Mandriva today announced that the Nigerian government has selected Intel-powered classmate PCs running on Mandriva Linux for educational use in nationwide pilot in Nigeria. Mandriva is working with Intel Corporation and Technology Support Center Ltd. to provide 17,000 Intel-powered classmate PCs.

I had the opportunity to speak Monday afternoon with the CEO of Mandriva, François Bancilhon. Recently, a deal with the Nigerian government to use and install Mandriva Linux on 17,000 Intel Classmate PCs was derailed when the government decided to overwrite the installed operating system with Windows XP. Mr.

Microsoft is a tremendous competitor in every market in the world. And according to a letter written by Mandriva Linux CEO Francois Bancilhon, it's so bent on winning that it undercut a deal between the Nigerian government and the Linux vendor.

Linux vendor Mandriva SA thought it had signed a deal with Nigeria's government to equip elementary schools in that country with new PCs running the open-source operating system as part of a pilot project. But then Microsoft Corp. threw a wrench into the works, according to Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon.

The Classmate PC, a low-cost notebook targeting emerging markets, was jointly demonstrated by Mandriva and Intel earlier this month at the KDE-sponsored aKademy 2007 conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Featuring an educational interface, Mandriva's Discovery 2007 Linux is based on an Intel Mobile Processor ULV900.

"Dear Steve,

Hi, this is François, from Mandriva.

Mandriva Linux today announced a deal with the National Commission for Information Technology (CNTI) in Angola to provide technology solutions, training and consulting services in the African country.

Let’s say that you want to dump Windows, but you don’t want to go to Mac? That leaves LINUX as your only option. But you’re scared about moving to LINUX as you’re not sure that it’s right for you. No problem, there’s a LINUX for you and It’s called Mandriva LINUX One. I tried this out a week ago and it is nothing short of amazing!

In a world where the big conglomerates and industries tend to roll over the little guy, it was really nice to see the government of Nigeria put the kibosh on Microsoft's planned takeover of the Mandriva/Classmate PC deal in that country.