Venezuela goes Linux?

[Ben Scott]

On 11/12/06, Jon maddog Hall <maddog at li.org> wrote:
>>   The next day, Microsoft announces they are opening a Technology Center in
>> Venezuela, and will be offering deep discounts and large grants to Venezuelan
>> schools and businesses.
>
> Maybe.  But you should remember that Mr. Chavez considers Bush the "devil".  If he
> considers Bush the devil, then maybe having FOSS as a "back up" to using Microsoft
> is considered to be a good tactical, if not strategic, move.

  My remark wasn't intended to imply that all of these sorts of
government announcements are just attempts to leverage more discounts
out of Microsoft (although I'm sure some of them are).  Rather, it was
an observation that Microsoft's first reaction to these sorts of
things is always to start trying to bribe the market with short-term
incentives, designed to preserve their lock-in for the long-term.

  That trend has what I hope are obvious parallels with the recent Novell deal.

-- Ben