Microsoft Corp. is providing about $550,000 in money, software and consulting services to the Peruvian government for educational and "e-government" initiatives. In a news conference Monday, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo announced the contribution, Microsoft's first in Peru.
Toledo, elected last year, made technology and education a key focus, and initiated conversations with Microsoft, said Sandro Marcone Flores, executive director of the Huascaran project in Peru.
Marcone Flores downplayed whether the contributions could conflict with a proposal under debate in the Peruvian government. That proposal, by Congressman Edgar Villanueva, would obligate all public institutions to convert exclusively to open-source software, in which the underlying code is available to anyone wanting to revise or customize it.
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