It doesn't top the official agenda, but as government leaders converge at Microsoft Corp for an annual conference, one of the company's major competitors -- Linux -- is likely to be on executives' minds.
Microsoft had representatives from 61 countries Monday and yesterday at its Redmond, Washington, campus for its annual Government Leaders Summit.
But with the disclosure that Microsoft has been using a fund to steeply discount its software to government agencies that are considering competitors' cheaper products, the Linux phenomenon will doubtlessly come up.
Also Monday, Microsoft announced a new deal to license UNIX technology from SCO Group. The move is seen by Microsoft detractors as a bid by the software giant to undermine the Linux operating system, a Unix offshoot, as a competitor.
Last week, SCO sent letters to Linux customers claiming the software is an "unauthorized derivative" of its property.
At the conference, Microsoft will tout the message that there's more to software than just its upfront costs. However, it's clear the company will accept huge discounts to ensure it does not lose the lucrative government and educational market.
"Where there are competitive options, Microsoft is often willing to go to the mat to make sure they get a deal," said Michael Gartenberg, research director for Jupiter Research.
The summit will focus on such topics as technology and its role in driving economic development, the delivery of government services over the Internet and Microsoft's vision for where technology is heading, said Brad Smith, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel.
But the summit comes amid a struggling global economy and the increasing popularity of the free Linux open-source software -- in which big-name vendors like IBM are creating and selling lower-cost software.
In recent months, government agencies from Germany to France to Peru have adopted or are considering Linux-based software as a cheaper alternative to Microsoft products.
To counter that, Microsoft last July established the Education and Government Incentive program, which allows the company to steeply discount software for government and academic agencies, Smith said.
The threat to Microsoft is clear from an e-mail last year by Orlando Ayala, then Microsoft's worldwide sales chief.
Ayala wrote, "Under NO circumstances lose against Linux before ensuring we have used this program actively and in a smart way," Smith told reporters. The company declined to share the full e-mail.
The program is geared mostly for developing countries, where agencies may be less able to afford Microsoft software, Smith said.
He brushed aside concerns that Microsoft may be using its massive cash hoard -- more than US$40 billion -- to discount products unlawfully or in other ways that violate EU laws.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS