Chad Mulls Open Source in Government — Ballmer dispatched as usual
Posted by Captain Shenanigan on Tuesday October 1, 2002 @09:02PM
from the Isn't-that-in-Florida-somewhere? dept.
Captain Shenanigan writes: Chad joins Germany, Argentina, Peru, and China in considering Linux and open source application software as a less expensive alternative to the Microsoft Windows platform and Office software suite.
Steve Ballmer immediately flew to N’Djamena (The capitol city of Chad, if you were wondering) in a desperate last-minute bid to convince their legislature not to pass legislation requiring open-source software for governmental use. In talks with Prime Minister Nagoum Yamassoum, Steve was suprised to learn that he had brought with him more computing power than the government of Chad posessed at the time. His Pentium 4 laptop, Toshiba e710 Handheld PC, Cellphone, Blackberry pager, and Casio calculator watch put the state-owned information technology (two original pentium-class Packard-Bell desktops and a Sinclair ZX-81) to shame. Learning that the country had no plans of buying more computers any time soon, Ballmer asked what the problem was.
Prime Minister Yamassoum sheepishly admitted that the machines had been stripped of their original Windows 95 operating systems before they were delivered to Chad because of the Microsoft requirement that proof of licenses must go with donated equipment. Since Chad could not afford a legal copy of Windows and Office Yamassoum had considered having his nephew download a copy of RedHat so the State Department could send email to neighboring Lybia.
Sensing an opportunity to win some good-will in a potentially-important developing nation, Steve attempted to install Windows XP on the Prime Minister’s computers from the re-installation CDs that came with his laptop but he was thwarted by the Windows XP licensing activation feature in the operating system. Realizing that wouldn’t work (and probably wouldn’t run on the old hardware anyway) he had three new copies of Windows 98 mailed to the Prime Minister’s nephew in exchange for an exclusive license of all of the intellectual property of the country of Chad and it’s inhabitants. Both parties (the Prime Minister and Steve) were said to be pleased with the deal.