 6 this summer
Former EPO Manager Warns That the Illegal 'Court' for "Unitary Patents" Enables “Law Shopping”
Daniel X. Thomas opposed the very existence of the UPC, which any honest person could recognise was both illegal and unconstitutional
Like GAFAM, the EPO is Passing the Financial Pains to Staff
the EPO is operating illegally at this point
Morale at Microsoft Ruined by the Company Labelling Thousands of Workers 'Low Performers', Sacking Them on the Spot and Denying Them Basic Benefits
people laid off as "low performers" go to social control media to bemoan the label
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 11, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Links 11/02/2025: Current state of the Internet and Smallnet Information Services (SIS)
Links for the day
Conservative Estimate: Over 10,000 IBM Workers to Be Laid Off in the Next Two Waves
The morale is low and layoffs are expected soon, with mass layoffs likely happening next month and then again later
Links 11/02/2025: Trade Wars and "Crisis for American Universities"
Links for the day
Parasitic LLM Slop Sites Destroy the Ability to Find "Linux" News in Google News
Remember that Google News laid off lots of its workers
Richard Stallman's English Talk in Italy Less Than 24 Hours Away (Torino) and Then Another Talk in Italy Scheduled (University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He's active and he travels a lot in spite of his medical condition
IBM Layoff Rumours, Large-Scale Implementations Weeks Ahead (in March 2025)
There are some people corroborating
Links 11/02/2025: Nutritional Poverty, Closure of USAID, More Fictional 'Valuations' Around Buzzwords
Links for the day
Perl Programming Leftovers
recently in perl.org
Microsoft in Africa: From 98% to Less Than 10% in Just 16 Years
Microsoft being on less than 1 in 10 Web-connected devices in Africa is a very big deal
Almost as If MElon Reads Techrights
The joke we started appears to be spreading
Microsoft Blasted for Adding Insult to Injury: Workers Laid Off Without Prior Notice, Without Severance Payment and Basic Coverage (Like Health), Then Stigmatised as Bad Performers So They Cannot Find a Job Elsewhere
Such stereotypes end entire careers
Gemini Links 11/02/2025: NeoVim and Deploying Other People's Code
Links for the day
BetaNews is Still Publishing LLM Slop/SPAM About "Linux"
Assuming it is indeed LLM slop, it seems clear BetaNews has no intention of improving or is simply unable/unwilling to improve
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 10, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 10, 2025
Scheduled Maintenance Tomorrow and on Valentines
If the site (or Gemini capsule) is offline for a bit, the maintenance windows are likely the root cause
If Matthias Kirschner Loves Free Software, He'll Change the Name of the Microsoft-Sponsored Organisation He Governs (in Order to Avoid Confusion)
The FSF-EEE does not really like Software Freedom, it just loves money (including Microsoft's)
Soylent News Lessens the Scope of Discussion Due to Persistent Trolling and Online Abuse
if they make it a lot harder for new people to participate, then they limit the "general appeal" and reach
EPO's Local Occupational Health, Safety and Ergonomics Committee (LOHSEC) in The Hague: Workers Are Getting Sicker, Conditions in Which to Assess Patent Applications Deteriorate
"According to the Office statistics the total number of days of absence has gone up from 12.4 to 13.1 total number of sick days per Full Time Equivalent (FTE) from 2023 to 2024."
The Standard Needs to Improve Its Standards for Fact-Checking, Aaron Swartz Had Nothing to Do With Reddit and He Detested the Company That Created It
The Web is already bad enough as it is
When the Livestream of Richard Stallman is Apparently Bury-Brigaded Offline You Finally Learn to Avoid Google/YouTube for Streaming
Please, people, stop uploading to Google/YouTube
New Paper From the EPO Highlights Large-Scale Discrimination at the Office, Where People Are Rewarded for Granting More and More Illegal Patents
Even the Kremlin is probably more competent than this
Links 10/02/2025: Ban on D.E.I. Language, Listeria Risk/Outbreak
Links for the day
Links 10/02/2025: Announcing "Stringless" and Mental Health Improvement
Links for the day
Links 10/02/2025: Facebook Mass Layoffs, "Meta" Did What Aaron Swartz Had Done But to the Tune of 81.7 Terabytes
Links for the day
Microsoft Tarnishing the Brand of Arch
Of course Arch can do whatever it wants, but being associated with Microsoft is a badge of shame
The Ultimate and Inevitable Fall of OpenAI (Even Brave is 'Bigger' Now)
"When you advertise at the Super Bowl, you’ve reached just about every consumer in America. It’s the last stop. If you’re not profitable yet, you never will be."
Adding Slop to Your Blog Only Makes One Assume All the Text is LLM Slop
Simon Coter from Oracle has turned to slop
Macao is Leaving Microsoft Behind
Windows is falling to new all-time lows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 09, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 09, 2025
Microsoft's WSL (LSW) Shows That It Can Never Love Linux, Only Windows
that's just how Microsoft rolls
Activism in Times of War and a Coup
'Linux' Foundation works for fascism
What the Silencing of Neatnik Tells Us About Linus Torvalds Inside a Microsoft-Dominated 'Linux' Foundation
Is Linus Torvalds free to express his mind as he wishes about every topic, even just any technical topic?
Windows Down to 11.35% in Senegal, as Measured by statCounter
Another all-time low (Windows was at 99% in 2009)
"Latest Technology News" in BetaNews is LLM Slop Promoting OOXML and Proprietary Software at the Expense of LibreOffice and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Remember that "open-source" and Open Source aren't the same; the former is fake