[WSIS CS-Plenary] Liberation/Francia: l'accord Microsoft-UNESCO - English translation

[veni markovski]

At 15:42 05-01-2005 -0500, Robert Guerra wrote:
>UNDP signed the agreement at the WSIS summit - and wasn't caught by many 
>until months after. That we are reacting quicker to the UNESCO development 
>is good, but too late?

Actually it was caught the very day of the meeting, back in December 2003. 
By the IHT and the New York Times. It's interesting the announcement was 
made exactly when Microsoft was under attack:)



Open-source software gets boost at UN
by Jennifer L. Schenker IHT

http://www.iht.com/articles/121033.html


Geneva
A months-long backroom battle led by Brazil, with support from India, South 
Africa and China, against the United States over open-source software took 
center stage Wednesday at the UN information summit meeting here.

Samuel Guimar es, executive secretary in Brazil's foreign ministry, told 
government representatives at the summit meeting's opening sessions that 
free-to-share software is crucial for the developing world because it 
enables poorer countries to develop their own technology instead of having 
to import it.

That message put the maneuvering for open-source software business at the 
highest levels of global policy, with proponents and critics both 
struggling for the endorsement of intra-governmental agencies such as the UN.

Brazil wanted the summit talks to endorse the idea that the digital divide 
cannot be bridged with proprietary software and that open-source software, 
which is developed collaboratively and exchanged freely over the Internet, 
is the best path forward.

The language was watered down considerably in the summit meeting's written 
declaration after pressure from developed countries, according to 
participants, but the free software did get a mention as an important 
option for developing countries to consider.

"Companies that sell proprietary software are going to have to accept that 
there is competition and that is good for developing countries because it 
leads to affordable pricing and increased access," said Raoul Zambrano, a 
UN adviser on information and communication technologies, in an interview.

The information and communications technology arm of the UN Development 
Program is currently advising governments that ask on how to use open 
source as a tool to build local skills. But Zambrano said the UNDP is 
cautioning them not to mandate open source for their governments because 
that creates another type of monopoly. The goal, he said, is to create 
choice and competition.

The UNDP plans to announce that it will open a regional center in Europe to 
help governments in the Balkans and Baltics move to open-source software.

The debate over commercial software such as Microsoft's dominant operating 
system, Windows, and collaborative software has become a rich versus poor 
argument at the UN meeting, which is trying to address how to close the 
digital divide.

Veni Markovski, head of the Bulgarian president's information technology 
advisory council and head of the local branch of the Internet Society, said 
he had approached the UNDP to get help for his country and was motivated to 
do so because he was shocked by the outcome of several government contracts 
involving Microsoft products.

In the first case, the government spent $13.6 million on Microsoft's 
Windows XP products in 2002. He claimed that it was later discovered that 
the government paid twice the list price for the software, which was 
purchased through a Microsoft retailer.

A Microsoft spokeswoman and another member of the Bulgarian delegation at 
the UN talks, Roman Trifonov, denied that the government had overpaid for 
the software,

Another contract, involving a contract for an e-government portal on the 
Internet, which would allow citizens to access government services online, 
required citizens to use Windows XP or Windows 2000 and to use Internet 
Explorer as their browser, Markovski said.

Trifonov, an adviser to the minister of state administration, countered 
that any computer user with certain system tools could access the portal.

A third contract, for $1.5 million, was for 35,000 software licenses for 
schools, but Markovski maintains that there are no more than 850 computers 
in schools that could run the software.

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the contract was jointly issued by the 
Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and that it covers up to 
15,000 computers for public schools, with the rest being used by 
universities and the Academy of Science.

"I am convinced that the end result of the influence that Microsoft has on 
the government here is that the end user, the citizen, doesn't have a 
choice and the government doesn't have a choice," Markovski said.

Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that it was in talks with the UNDP about "how 
to leverage each others' competencies." The software giant, which has said 
it will invest $1 billion on helping to bridge the digital divide, said 
that it did not require its software be used when the company participates 
in such a project. "People at the end of the day have the right to choose 
and we support that," the spokeswoman said. "It is a tough call for a lot 
of agencies and groups when Microsoft offers to give away software to 
schools and governments," said Peter Dravis, an independent consultant who 
wrote a report about open-source software for the World Bank. But he said 
there was strong bottom-up demand for open-source software, so even a 
handful of Microsoft deals with governments would not ensure market dominance.

International Herald Tribune



>In regards to IDRC, do we know if any other "agreements" have been signed 
>between M$ and other development agencies? If so, it would be an - 
>expected -  political move by M$ to stop the success of open source 
>software deployment.
>
>regards
>
>Robert
>
>
>At 5:27 PM -0200 1/5/05, Carlos Afonso wrote:
>>Unesco remains totally silent regarding critiques or requests for 
>>clarification on this agreement. By the way, UNDP and IDRC have signed 
>>similar agreements with M$. Ah, the power of money...
>>
>>--c.a.
>
>--
>###
>Robert Guerra <rguerra at privaterra.org>
>Privaterra - <http://www.privaterra.org>
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