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Mexico Embraces Microsoft, Stirring a Debate

May 19, 2002
By GRAHAM GORI






MEXICO CITY -- When he was 17, Miguel de Icaza wrote his
first computer program on the supercomputers of Mexico's
nuclear institute. In college, he developed Ximian Gnome, a
desktop program that is a lot like Microsoft Windows but
differs in one fundamental way. It is free.

Today, at 29, he lives in Boston and is chief technology
officer of Ximian Inc., whose software can be freely
downloaded from the Internet and is used on millions of
desktops worldwide.

When he learned that President Vicente Fox had announced a
nationwide plan to make millions of Mexicans
computer-literate, Mr. de Icaza saw a great opportunity to
promote his software at home. But he has since found that
Mexico is eager to develop its technology market only with
companies that offer millions of dollars to take part.

And that is how Microsoft, which up north has faced years
of regulatory battles over what critics call its
monopolistic practices, came to be handed what could fast
become a monopoly here.

When Mr. Fox took office, in December 2000, he announced an
ambitious project to bring nearly all of Mexico's 100
million people online, but he soon realized that his
digital revolution was severely short of financing.
Congress, in fact, did not give him one centavo for the
first year of the project, called e-México.

Mr. Fox's administration began asking for ideas, but most
of all for cash. And international companies, led by
Microsoft, have been racing to answer the call.

Mr. de Icaza was quick to offer his services. In January
2001, granted a few minutes with Mr. Fox at a social event,
he asked the president to support open-source software
instead of proprietary software, the kind Microsoft sells.
He said that with the millions of dollars the government
saved on licensing and upgrade fees, it could train and
employ a generation of programmers to create a software
industry to rival Microsoft.

When his time was up, Mr. de Icaza recalled Mr. Fox saying,
"Thank you, but that's exactly what we're getting with
Microsoft."

Last month Mr. de Icaza learned that Mr. Fox's government
had signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Microsoft to
train 23,000 computer technicians for the first round of
community centers going online with e-México.

Three more deals are on the way. The first of them will be
a $56 million investment to help the commerce ministry
train 23,000 professionals and schoolteachers. The second
will give an estimated $10 million to train those running
small and midsize businesses in using Microsoft Office
software. And the third, a gift from the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation to Mr. Fox's philanthropy wing, Vamos
México, will bring the nation's 6,000 libraries online
using Microsoft technology.

When all four deals are in place, Microsoft will have
pledged more than $100 million to the Mexican government
and trained more than 70,000 professionals and teachers.

Only 4 percent of Mexicans now have access to the Internet,
but the number is expected to grow rapidly, placing Mexico
in the middle of a global debate about how to develop its
emerging technology market.

One camp, led by Mr. de Icaza, asserts that with
open-source software, Mexico can avoid a debt burden to
companies like Microsoft, while providing jobs to thousands
of underemployed computer scientists. The other side
contends that Microsoft offers a quick and efficient method
to train millions of people.

With only a $65 million budget for e-México this year, Mr.
Fox's government decided that it could not complete the
project on its own.

"We don't have the resources, and these communities need
something to start with," said Julio César Margain,
director of e-México. "Microsoft has been one of the tools
to democratize knowledge in the computer era." When people
become computer-literate, Mr. Margain said, they can decide
whether open-source software is an option for them. But his
job now is to help millions of Mexicans start using
computers.

Technology analysts are divided about the merit of this
decision.

James F. Moore, chairman of GeoPartners Ventures, a
technology consulting firm in Boston, says open-source
software can reduce the debt burdens of developing
countries in the long term. But he also says commercial
software can play a big role in a country like Mexico.

"If you're trying to get your people trained so they can
get jobs with companies, then you really want them trained
with Microsoft software," Mr. Moore said.

But analysts are concerned that Mr. Fox's government is too
willing to cede control of e-México and the nation's
technology market to the company that is quickest to offer
a multimillion-dollar package.

"It's a good deal for the country in the near term because
it helps accelerate some things," said Michael Kleeman, a
principal at Quintessence, an information technology
consulting business, which is based in Washington. "But who
did they make themselves hostage to?"

 
MR. KLEEMAN said that Mexico might be committing itself to
Microsoft without first discussing the possibility of
adopting open-source strategies, which are gaining steam
elsewhere.

The defense ministry of Germany has switched to open-source
software, primarily to reduce reliance on outside parties
for running and maintaining sensitive computer systems.
China has embraced similar technologies, for similar
reasons and to avoid copyright fees. France, out of
national pride, is discussing making its entire public
school system open-source rather than relying on American
software.

In South Africa, the Parliament passed a resolution that
public schools must use open-source software, as did a few
states in Brazil. Argentina and Peru have similar
legislation pending.

But Mexico, for now, has chosen to align itself with the
market leader.

Analysts say that beyond budget constraints, another factor
may have played a role.

Historically, Mexico has chosen international companies for
federal projects - the development of oil wells, the
electricity grid, the railway system, the telephone system
and Mexico City's subway lines.

"Mexicans who are in power, for some reason, have a hard
time believing that there are other Mexicans who are
competent in building a national economy and may have some
interesting answers," said Gary Chapman, the director of
the 21st Century Project at the University of Texas. "This
is a very serious liability for the country."

Some computer scientists in Mexico believe that history is
repeating itself. "It's frustrating and slightly insulting
that they haven't considered Mexicans to develop the
software for e-México," said Federico Mena Quintero, 25, a
programmer in Mexico City. "It's like saying Mexicans
aren't smart enough and we can't do the job, which is not
true because Mexicans do make software that is just as good
as Microsoft. Microsoft is not superhuman."

But Microsoft said that it is confident it can demonstrate
that its software is right for this program. "We are
convinced that our software is the best on the market, and
we think that a project this big has room for everybody,
including free software or software like ours," said
Lorenzo Ortíz, Microsoft's spokesman in Mexico. "We are
doing our part, and if the other guys would do their part,
this market would be much bigger."

But how does a man like Mr. de Icaza participate in
e-México if his company, founded only three years ago,
lacks the resources to train a nation of computer
scientists? Perhaps he will not compete.

"I feel like I've been betrayed," Mr. de Icaza said. "I
don't think anybody in Mexico was given the opportunity to
participate in e-México."

Mr. de Icaza has become a vocal critic of the government,
contending that it is its duty "to protect the country's
technology market, and they're not doing it."

"They're giving it away," he said.

That sort of
philosophy does not find much support from Mr. Fox's
pro-business, pro-market government, or from Mr. Margain,
who said, "If open-source was the best practice, my
question would be, `Why doesn't everybody use it?' " 

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