Essa semana o CEO da Mandriva, François Bancilhon, escreveu uma carta aberta a Steve Ballmer falando da última picaretagem da MS.
O governo da Nigéria havia fechado um acordo com a Mandriva Linux para 17 mil computadores para suas escolas, esses computadores seriam Classmate PCs, da Intel e o sistema operacional seria o Mandriva customizado para a cultura e modelo de educação da Nigéria.
O acordo foi fechado, os computadores foram enviados, mas o pessoal entrou em contato com a Mandriva e disse: “we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward.” (Nós iremos pagar pelo Software Mandriva como combinado, mas iremos substituílo pelo Windows posteriormente).
Pra isso ter acontecido, com certeza alguma coisa muito suja houve né? Seguem alguns trechos da carta:
“I’m sure we are way too small for you to have heard of us. You know, we are one of these Linux company who is working hard to make its place in the market. We publish a Linux Distro, called Mandriva Linux.”
…
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.
…
Then, your people get in the game and the deal got more competitive. I would not say it got dirty, but someone could have said that.
…
Now, we hear a different story from the customer : “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 to these guys to make them change their mind like this? It’s quite clear to me, and it will be to everyone. How do you call what you just did Steve? There is various names for it, I’m sure you know them.
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 still believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win too.”
É por essas e outras que a Microsoft vem conseguindo uma péssima reputação, como se já não bastasse produtos caros e de baixa qualidade, táticas anti-truste, ainda têm toda essa política imunda.
Clique aqui e leia a carta na íntegra