Backed by president, Brazil leans away from Microsoft

[Say_What]

<clips>

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - If he is to make good on his promise to improve life for the tens of millions of Brazilians who live in dire poverty, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva knows that one key challenge is to bridge a massive technology gap. And if that means shunning Microsoft Corp. software in South America's largest country, then so be it.

Silva's top technology officer wants to transform the land of samba and Carnival into a tech-savvy nation where everyone from schoolchildren to government bureaucrats uses open-source software instead of costly Windows products.

Such a policy makes eminent sense for a developing country where a mere 10 percent of the 170 million people have computers at home and where the debt-laden government is the nation's biggest computer buyer, says Sergio Amadeu, the open-source enthusiast appointed to head Brazil's National Information Technology Institute by Silva after the president took office this year.

Paying software licensing fees to companies like Microsoft is simply "unsustainable economically" when applications that run on the open-source Linux operating system are much cheaper, Amadeu said. Under his guidance, Silva's administration is encouraging all sectors of government to move toward open-source programs, whose basic code is public and freely available.


<http://www.tricityherald.com/24hour/technology/story/1054734p-7413224c.html>

[burrowowl]

1. Go Silva!

I don't know what happened in Peru, where M$ was putting incredible pressure on the gov't.

[JailBush]

2. Go Brazil!

The European Union is standing up to Mr. Antitrust, he's losing ground in Latin America, and China, Japan and South Korea are collaborating on Red Flag Linux, which could be Microshaft's most potent challenge yet.

Now if we can just get the most stupid people on Earth to open their eyes.

[Nay]

3. Lula for President!

If only we could get someone in as prez here who wasn't just looking out for the rich guys. . .what a sweet deal that would be.

[Eloriel]

4. WooHoo! And so MS gets to learn, as the U.S. is learning

you CAN get too big for your britches -- and attract opposition.

Go, Silva!

Eloriel

[AP]

5. Lessig praises Edwards for having similar sentiments:

thank you, Senator Edwards

I’m grateful to Senator Edwards for spending some cycles on my blog. I am particularly grateful given his willingness to say a few things about the sort of things Democrats don’t talk about enough — IP and Free and Open Source Software. As obvious as the issues of balance and choice are to the likes of many who hang around here, I think we should not underestimate just how politically difficult it is to say the obvious. In particular, I read the comment about the importance of a level playing field for software to be a clear rejection of the move pushed by, e.g., Congressman Adam Smith to ban GPL within government research. (Apparently Adam Smith was named by the same guys who named the Patriot Act). To side with, e.g., the Free Software Foundation (which also opposes mandates, but endorses competition) and against Microsoft (which gave Adam Smith his bad idea) is not to side with power against right.




Most candidates seem to think it better to just stay quiet about these issues. They might be right. It might be better, politically. God knows, the Democrats can’t upset the content industry. But character takes small steps such as these — regularly, as part of the routine. And it doesn’t suprise me to see such character here.




Thank you again, Senator.

http://lessig.org/blog/

[ender]

6. remember that the average computer purchases gives MSFT $200.00

[tsipple]

9. "The Microsoft Tax"

That's what it ought to be called.

[tsipple]

7. Brazil Has Its Own Linux Distribution!

There's a Brazilian-based company that puts out a pretty good Linux distribution. (Sorry, don't have their name handy.) So one thing Brazil is doing is developing a home-grown software industry, slowly but surely.

They're also an emerging player in certain other high technology markets. Embraer, for example, builds some pretty terrific airplanes.

[neuvocat]

8. Outstanding!

What good comes of all those bells and whistles if the OS is unstable and is wracked with securtiy issues, not to mention being overpriced?

I would never ever use MS for more than a client if I were to be in charge of a network.