[Solar-general] Carta abierta de Mandriva a Steve Ballmer (MS)

Vie Nov 2 00:43:44 CET 2007

Fuente: http://blog.mandriva.com/

Dear Steve,

Hi, this is François, from Mandriva.

I'm sure we're way too small for you to know me. You know, we're one
of these tiny Linux company working hard for our place on the market.
We produce a Linux Distro, Mandriva Linux. The last edition, Mandriva
2008 was seen as a pretty good version and we're proud of it. You
should give it a spin, I'm sure you'd like it. We also happen to be
one of the Linux companies that did not sign an agreement with your
company (nobody's perfect).

We recently closed a deal with the Nigerian Government. Maybe you
heard about it, Steve. They were looking for an affordable
hardware+software solution for their schools. The initial batch was
17,000 machines. We had a good answer to their need: the Classmate PC
from Intel, with a customized Mandriva Linux solution. We presented
the solution to the local government, they liked the machine, they
liked our system, they liked what we offered them, the fact that it
was open, that we could customize it for their country and so on.

Then your people entered the game and the deal got more competitive. I
would not say it got dirty, but someone could have said that. They
fought and fought the deal, but still the customer was happy to get
CMPC and Mandriva.

So we closed the deal, we got the order, we qualified the software, we
got the machine shipped. In other word, we did our job. I understand
the machine are being delivered right now.

And then, today, we hear from the customer a totally different story:
"we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall
replace it by Windows afterward."

Wow! I'm impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change
their mind like this? It's pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to
everyone. How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where
you live? In my place, they give it various names, I'm sure you know
them.

Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?

Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the
next one. You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different
sense of ethics you and I, but I believe that hard work, good
technology and ethics can win too.

cheers

François

PS: a message to our friends in Nigeria: it's still time to do the
right thing and make the right choice, you will get lots of support
for it and excellent services!

-- 
Sebastián Bassi (セバスティアン). Diplomado en Ciencia y Tecnología.
Curso Biologia molecular para programadores: http://tinyurl.com/2vv8w6
GPG Fingerprint: 9470 0980 620D ABFC BE63 A4A4 A3DE C97D 8422 D43D