[ossig] Happy - Happy

[Uwe Dippel <udippel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Happy Chinese New Year to all of you here on the list !


One of the latest of The Register also might make us happy:


    South America warms to Open Source

*Comment* The trend to Open Source in South America seems to be stronger 
than it is anywhere else. Almost all governments there seem to be 
setting an Open Source agenda.

Brazil, with 170 million or so citizens and by far the largest South 
American economy (the economy of Sao Paolo on its own is roughly as big 
as the economy of Mexico), is leading the way. Brazil's President, Luiz 
Inacio da Silva, is keen to bridge what he perceives to be a huge 
technology gap between Brazil and more advanced economies, and sees Open 
Source as an important means of doing so. He appointed Sergio Amadeu, a 
former economics professor and Open Source enthusiast, to head Brazil's 
National Information Technology Institute, after taking office last 
year. Amadeu wants Open Source to permeate government software usage, 
educational software usage and home computer usage.

<http://red.as-eu.falkag.net/red?cmd=url&&rdm=49820056&dlv=704,20373,155621,112740,458233&kid=112740&chw=9112740-&tcs=&bls3=000000U&bls4=000001155794&uid=1&dmn=.tm.net.my&scx=1600&scy=1200&scc=24&jav=1&sta=,,,1,,,,,,,0,0,0,13456,13452,13408,17926,0&iid=155621&bid=458233&dat=http%3A//www.cashncarrion.co.uk> 


Amadeu is a crusader of a kind, having written a book entitled "Digital 
Exclusion: Misery in the Information Era", which argues that technology 
broadens the gap between the wealthy (the digitally enabled) and the 
needy (the digital paupers). He gained fame in Brazil through launching 
a network of 86 free computer centers running Open Source software in 
Sao Paulo. In Brazil only about 10 per cent of the population have home 
computers. Brazil's Open Source leanings may become a role model for 
other Latin American countries, but most need little encouragement.

Argentina, having recently undergone an economic collapse, is also a 
lover of Open Source. The enthusiasm for it there has engulfed much of 
the private sector, where according to a 2004 survey from 
Argentina-based Trends Consulting, 42 per cent of Argentine companies 
use Linux and many of these are planning to use Open Source for all new 
applications.

In Chile, Open Source is being deployed extensively in schools through 
the government's high school internet access network, Enlaces, which now 
implements the Edulinux system. This is server–based with PCs (including 
old PCs) primarily acting as terminals. The PCs run OpenOffice and the 
Mozilla browser, FireFox. Chile hopes to use this to increase the 
pupil-to-PC ratio to 30 to 1.

In Venezuela, President Chavez issued a decree, in December 2004, 
mandating Venezuela's public administration to switch to Open Source in 
the course of the next two years. All ministries are required to come up 
with migration plans to meet the target date.

Most interesting of all, perhaps, is Peru, where the government recently 
introduced a bill mandating the use of Open Source software by the 
state. It is an interesting development because the emphasis within the 
bill is specifically on the idea of openness. In Peru, Open Source in 
government is being viewed as a citizen's right – in order to deliver:

    * Free access to public information for the citizen
    * A permanent record of public data
    * Security, both for the State and its citizens

The whole article is here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/10/south_america_open_source/


Uwe



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