By Nick Farrell | Infoworld
Software giant Microsoft has denied paying a Nigerian contractor $400,000 to stop Linux’s getting into the government sector.
The denial follows media reports alleging that Microsoft had proposed paying the sum to a government contractor under a joint marketing agreement. The money was available if the contractor replaced Linux OS with Windows OS on thousands of school laptops.
Thomas Hansen, regional manager for Microsoft West, East and Central Africa said that while a joint marketing agreement was drafted with the contractor, it was never executed. He said it was clear that one customer wanted a Linux OS and so the joint marketing agreement became irrelevant. Since no marketing agreement was ever agreed, no money changed hands and therefore noone was bribed.