Microsoft also saw the deal as a way to create "marketing collateral." The marketing agreement, dated Thursday, noted that access to some schools in Nigeria is possible only by "hours-long canoe rides and the fording of rivers."
"Capturing these momentous changes in pictures and in video will create compelling evidence of the efficacy of these interventions and convince policy makers, budget holders and government officials on the utility of these investments," it said.
The agreement goes on to say that TSC will ship some 100,000 Classmate PCs in 2007, making it "the biggest supplier of the platform in Africa in 2007." TSC is a subsidiary of Alteq.ict, an IT consulting business in Nigeria.
In a statement, Microsoft did not address specifics of the deal. "Microsoft operates its business in accordance with both the laws of the countries in which it operates and with international law," the company said.
Bancilhon, who implied in his blog entry that bribery may have been involved in the deal, said he does not believe anything was illegal.
Mandriva is not going to take legal action, although he said he is still gathering facts. "It's way too early to make any kind of decision," he said in an interview.
But a researcher based in the Netherlands who studies software in developing countries said Africa has been prone to deals that might be ethically questionable elsewhere.
"At the very least, this is a waste of public resources," said the researcher, who did not want to be identified.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Platforms Resource Alerts
Recommend This
