Reply #12: Peru knows as well [View All]

[rman]

Not so much specifically wrt voting systems, but more generally wrt use of open source vs propietary software in the government.
There has been (and possibly still is) a battle between the Peru government and Microsoft.
(search for "Peru" on the slashdot site).

Peru makes quite a good case against propietary (and by extension, against MS). In spite of the strong pro MS lobby.

Exerpts from a letter by Peruvian Congressman David Villanueva Nuñez to MS:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/05/06/1739244&mode=thread&tid=109

"
Lima, 8th of April, 2002
To: Señor JUAN ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ General Manager of Microsoft, Perú

Dear Sir:

<snip>
It is also necessary to make it clear that the aim of the Bill we are discussing is not directly related to the amount of direct savings that can by made by using free software in state institutions. That is in any case a marginal aggregate value, but in no way is it the chief focus of the Bill. The basic principles which inspire the Bill are linked to the basic guarantees of a state of law, such as:

Free access to public information by the citizen.
Permanence of public data.
Security of the State and citizens.

To guarantee the free access of citizens to public information, it is indespensable that the encoding of data is not tied to a single provider. The use of standard and open formats gives a guarantee of this free access, if necessary through the creation of compatible free software.
<snip>
"