Linux CEO Lashes Out at Ballmer

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An “open letter to Steve Ballmer” has been posted by Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon that bashes Steve Ballmer for swooping the Nigerian government contract for Classmate PCs away from his company at the last minute.

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: “we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward.”
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Sour grapes. They bought hardware, and software from them, and now the client won't be using their software but they are still going to pay for it?

I like that deal. I've got tons of software I can sell if people aren't going to use it and I don't have to support it.
 
It's pretty shitty of M$ to swoop in and do that (if true, we all know CEOs are master of BS!)...But if it's true as it sounds, that the customer has already paid, they shipped the product, but the customer (govt) decided AFTER the fact to use M$ --- without asking for a (partial or all; doesn't matter) refund, then I don't really see the problem. Who gives a rat's ass about Nigeria besides those damned 409 spammers anyway?
 
Definitly sour grapes, but I would be questioning the Nigerian government why instead of going after Ballmer.
 
I just laughed at this one...
I read some of the comments others made to this... LOL

They're bashing CEO for bad grammars and spellings. WOW. LOL But I can't say one way or the other. Even if Linux were to do the exact same thing to MS. I can't say whether one is right and one is wrong since I don't know the whole deal behind the scene. I honestly don't see if they really lost out, they did sell PCs to the government. They said "Later" they will replace it with windows, that's later. Maybe they have some sort of contractual w/ MS? I don't know. Maybe we can see a reply from Steve Ballmer (LOL right... maybe he'll write back -- Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft [puns on Monkey Dance "Developers, Developers, ..."])
 
I can't really blame (from what I've read) Nigeria either....their probably just happy to have someone...anyone...fighting over their business. :D


Ballmer probably just sent a letter to the Nigerians they understand...

"GREATINGS FROM MICROSOTF. I AM THE SON OF THE LATE DICTATOR BRILL GRATES....
 
Steve... you need spell check on your forum. HEHE... unless you meant to spell it wrong.
 
Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that your uncle, Prince Kalza of our capital has died. All you have to do is send us two Windows XP CDs and we'll send you $5,000,000 dollars that can be used to pay off your debts for the funeral of linux.
 
Really, who can blame Nigeria? They were offered software that will actually give their people a USEFUL skill (Windows Usage) over what would be useless for 99.9% of them (Linux Usage).

Lets face it. Why teach anyone how to use Linux when the odds of them ever seeing it otherwise is approximately ZERO. It's even more useless then giving them Macs. You don't improve your society by giving them useless skills.
 
LANm0nk3y said:
wow... i fear that nemesis has just opened a can of worms.
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He might have, but what he said is prolly true. When interviewed for employment, I have yet to be asked if I had any experience in Open Office or any Nix app for that matter. It has always been, "How familiar are you with Excel and MS Office?". MS is what the business world uses right now. Nix is penetrating at some levels. But the desktop business machines, (which is the vast majority of machines), still for the most part, run a MS os and apps.
 
LANm0nk3y said:
wow... i fear that nemesis has just opened a can of worms.
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how so? like it or not the world runs on windows. linux is a niche os made for and used by geeks not for a third world nation trying to make themselves better. thats not being fanatical thats just being honest.
 
rhexis said:
how so? like it or not the world runs on windows. linux is a niche os made for and used by geeks not for a third world nation trying to make themselves better. thats not being fanatical thats just being honest.
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He said it was useless. I about linux being a niche. alright...geesh..."Can't do nothing here!"
 
I'd rather pay an extra $3 for a third world copy of Windows XP and Office. :cool:
 
averagebeatboy said,

November 1, 2007 at 3:39 am

Wait until they discover Windoze still runs on top of DOS and uses Winsock DLL for communications. ROTFLMAO

Fracois, don’t sweat it you did the right thing.

Cheers
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This cracks me up lol. Some of those zealots are so far out of touch with reality.
 
