Nigerian schools bought thousands of PCs with Mandriva Linux pre-installed but after words from Microsoft, they switched to Windows.
The chief executive officer of Mandriva, François Bancilhon, has taken Microsoft to task over the Nigerian government's alleged decision to wipe Mandriva Linux software from 17,000 school computers and install Windows instead.
In an open letter, Bancilhon claimed Mandriva developed and recently closed a deal to provide computers to Nigeria's schools. The initial batch delivered was 17,000 Classmate PCs from Intel, with a customised Mandriva Linux operating system, according to Bancilhon.
However, Mandriva claims it has now been told that the Nigerian government will replace its Linux distribution with Windows.
"Today, we heard from the customer: 'We shall pay for the Mandriva software as agreed, but we shall replace it [with] Windows afterward[s]'," wrote Bancilhon. "Wow! I'm impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their mind like this? Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?"
Microsoft and representatives from the Nigerian government had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.
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Mike - 02/11/07
Let me see if I understand this...
Nigerian Government decides to take OS that will cost them lots and lots of money - to get OS, Office etc. and may require hardware upgrades - due to Vista's infamous speed
INSTEAD of an OS that includes a strong Office Suite for nothing which will run decently on a XP 2000+ in 256MB RAM.
Some might say that something underhand and nefarious had occurred.
However, given the legendary upstanding nature of the protagonists - Microsoft and the Nigerian Government - I suspect we would all conclude the decision makes perfect sense.
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