Linux Online - Fears About Microsoft Return, in Mexico

Fears About Microsoft Return, in Mexico


		Date:	Apr 25 2002

Microsoft will provide millions of dollars worth of free or discount-price software, training and support over the next five years and train 20,000 technicians and engineers to set up and run hundreds of e-Mexico public computer centers across the country.

But it is the deal with Microsoft that has drawn criticism, because to many it smacks of handing the company a de facto monopoly.

Many Mexican technology companies hoped that Mr. Fox would use e-Mexico to help promote open-source software in the country. Only 4 million of Mexico's 100 million people now have Internet access, but the number is expected to grow rapidly, in part because of the Fox administration's determination to bridge the "digital divide" and have more of its citizens participate in the global economy. That presents an open field of new users with no preferences or habits to overcome