Microsoft rejoices as Argentina launches "cheap PC" programme

THE ARGENTINE government plans to kick start today an ambitious plan which will offer consumers "affordable PCs" in order to "bridge the digital divide". This plan aims to allow up to 200.000 families to buy low cost PCs and financing this spending over up to 36 months thanks to special credit lines offered by the public bank Banco Nacion -the country's largest bank with 668 branches and a huge market share that nears 26%- as part of the plan. Other banks will also participate in the financing offers.

There will be an official presentation today at 11:30 local time (GMT-3) at the building of the Ministry of Economy, and local software and hardware firms will be there so that everyone can see how much they care (no, really). Intel and Microsoft are the two main sponsors and the most interested parties in this new plan. Retail chains like Compumundo, Jumbo, Carrefour, Garbarino and Frávega , are expected to act as the distribution leg of the plan, while local ISPs will add inexpensive internet access to the bundle.

According to published figures, there are three million computers in use in Argentina. This is a number I personally find rather low, and I wonder if any of my five unbranded desktop PCs I built from parts over the last 6+ years -several of which are shelved but a couple operational- were ever included in those stats.

The report says two thirds of those three million computers are at home and one third are used for business purposes, or leisure purposes at business locations, I must add. According to the same figures, about 800,000 PCs are sold each year down here, and this plan aims to increase the number to about two million computers per year, over a period of five years with the help of the new plan.

The plan to be announced today is expected to include two different PC configurations, with the cheaper costing $1299 pesos ($445 US, £236) if paid in cash, and the best configuration will carry a price tag of $1699 pesos ($582 US, 309 quid). Today's public+private PR exercise will only mark the formal announcement of the plan. It's expected that it will take about a month to make the full logistics and advertising campaigns operational. It's important to mention that the computers which will be sold as part of this plan will be assembled locally, but as you and I (and our Charlie) know, it's fairly easy only requiring plugging a few cables and being handy with a screwdriver.

Not all roses
Last month, Alfredo Uthurralt, commercial manager of retail chain Musimundo, which sells both Windows and also Linux preloaded systems fired an Exocet at this plan by saying to local media Canal-Ar that it was all "un negocio de Microsoft" which can be interpreted as "a scheme by Microsoft" or as "a profit opportunity for Microsoft" if you prefer softer interpretations. Ah, the virtues of slang and the double meaning of words.

Uthurralt told the local media: "This plan means business for Microsoft, so they can recover the market they lost with the arrival of Linux. What it is doing is trying to level the market and give more possibilities to the other retailers against the big guys, like Frávega and Garbarino. It's also an opportunity for Intel, to enter the low end market of entry level systems, on which it faces intense competition from AMD based systems".

Open Source, they've heard of it...
Free Software champion Richard Stallman recently urged the government in Venezuela to use Ututo, an Argentinean Linux distro, instead of Lindows as part of the country's efforts to create their own "low cost PC". So it's not like there's no local Linux flavour available.

According to some figures published in January, about 80% of government web pages in Argentina run on Open Source software, and 60% of servers in the public sector also run Open Source. In a recent report, Eduardo Thill who's the IT director at the Interior Ministry said that folks at Microsoft "get very nervous when they see the Government pushing for a regulatory framework to advance towards open source".

Given these facts, it's ironic but never surprising to see another government branch subsidising along with Microsoft these not-so-inexpensive "entry level PCs" when Linux-preloaded PCs at some retailers cost about the same. Maybe the fact that local Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna met Craig Barret last September had something to do with these ugly little details? µ

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