That is genuinely funny. When even the Nigerians don't want what you have to offer then its probably a good idea to have a serious look at your product. This is not a go at Linux but rather the companies approach to picking customers .
 
meanmodda[H];1031610024 said:
That is genuinely funny. When even the Nigerians don't want what you have to offer then its probably a good idea to have a serious look at your product. This is not a go at Linux but rather the companies approach to picking customers .
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That reminds me of this FSJ post: http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2007/07/freetards-in-deep-denial.html

Money quote:
You can have it and all the other freetard apps that go with it for zero dollars, which is approximately three bucks less than what Microsoft charges. So, given the choice of a free software system or one that costs three bucks, the Chinese are choosing the one that costs three bucks.
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:D
 
Typical Linux luser muckracking and attempted FUD.
Linux is busy emulating Microsoft every way they can, including marketing over technology. Not surprised.
 
Any professional that has read this 'open letter' is just going to think less of Mandriva and possibly even Linux in general. I wonder if MS paid this putz off or if he's just that pathetic. MS tries to get people to use windows, if you have a problem with this nobody that matters cares. If you want to make some actual accusations of corruption then step up with the evidence and say so, otherwise nobody that matters cares.
 
I think the issue here is twofold.

The letter blasting Ballmer is nothing but sour grapes. The decision to use MS software instead of Mandriva software for the most part is nothing more than a business decision. While this sucks for Mandriva, I don't see how this is technically Ballmer's fault. MS made a proposal which the Nigerian government accepted and at the same time, did not break it's contract with Mandriva. There is nothing nefarious here, just a business decision.

Personally, I think it's a stupid financial move to basically pay for software twice when you are not going to use one of them. Again, the MS proposal must have been one hell of a sweet deal although there is still nothing wrong with what MS or the Nigerian government did.

I can understand why Mandriva is pissed. The time spent developing and ensuring the software was going to work correctly for it's intended use was not cheap. Even though Mandriva will be paid for the initial software as agreed upon, it doesn't necessarily mean they will recoup all the money from the original development just from the current purchase contract.

Even if Mandriva does make a profit from this deal, it's likely a dead end at this point. Without the software being used, future development will likely be halted or massively scaled down even though much of it may work somewhere else. The possible additional purchases for future upgrades and compatibility is now totally lost. Besides that last point, this was a major design win and proof of concept which could have given Mandriva a lot of praise (as well as possibly increased future sales) as long as everything worked out well with their software. It could have backfired too, but we probably won't know which scenario would have played out now. The possible profit made off the initial purchase was not the "win" Mandriva was looking for; it was the success of the product producing future sales and positive exposure.

Basically, this is a loss and a major blow to Mandriva. I will repeat it, Mandriva has a damn good reason to be pissed, but the letter to Ballmer is sour grapes and is more likely to harm Mandriva than do anything else.

 
If the *nix community spend as much time trying to make software to better compete with what Microsoft has as they do bitching about Microsoft this type of stuff wouldn't happen. Stop trying to make 8000 different version of the same OS, work together and make 4 or 5 good ones. If you want to make mail server softare to compete with exchange don't charge a yearly fee that causes your software to have a higher cost over its lifetime. And start making software aimed at the end user's needs/desires instead of just demandng that they learn to deal with how something works.

While there is plenty of potential there for a better outcome for *nix, I see this type of stuff happening many more times in the next few years.
 
Exavior said:
While there is plenty of potential there for a better outcome for *nix, I see this type of stuff happening many more times in the next few years.
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Yep, gotta agree that they need to work on making a few variation, so that the mass can pick up on how to use it. I've actually tried installing those distro... I can't ever get the hang of it. I guess i'm just a tard... ask me bout windows and dos and I tell you stuff about it. Linux, forget it.
 
Exavior said:
If the *nix community spend as much time trying to make software to better compete with what Microsoft has as they do bitching about Microsoft this type of stuff wouldn't happen. Stop trying to make 8000 different version of the same OS, work together and make 4 or 5 good ones. If you want to make mail server softare to compete with exchange don't charge a yearly fee that causes your software to have a higher cost over its lifetime. And start making software aimed at the end user's needs/desires instead of just demandng that they learn to deal with how something works.

