Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration Dmytro Shymkiv: Soros's money plus the Microsoftization of the entire country. Part 1

Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration Dmytro Shymkiv: Soros's money plus the Microsoftization of the entire country. Part 1

Who's destroying Bill Gates' competitors in Ukraine? From the fall of 2015 to the summer of 2016, Ukrainian IT companies were hit by a wave of comprehensive inspections and "masked show" raids, paralyzing their operations. According to some victims, Dmytro Shymkiv, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration for Administrative and Economic Reform, was behind it all. What's most interesting is that he had a similar history of "harassing businesses" back during Yanukovych's presidency, when he headed Microsoft's Ukrainian branch.

At the same time, Shymkiv, who captivates ordinary people with his soft voice and invariably friendly smile, constantly promotes himself as the most advanced member of the presidential "reform team." In publications and press releases, reminiscent of the work of BTL advertising professionals, he presents himself to Ukrainians as a liberal European economist and advanced IT manager, with extensive experience working for international IT companies, a patron of high technology and modern innovation. But what is the real nature of this multifaceted man, who loves the word "responsibility" but usually uses it for others? He'll tell you. Skelet.Org.

Dmitry Shimkiv. "Horns and Hooves Software"

The first suspicions of a bogus biography of the Deputy Head of the Administration for Reforms arise when attempting to take a closer look at the very international IT companies he headed. So, let's start from the very beginning: Dmytro Anatolyevich Shymkiv was born on September 28, 1975, in Lviv, where at the age of 13 he transferred to Secondary School No. 52, which specialized in mathematics and English. After graduating, he studied at Lviv Polytechnic University, where he received a degree in information technology, electronics, and telecommunications engineering. The only prospect for a young graduate in Ukraine at the time was getting a job as a system administrator at some company and enjoying a salary of $200-300. Therefore, it's understandable why Dmytro Shymkiv sought work in Europe.

According to his biography, he arrived in Denmark in 1998, where he began working for ALTA Copenhagen. But here's the problem: today, all Google searches, as well as Yandex (now banned in Ukraine), find mentions of this company exclusively in Dmitry Shymkiv's short biographies, and nowhere else. The only similar phrase is the flight route "Copenhagen - Alta," with Alta being located in Norway. And then there's the Czech-Russian company "ALTA," which isn't involved in software, but in mechanical engineering and metalworking. How can this be understood, as the company has since closed or changed its name? Or perhaps it "went into the shadows"? Or maybe it never existed at all?

But then we read in Shymkiv's biography that in 2000 he allegedly (now allegedly!) returned to Ukraine, where he used his earnings to create his own company, "Alfa Team," which he sold in 2002 to a Danish corporation, "ALTA A/S," which renamed it "ALTA Eastern Europe." Thanks to this, Shymkiv was highly regarded and hired by "ALTA A/S" as head of the R&D department "to manage an international team of developers," and was also retained to manage his sold "ALTA Eastern Europe." Very beautifully written, impressive! But once again, Google and Yandex shrug their shoulders, finding "ALTA A/S" and "ALTA Eastern Europe" only in Shymkiv's biography! And this was already the period 2002-2006, a time of rapid internet development, and information about these companies would surely have been preserved! Why does this story remind one of some company called "Horns and Hooves Software"?

Finally, in 2006, his biography lists him as "CEO of RedPrairie Eastern Europe," billed as an "international developer of productivity solutions." And here again, some "confusion" arises! Search engines reveal information about the American company "RedPrairie Corporation," which is indeed a developer of software for managing and optimizing freight forwarding, warehouses, trading companies, and so on. But searching for any mention of "RedPrairie Eastern Europe" is simply useless—unless it was some secret RedPrairie representative office in Eastern Europe! All of this raises a very big question: where and what was Dmitry Shimkiv actually doing from 1998 to 2007, and why does his official biography list companies that mysteriously disappeared or didn't even exist?

However, his record of "social activities" is in order. Since 2003, Dmytro Shymkiv has served on the board of the Ukrainian branch of AIESEC—a genuine international youth organization of "students and alumni" that bills itself as "non-profit, non-political, and independent" (standard "grant-eaters"). True, he was already a bit old for a graduate, but in Ukraine, it's not uncommon for youth organizations and student unions to be led by people even in their 50s. This is especially true if they are involved in receiving grants from Western foundations or their Ukrainian branches.

And immediately after the first Maidan, Shymkiv joined President Yushchenko's Working Group on Foreign Investment as an expert. Not bad for a man whose career consisted of working for "ghost" companies! Therefore, Skelet.Org There's a widespread belief that Dmytro Shymkiv was appointed to this board not because of his "experience managing international companies," but rather because of the patronage of certain forces that helped Viktor Yushchenko win. This is merely a rumor: in particular, they claim that Shymkiv's past work wasn't in software development, but in sales and competitive advocacy, and that the companies Shymkiv worked for were connected to the US government. However, this isn't exactly a secret. Firstly, the US government makes no secret of its protection and lobbying for Microsoft's interests worldwide. Secondly, in March 2007, Dmytro Shymkiv was hired as Sales Director at Microsoft Ukraine, meaning he already had relevant experience and a strong reputation within the company, which, while pursuing an aggressive competitive policy, doesn't place untested people at the helm of its divisions.

