Brazil Moves Away From Microsoft 630
An anonymous reader writes "Citing economic as well as social reasons, Brazil's government is opting to move away from Windows, opting instead for Open Source (read: Linux) solutions. Interestingly, Microsoft's representative in Brazil decries this as a movement away from freedom and choice..."
Brasil's own Conectivia Linux (Score:5, Informative)
Re:My Experience with Linux (Score:4, Informative)
Just had a read through your post and thought wow you seem to have been burnt by a bad experience.
Where i work we use a combination of win2k, WinNT, Linux and Unix boxes. In my experience by far the least troublesome are the linux boxes, our databae server has only just recently had to be rebooted (depressing it was up for 460 days) and that was one really abused box ( developers testing on it as well)
Could you give us an indiction of the load and purpose of the box ? Perhaps we can assist you in sorting out what the issue was.
Tis a shame you had a bad experience, but i think you will find that if you would like to track down what happened or why people would be happy to help.
Regards
Seb
Re:Brasil's own Conectivia Linux (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, the major share holder of Conectiva is ABN AMRO BANK (from Netherlands), although, as far as I know, all development related decisions are still made by Brazilians.
Another point is that I never heard of any study about Conectiva being the most popular Linux distribution in LA. Conectiva claims are that it is the biggest linux solution provider in LA, which is in fact true.
Well, who am I to say all these thing. I actually use Conectiva Linux on all my machines, with no plans to migrate from it.
Re:Well written? Well understood? (Score:3, Informative)
If you read the article... (Score:1, Informative)
C'Mon people.
Re:Microsoft = freedom?? (Score:3, Informative)
Mr Gates is not at the Ministry of Network Security. Since Insecurity is the user's fault, there is no need for such superfluous words.
Futher more, the word "at" is not required, as it implies that there is a difference between Mr Gates and The Ministry.
Re:Brasil's own Conectivia Linux (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Theres a typo (Score:2, Informative)
English is not my first language.. i chose "interestingly" because i thought it worked best. Predictably would probably have been better!
now freedom, but will they value it? (Score:5, Informative)
Also, coincidentally, Richard Stallman gave a video-talk [gnu.org] in Brazil just 12 days ago.
Free Software and OpenSource are roughly the same thing [compsoc.com], but there's no mention of freedom in that article. I just hope they understand the long term benefits of Software Libre.
argentina (Score:5, Informative)
Argentina has these things there, too (I lived there a few years). They're basically little stores where people go in and pay to get on the Internet. I can't remember the prices now, but the people there are so poor, that they only charged in increments of either 10 minutes or an hour.
Plus, a lot of the shops are run by the monopolistic telephone company there - Telefonica Argentina. I think they are in other countries as well, but I'm not sure. Their rates are reasonable to get online, but usually it's dialup -- not highspeed, and for theirs you have to pay the phone charges too. It's not free to make local calls, which is a shame.
For people who open up their own shops, who actually have enough money, I can see absolutely no reason why they would want to use Microsoft Windows, when at the very *least* Linux can do everything it can for free, and at the very best ... well, we all know the advantages. :)
plagiarism (Score:5, Informative)
Google search [google.com]
One previous publishing [tux.org]
Re:The book (was:Thanks Lula!) (Score:2, Informative)
When I tried it, http://efpa.com.br [efpa.com.br] was down, but you can also get it for R$12,00 (approx. US$4.00) from http://www.jinkings.com.br [jinkings.com.br].
Re:now freedom, but will they value it? (Score:4, Informative)
This was news a year ago, just after Dr. Villanueva wrote his letters:
Peru's President Alejandro Toledo will travel to Seattle this weekend for talks with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates during which he will sign accords to support his Huascaran Internet-for-schools project.
Toledo, who announced a cabinet overhaul Friday to try to revive his flagging government, will travel to Seattle on Sunday and meet Gates on Monday, a government representative said. Toledo will return home Tuesday.
