An open letter to Steve Ballmer

seaeagle · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:03 am Post subject: An open letter to Steve Ballmer

This was posted on the Mandriva Linux blog by the company's chairman. It's an open letter to Steve Ballmer at Microsoft:

Mandriva Blog Â» An open letter to Steve Ballmer

Quote:

Dear Steve,

Hi, this is FranÃ§ois, from Mandriva.

Iâ€™m sure weâ€™re way too small for you to know me. You know, weâ€™re one of these tiny Linux company working hard for our place on the market. We produce a Linux Distro, Mandriva Linux. The last edition, Mandriva 2008 was seen as a pretty good version and weâ€™re proud of it. You should give it a spin, Iâ€™m sure youâ€™d like it. We also happen to be one of the Linux companies that did not sign an agreement with your company (nobodyâ€™s perfect).

We recently closed a deal with the Nigerian Government. Maybe you heard about it, Steve. They were looking for an affordable hardware+software solution for their schools. The initial batch was 17,000 machines. We had a good answer to their need: the Classmate PC from Intel, with a customized Mandriva Linux solution. We presented the solution to the local government, they liked the machine, they liked our system, they liked what we offered them, the fact that it was open, that we could customize it for their country and so on.

Then your people entered the game and the deal got more competitive. I would not say it got dirty, but someone could have said that. They fought and fought the deal, but still the customer was happy to get CMPC and Mandriva.

So we closed the deal, we got the order, we qualified the software, we got the machine shipped. In other word, we did our job. I understand the machine are being delivered right now.

And then, today, we hear from the customer a totally different story: â€œwe shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward.â€

Wow! Iâ€™m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their mind like this? Itâ€™s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone. How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my place, they give it various names, Iâ€™m sure you know them.

Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?

Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one. You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win too.

cheers

FranÃ§ois

PS: a message to our friends in Nigeria: itâ€™s still time to do the right thing and make the right choice, you will get lots of support for it and excellent services!

Looks like Microsoft might be up to their usual tricks of undermining anyone they see as competition.

User: inactive Posts:

Same old crap.....different day !
Big Brother strikes again !

Nothing new. Twisted Evil

Microshaft has tried to shipwreck every effort, by anyone, to come up with any alternatives to DOS, or any version of Windows ever released.
But, with their highly restrictive licensing practices and exorbitant prices, people are being forced to look elsewhere for their OS.

I'm not a Linux user, but I just may be one day. I want that option !

That was a great letter. I enjoyed reading it very much.

Thanks Seaeagle

Shadow Cool

Bearly1227 · Joined: Feb 21, 2003 Posts: 18

Hey, I don't want to rain on someone else's parade here. Rolling Eyes

But, you know, predatory business practices isn't restricted to Microsoft. Before Microsoft even got out of their corporate diapers, IBM was a big heavy weight and even Hewlett-Packard had their share of "questionably ethical" business practices.

I know it's hard, in the shadow of the current Microsoft, that any other company could possibly be as predatorious (is that a word?) as M$ . . . but when companies practices forces competitors out of business . . . gosh what am i saying ? ? In light of todays business climate, some companies practices force their employees out onto the street ! Evil or Very Mad

Gee, maybe IBM & HP were just a ahead of their time? ? ? Mad

Bob

silmaril8n · Joined: Jan 29, 2004 Posts: 1713 Location: Phoenix, AZ

I'm a huge Linux fax, but this guy just comes off as whining. Big turnoff for me. When a huge deal falls through (and I'm sure we've all been there) it's time to regroup and keep moving.