Forse i più non lo sanno, ma esiste un rivale di XO, il portatile economico dell'iniziativa One Laptop Per Child: si tratta di un prodotto che ha per genitori Intel e Microsoft e si presenta con il marchio Classmate.

Quasi contemporaneamente alla notizia dell'ordine, da parte dell'Uruguay, di 100.000 XO, con l'intenzione di chiederne altri 300.000 in un prossimo futuro, si è venuti a sapere che la Libia ha fatto richiesta di 150.000 Classmate.

Lo scopo del governo libico è lo stesso del governo uruguayano - promuovere l'informatizzazione del Paese partendo dai bambini - solo che la Libia ha preferito affidarsi a un prodotto Intel con sistema operativo Windows, mentre il progetto Olpc si basa su tecnologia Amd e sistema Linux.

La Libia non è il primo Stato ad accordarsi con Intel: già il Pakistan aveva ordinato qualche tempo fa 700.000 Classmate.

Anche la Nigeria dopo essere stata corteggiata da OLPC ha scelto il Classmate, suscitando le ire di François Bancilhon, CEO di Mandriva; quest'ultimo infatti ha scritto piccato una lettera a Steve Ballmer.

Dear Steve,
Hi, this is Francois, from Mandriva.

I'm sure we are way too small for you to have heard of us. You know, we are one of these Linux company who is working hard to make its place in the market. We publish a Linux Distro, called Mandriva Linux. Mandriva Linux 2008, our last edition, has a pretty good review and we're proud of it. You should try it, I'm sure you'd like it. We also happen to be one of the Linux companies that did not sign an agreement with your company (nobody'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 deal to respond 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, especially the fact that it was open, and that we could customize it for their country and so on.

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

We actually closed the deal, we took the order, we qualified the software, we got the machine shipped. To conclude, we did our job. And, the machine are being delivered right now.

Now, we hear a different story from the customer : "we shall pay for the Mandriva Software as agreed, but we shall replace it by Windows afterward."

Wow! I'm impressed, Steve! What have you done to these guys to make them change their mind like this? It's quite clear to me, and it will be to everyone. How do you call what you just did Steve? There is various names for it, I'm sure you know them.

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 still believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win too.

cheers
Francois

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