Peru's Plan Huascaran--named for the Andean nation's highest peak--was a key campaign plank for Toledo when he took office last July pledging to fight poverty.
Officials say Plan Huascaran has provided about 100 schools in Peru with Internet service and teaching tools. The government aims to increase that number to 5,000 schools by the end of Toledo's term in 2006.
The drive is part of a campaign to improve education--illiteracy rates are high, especially in isolated highland or jungle areas. More than a quarter of women in rural mountain areas, for example, cannot read.
Toledo marks a year in office July 28. His public opinion rating has sunk to less than 16 percent amid frustration at unfulfilled promises of more jobs and prosperity.
Any hope of free choice?
If you aren't already worried, it's too late... (Score:2, Informative)
You aren't worried yet?
...
At least one analyst that has carefully taken apart the earnings statements and filings of ms sees the end of the earnings boost to licensing 6.0, and sees lower earnings and declining market share ahead. There are too many stories to link or quote them all, but here are a few you should look at (you'll need to google for them, I save the stories but I rarely go back and edit the source to include the original link, and the stories themselves don't usually do it):
Linux to Overtake Unix, Leapfrog Windows, Analyst Says, look at bzmedia's site, Claybrook wrote it, July 15, 03, bzmedia.com, or SD Times, the title is SD Times.
Small Businesses Like Linux Prices, Stacy Cowley, IDG News Service (PCWorld) Thursday, July 17, 2003
Nothing can stop Linux now, says IDC By Peter Williams [13-06-2003] VNUNet [vnunet.com] Not a direct link, need to find the article.
Microsoft Feels the Linux Heat [eweek.com]:
June 9, 2003 By Peter Galli
Microsoft Corp. is starting to react more aggressively to the Linux and open-source threat, last week slashing the price of its SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition by $450, to $49.
The second major price cut in as many weeks followed the Redmond, Wash., company's decision to reduce the retail price of Office XP by 15 percent.
For the first time, Microsoft officials are admitting that Linux is affecting the way the company prices products. Paul Flessner, senior vice president of the Server Platform Division, told eWEEK at the Tech Ed conference here last week that Linux factored into Microsoft's decision to cut the price of its SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition, effective Aug. 1.
The Penguin heats up the enterprise applications space [it-analysis.com]:
Apparently, Linux is the fastest growing of all operating systems, with a cumulative annual growth rate of 34%. In so doing, it is taking away market share from both Windows and Unix. According to IBM, Microsoft will never again achieve the annual growth rate of 40% for Windows that it previously enjoyed. But what about software and applications? Here, Linux is playing catch-up, with Linux software growing at an annual rate of 65%.
SAP has been supporting Linux for four years now and has more than 1,000 customers, both large and small, using Linux. PeopleSoft announced recently that it is porting all of its 170 enterprise applications over to Linux in its next upgrade. Oracle currently has a large marketing campaign underway in support of Linux products and is certifying and supporting its 9i database product on the China-based Red Flag Linux operating system. It has announced that it will soon make its 9i application server and both collaboration and e-business suites available on Linux. And a host of other vendors have also started to support Linux, including mid-tier vendors such as Sage.
Figures given by IBM show that Linux is resonating with customers as well. Handy states that Wall Street firms have taken to Linux in droves, with such companies as Morgan Stanley, Citibank, eTrade, Merrill Lynch and the New York Stock Exchange using it. In Europe, financial services firms such as HSBC and Deutsche Bank are deploying Linux, and it is also making inroads into government and retail verticals.
In terms of geographies, Europe is still ahead of the US in terms of take-up, although there has been a noticeable increase in implementations in the US in the past couple of years, from the Wall Street companies mentioned above on the East Coast to Hollywood on the West. In Europe, Linux has the largest penetration in Germany in terms of overall IT spending - but Handy points ou
Re:Well, of course governments are doing this (Score:2, Informative)
I work for the brazillian government. My current projects requirements are %100 software livre. The developers are important, and they are clearly on the side of OSS.
