A decision to wipe 11,000 machines of their shipped Mandriva Linux operating system and replace it with Windows XP for Nigerian schools received a reversal that should please Mandriva's CEO.
Someone break out the champagne for Francois Bancilhon, CEO of Mandriva. He had
Bancilhon's Mandriva won the contract to place its OS on thousands of arriving Intel Classmate PCs. But a change took place that vexed Bancilhon: Nigeria would pay for the Mandriva licenses as agreed, but the OS would be wiped and replaced with Windows XP.
That change meant Mandriva would lose out on maintenance agreements, which would contribute an ongoing revenue stream to the company. Open Source companies like Red Hat and others have demonstrated this business model can make "free" software profitable.
Now the winds of fortune have shifted in Bancihlon's favor.
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