Tentacular Marketing 101

A big story is breaking in Chile about a “voluntary agreement” struck between the Chilean Government and Microsoft that goes way beyond the usual licensing deal.

A copy of the agreement leaked and sparked “outrage” in the open and free software community. Opponents there are calling it “The day Chile sold itself to Microsoft.” So far, the outcry has forced the government to explain its move, and as the news spreads, so is resistance to the plan.

A loosely-translated summary of the agreement:

a) Training,
- 1 Million USD for training ($67 USD per student for 15.000 students)
- Coordination through local non profit organizations,
b)Software,
- 15 Million “Free users” of MSFT LIVE (Mail, Messenger, Spaces and Mobile)
- App Hosting, 2 Gib of storage per user, with WAP access etc..
c) Local Government Support
- They will provide the frame work for web page development to local municipalities.
d)Innovation School,
- The creation of a School of innovation in a low income province.
- 1 Million USD, for the development,
e)Public Local Schools,
- MSFT will provide and maintain the software for local public schools.
f)Professor Training,
- 600k USD for the training of local professors.
g) Small Business
- 5 Million USD in SW for small business and productivity tools.
h) Low income areas
- MSFT will provide its encyclopedia, and the office Suite, with an estimated savings of 6 Mil,
i) Security Collaboration
- MSFT will donate its Child Explotation Traking Sistem o CETS
- MFST will contract lawyers to review the local laws regrading ciber criminals
j) Software Security Collaboration
- MSFT will work with the local universities, providing bug fixes and security notices
k) Innovation Initiatives,
- MSFT will collaborate with 4 innovation centers at a university level, to promote innovation, with an investment of 300k over 3 years.
l) Competitive Innovation
- MSFT will study the impact of technology in at least 3 important economic sectors of the country.

As yet, nothing much has appeared in the anglophile tech press, but lots is being written about the deal in Chile:

El Francotirador: El Dia Que Chile Se Vendio a Microsoft

El Movimiento de Liberación Digital

Chile no se vende. (Chileans are not for sale.)

Usuarios chilenos se oponen enérgicamente a acuerdo entre el Gobierno y Microsoft

As more information appears in English, it will be posted here.

UPDATE: Chile: A Controversial Agreement with Microsoft

“There is a feeling among Chilean bloggers that the agreement signed between the Economy Minister, Alejandro Ferreiro and Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer de Microsoft Corporation on May 9th is not good for Chile. The title of this post written by Christian in elfrancotirador [ES] explains the situation in a simple way:

Guys: what would you say if I told you that starting today that the 15 million of Chileans will (all) be users of Microsoft, even if we wanted to or not? That’s what I thought.
And, what if I added, that from now on, to make any state or municipal transaction will require the use of Microsoft software? Don’t be content with this beacause in addition, the entire Chilean education system will be carried out through the Microsoft platform-and that’s not it, but every registered student of our country will turn into a “preferential client� of the company.

This entry was posted by T. Colin Dodd on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 11:59 am and is filed under Truth, Public vs. Private, Chile, Tentacular Marketing, Libre. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.