President Lula is making this a political issue. Lula's Chief of Staff, Jose Dirceu, is frequently making public statements in support of OSS. The rabble rousing is playing popular against Microsoft. There is %18 unemployment here in Sao Paulo, yet all the programmers I know are employed. The government knows this well.
While in some cases such as Peru it certainly has been a negotiation tactic, there's one notable difference: The software livre movement here in Brazil is supported by the President in retoric and action. The Peru president sold out the ideas of a lower cabinent the first chance he could.
Not saying Lula couldn't spin on a dime, but it'd be more dificult after he's already spent political capital on the idea.
Software livre ou morte!
iksrazal
Re:When should a stock holder start to worry (Score:3, Informative)
I know what they mean with MacOS X.... I have it here too, and I do consider my next machine a Mac as well, yet I still run Linux, FreeBSD and Solaris here at home.
I think there is the main difference. In Europe it is not about the money alone, it's not about "how much money can I make" by the indivdiual (yes, it's a generalisation). Thus the attack on Linux and OSS in General was considered a Declaration of war, it even made headlines in German Newspapers who normallly wouldn't deal with it.
This is an interrested difference between the EU and the US. I wonder if we will see a stronger Europe in a couple of years, because in a changed world the people as well as the politicians are better in dealing with a lot of different cultures? In the past the "Island" USA had advantages, in this modern world were borders are mere "ideas" Europe might be better equipped than the US is right now.
One ofNorway's largest newspaper recommends LInux (Score:3, Informative)
Then they go on with very positive reviews of different free software packages, before concluding with a link to a very positive review of SuSE Personal 9.0.
Not bad at all. A lot of people will see this...
Fear of freedom was an actual problem for slaves (Score:3, Informative)
I know you were joking, but in ancient times, there indeed were
slaves which were happy in their slavery and did not want to be
released, even when they could have been by law (Yovel).
The bible specificly mentions a degrading ceremony done to such
a reluctant slave, within which he was branded (at his ear).
This was done by the ancient hebrews to detter people from opting
into slavery.
And I don't think fear of freedom is so different today.
Re:Microsoft = freedom?? (Score:3, Informative)
Even if 99.9% of Brazil's Government computer switched to Linux and either KOffice or Open Office tomorrow, the remaining 0.1% would still be able to use Microsoft products with a certainty that they could read/write documents that others produced.
Even if you totally disregard all of the other freedoms that Open Source provides, you still have as much freedom to use closed-source software as far as the technical side is concerned.
Why is this important? Because it blows Microsoft's contention that it's harmful to freedom out of the water. Furthermore, it suggests that Microsoft does not believe their products can compete. If they did, then they would automatically believe that Microsoft Office would be the system of choice, no matter what the OS.
(Hey, some profit is better than none! And MS Office ain't cheap!)
If Microsoft themselves do not believe their products are commercially viable, unless there is no competition, then you can fully understand why they're so upset over Brazil's actions. The interesting and probably unintended consequence of this is that Microsoft have declared a total lack of confidence in their own software.
(Hey, the US DoD used MS Windows 2000 even after it failed to be certified as suitable on Government networks. That's because - very foolishly - they had confidence in Microsoft. If Microsoft believed Brazil had the same confidence in them, they would not be the least bit concerned with the legislation. People would use their products anyway.)
As soon as investors realise that Microsoft has declared itself uncompetitive and incapable of producing viable software, they're going to start getting cold feet. Given that Microsoft pays (or used to) employees in stock options, their programmers are going to find themselves worth a whole lot less. At that point, I'm not sure how long Microsoft can hold itself together, given its size and complexity.
Of course, that's all assuming the investors even notice. For as long as investers believe that Microsoft is a safe bet, it will be. Belief (especially belief with lots of money attached) can be a powerful force.