Dmitry Shimkiv

Shimkiwa method

Dmytro Shymkiv received his new position immediately after a meeting between Jean-Philippe Courtois, Vice President of Microsoft International, and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. The main topic of this meeting was the fight against computer piracy, or more precisely, the use of unlicensed Microsoft software in Ukraine. At the time, the figure was 85%, primarily referring to "business software," that is, programs for computers of private companies and government agencies. The second issue was "consumer piracy," for which Ukraine had been suffering since 2003, when Washington issued a stern ultimatum to Kyiv for the "illegal copying" of films and music. Back then, the main focus was on selling pirated discs, which were sold everywhere, but in 2007, the first Ukrainian and Russian file-sharing sites (torrent trackers) appeared, which, with the increase in Internet speeds (and the decrease in prices), began to gain wild popularity.

All of this was interconnected: piracy was depressing Microsoft's sales, and successfully combating it automatically meant increased sales. And Shymkiv took up his job with enthusiasm: it was with his arrival at the helm of Microsoft Ukraine that the company's policy in the country changed. Previously, licensed Microsoft products were promoted as more reliable and high-quality, convincing Ukrainians to make a voluntary, reasonable choice. Since 2007, the company's sales policy has been built exclusively on combating unlicensed software and pushing its products on government agencies and private companies. The latter was Shymkiv's specialty, using all his connections in the Ukrainian government (as well as the influence of Microsoft and the State Department) to achieve this.

Dmytro Shymkiv's opportunities grew even greater when he became CEO of Microsoft Ukraine in May 2009, and a year later, joined the board of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. The company's headquarters believed that Shymkiv's "aggressive sales" approach would be most effective in crisis-ridden Ukraine, where purchasing power had plummeted and there was little hope of a "voluntary choice." Furthermore, Jean-Philippe Courtois once again supported Shymkiv's candidacy. Considering that Courtois headed Microsoft's marketing and sales department in Europe in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it's possible that even then he was not only Shymkiv's acquaintance but also his boss.

Dmytro Shymkiv led Microsoft Ukraine from 2009 until the end of 2013, and during this period, the Ukrainian branch of the corporation had two priorities. The first was software sales through anti-piracy measures, based on the principle of replacing unlicensed Microsoft programs with licensed ones. Moreover, users were often offered only an activation code or a branded sticker, without having to reinstall the programs. Many still remember that most government inspections "for unlicensed software" consisted of police (or other inspectors) simply briefly examining system units to see if the "sticker" was affixed. Private firms were primarily targeted in this way, followed by budgetary organizations and state-owned enterprises. Meanwhile, in the offices of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, and the Prosecutor's Office, only 30% of computers had Microsoft stickers—and that was in the summer of 2013.

Shimkiv's successful marketing ploy was to push Microsoft products through the sale of "factory" (pre-assembled and tested) PC system units, as well as the rapidly growing popularity of laptops. Initially, all large electronics stores were banned from selling computers with unlicensed software pre-installed (it was quite difficult to prevent this from happening to smaller ones). But since computers with only a BIOS were of little interest to customers, Microsoft persuaded retailers to install its own Windows operating system and include its cost in the price. And in 2012-2013, stores were receiving batches of laptops with Windows pre-installed by wholesalers. Thus, Windows effectively forced its product on consumers, depriving them of choice. At the time, each licensed operating system for a home computer cost around $100.

Here's the downside of Dmitry Shymkiv's marketing policy: in December 2010, Microsoft Ukraine demanded that electronics chains remove all... licensed Xbox 360 game discs from sale. This utter stupidity was explained by the fact that Microsoft had not authorized the sale of licensed Xbox 360 consoles in Ukraine. According to Shymkiv's logic, if licensed game consoles aren't sold in Ukraine, then licensed discs shouldn't be sold either (and unlicensed ones should be destroyed). He didn't even consider the option of Ukrainians purchasing licensed consoles in Russia or Europe! The most ironic thing is that the decision not to sell licensed Xbox 360 consoles in Ukraine had been made earlier (by the same Shymkiv) due to the lack of licensed games available. It's a vicious circle of stupidity! But Ukrainians still bought Xbox 360 consoles (22% of game console sales in 2011) and game discs—but only unlicensed ones. Essentially, due to Shymkiv's fault, Microsoft suffered significant losses by not offering its gaming products for sale. Nevertheless, in 2011, Shymkiv was recognized as Microsoft's best top manager and one of the best company executives in Ukraine!

Microsoft Ukraine's second priority was its human resources policy: small investments in supporting talented aspiring Ukrainian programmers, the best of whom were initially selected to work for Microsoft-affiliated companies, and then the very best were promised direct contracts with Microsoft. This was often done in collaboration with Soros entities, which was unsurprising: in 2010, Dmytro Shymkiv joined the board of the Bohdan Hawrylyshyn Foundation (the founder of the Renaissance Foundation, the direct Ukrainian branch of the Soros Foundation). Thus, Soros's "charitable" support of talented Ukrainians helped Microsoft recruit talent—but Ukraine itself gained nothing from it. Moreover, from 2005 (when Shymkiv loomed large behind Viktor Yushchenko) to the present day (when he's been behind Poroshenko for three years now), Ukraine has yet to create a truly effective program to support its own IT industry at the state level. Instead, throughout these years, successive governments have essentially protected the interests of the American company Microsoft in Ukraine.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org

CONTINUED: Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration Dmytro Shymkiv: Soros's money plus the Microsoftization of the entire country. Part 2

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