A Hungarian student unhappy with the government's decision to sign a software and IT training deal with Microsoft tried to pelt the company's chief executive with eggs during a presentation at a Corvinus University yesterday. The student, wearing a shirt with the words "Microsoft = Corruption" written on the back, accused Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer of stealing from the country, and then threw three eggs at him as the executive took cover behind a lectern. A video of the incident has been posted to Pestiside.hu.

Hungary had earlier in the day signed up to join Microsoft’s Titan IT training program in Parliament. The total budget of Titan is Ft 10 billion and it will run until 2012. “Microsoft is aiming to improve IT training, especially at SMEs,” Ballmer said.

“In Hungary, computer usage at SMEs is well below the international level,” Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány commented.

The program is at preparation stage and will run from next year, utilizing EU subsidies, CEO of Microsoft Magyarország László Drajkó said. Microsoft agreed with the government on the software supply of universities and secondary schools and, according to the agreement, non-Microsoft products will appear in schools, Drajkó said. The 2008 budget has earmarked Ft 1.2 billion for school software license fees.

Open SKM Agency and two other open source software (OSS) firms dispute the terms of the state tender, underlining that OSS products can be bought for 75% less than Microsoft’s price. The Public Procurement Arbitration Court last week postponed Open SKM’s meeting on the tender, which had been scheduled for yesterday.