While there is plenty of potential there for a better outcome for *nix, I see this type of stuff happening many more times in the next few years.
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Herein lies the problem. I make the very same suggestion, however, a Linux person will tell you it's all about choice. What can you do but try to tell them that no, it's not all about choice? It's about a widespread, integrated platform. Fundamentally, it's a different philosophy they're after, but if they want better market penetration, I think the philosophy needs to go. There's absolutely no reason why open source software can't be better than what Microsoft produces and more commonly used as well, but, I think it takes a different mindset to achieve such a thing.
 
The Mandrake CEO should yell and jump around on stage and sweat like he's about to have a stroke. Then people will know he is serious.


Still, this makes little sense. You can scam people just fine on a Linux platform.
 
The main reason he was upset is because his company lost the resulting Support contract that would have made them even more money for the next decade or as they continued to assist the Nigerian Gov in training their people and children on usage.
That's where the real problem lies. yes they got paid. But now there is no chance for them to continually get paid on a support contract. And his english doesn't change the fact he has a legitimite reason to be upset. Think about how much time effort they worked to land that contract. Have their Systems be shipped. then at the last second receive a phone call that it was all for nothing really? IF you were in the business industry and you were in his shoes you would damn well be upset if you had any passion or caring for the business you're in.:(
 
Oh noes! I just heard that the government of Nigeria switched from the super geeky special platform that is truly open to all, the Boston Stanley stapler, to the evil and unethical Swingline monopoly! Oh how truly low of the nigerian governent to do this to the Boston Stanley company.

Milton will be happy though....
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of business.

Mandriva, take the money you already made, the lesson you learned, and do a better job next time.

There is nothing you can do if another company's products are desired more but maybe lose out due to being more costly. If you compete on low cost, expect that your bigger competitor will have the option of also lowering their prices to get "in" initially. I'm sure MS paid Nigeria out on whatever it "cost" them for the Linux stuff and gave them a deal they couldn't refuse.

All this tells us is that the value of Linux is probably lower than what Mandriva offered and that the value to MS for having Nigeria use their software was worth more than the payoff they probably had to give to get rid of Linux.

In the end, maybe Nigeria won out, using Mandriva to get a great price for something thay may have actually wanted. That is called being in a position to negotiate.

Good luck next time, Mandriva. Learn from this if you want to survive.
 
Nemesis999 said:
Really, who can blame Nigeria? They were offered software that will actually give their people a USEFUL skill (Windows Usage) over what would be useless for 99.9% of them (Linux Usage).

Lets face it. Why teach anyone how to use Linux when the odds of them ever seeing it otherwise is approximately ZERO. It's even more useless then giving them Macs. You don't improve your society by giving them useless skills.
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qft,


it's their money, tough shit :)
 
SnapperDragon said:
Welcome to the wonderful world of business.

All this tells us is that the value of Linux is probably lower than what Mandriva offered and that the value to MS for having Nigeria use their software was worth more than the payoff they probably had to give to get rid of Linux.

Learn from this if you want to survive.
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I'm not sure that is a valid point. A product is not necessarily devalued because another company with near unlimited resources comes in and can sell its at a loss to get a contract.

I think the mistake here is that Mandriva didn't have an airtight contract in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening. If they had stipulations in the contract that had hefty fines or penalties for breaking the contract, then they wouldn't have switched to Microsoft.

Next time, get some better lawyers to draw up the contracts. ;)

Besides, MS needs to find some new cash revenues since Vista has bombed in the business sector. According to an article I just read in NetworkWorld magazine, 52% of the respondents of a recent Forrester Research study shows that they have no plans to roll out Vista or don't know when they might do it. 11% don't plant to start a rollout until 2009 and another 6% are waiting until 2010. 88% of companies with 5000 to 20000 users have standardized on XP and the likelihood of them moving to vista is relatively low.
 
VRMan said:
I'm not sure that is a valid point. A product is not necessarily devalued because another company with near unlimited resources comes in and can sell its at a loss to get a contract.

