Speedlinks: Potpourri Edition...

When some Francois chap from Mandriva, (a French Company with a deal to supply Nigerian schools with 17,000 linux operated computers) put up this letter on his company blog, I greeted the news with a yawn and passed up on it. The letter was just shy of accusing Steve Ballmer of bribing Nigerian officials so that they'd choose Windows over Linux. Little did I know that bloggers from all over the world will jump on this issue and make it one of those fiascoes that would drive home country's name in murky waters. I still don't have much to say, I was just wondering if Francois is talking from experience. Just wondering. Also it has become increasingly difficult to defend the Nigerian government, so that even if some dude like Francois chooses to make a hasty generalization, we are stuck with accepting these claims or defending home government half heartedly. I love the idea of open source software, though the economist in me is suspicious of the model. The only thing that struck a chord was this statement in Francois' letter.

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.”

What a waste, moving on.
You can monitor the progress of the Millennium Development Goals here, this idea looks more and more like a rude joke with each passing day. Something here about Africa's Lost Billions.
Nigerian looking for better health care in neighbouring countries...Priceless. While South Africa seem to be making great stride in this FDI thing. Lastly, in totally unrelated news, check out the Einstein story in Google video, be warned it is long. Have a great work week guys.