I think the mistake here is that Mandriva didn't have an airtight contract in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening. If they had stipulations in the contract that had hefty fines or penalties for breaking the contract, then they wouldn't have switched to Microsoft.

Next time, get some better lawyers to draw up the contracts. ;)

Besides, MS needs to find some new cash revenues since Vista has bombed in the business sector. According to an article I just read in NetworkWorld magazine, 52% of the respondents of a recent Forrester Research study shows that they have no plans to roll out Vista or don't know when they might do it. 11% don't plant to start a rollout until 2009 and another 6% are waiting until 2010. 88% of companies with 5000 to 20000 users have standardized on XP and the likelihood of them moving to vista is relatively low.
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Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me that, as with every other MS OS I can remember, the major businesses are waiting a long period of time before upgrading!?!! AMAZING!

Few major business will upgrade in the first couple years, it would be idiotic to upgrade before a platform has years. Hell, the company I work for doesn't aply no-security upgrades for 6-9 months until they're proven.
 
VRMan said:
Besides, MS needs to find some new cash revenues since Vista has bombed in the business sector. According to an article I just read in NetworkWorld magazine, 52% of the respondents of a recent Forrester Research study shows that they have no plans to roll out Vista or don't know when they might do it. 11% don't plant to start a rollout until 2009 and another 6% are waiting until 2010. 88% of companies with 5000 to 20000 users have standardized on XP and the likelihood of them moving to vista is relatively low.
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Yes because we know everyone company in the world switched to XP the year it was released.

Sheesh it has only been a year and businesses are typically the slowest to adopt a new platform. It means nothing. MS is still getting their money and to MS that is all that matters.
 
Wow, there's some misconceptions floating around here...

To put it up top - I work for Mandriva. I wasn't involved in this particular deal and these are not official company statements, but obviously I should mention that.

One, the problem is not, per se, losing business to Microsoft. As Francois wrote, there was a long period in the life of this deal where Mandriva and Microsoft were competing for the deal. Had the Nigerian government at that point said "thanks for the pitch, but we like Microsoft's offer more" and gone with it - fine. Well, not fine, obviously we don't like to lose :), but that's a perfectly normal way of doing business and wouldn't have been a problem to complain about.

The issue is this. There was, as mentioned, a several month long period where the project was competed over in the usual way. We submitted proposals, Microsoft submitted competing proposals, all business as usual. And we *won* the project. The customer went with our - carefully detailed and worked out - proposal over Microsoft's. The deal was finalized, signed, and the units were shipped out.

*Then* the customer turned around and said "oh, actually, we'll pay you for the software, but we're going to wipe it and put Windows on instead".

I hope it's fairly obvious that this is not the normal way contracts go down. Imagine you're Megacorp A and you put out a contract to tender. Megasupplier B and Megasupplier C put in bids. You work with both of them to come up with detailed proposals, and after a normal, lengthy process, you decide Megasupplier B's offer is better, and sign the deal with them. You *pay* them for the goods.

At this point it would be really fricking weird for you to turn around not a couple of days later and say "Oh, actually - we'll pay you for the goods and take delivery of them, but we'll throw them in the trash right away and go with Megasupplier A after all".

Something in that just doesn't add up. Why would that happen? What can Megasupplier A possibly do in a couple of days after the deal is finished to convince you that their stuff is *so much better* that you should go with it even though you already paid for Megasupplier B's stuff? And if they had this wonderful equipment / proposal / whatever, why didn't they submit it during the regular tendering process, thus saving you all that money you spent on Megasupplier B's stuff?

This is why we're somewhat narked over the deal. Obviously as I'm not involved in the process I'm not in full possession of all the details, so I don't want to say anything more specific than that, but that's the actual aspect of the proceedings that we're questioning. If Microsoft had simply beaten us in the normal competitive process - that's one thing. This seems rather different.

Adam Williamson
Community manager, Bugmaster, newsletter editor
Mandriva
 
how do you know they're going to just throw your software away? maybe they'll put it to use somewhere else.... just a thought lol
 
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