Interview with Dr. Villanueva

cigarky writes "I think many of us were very impressed by the recent letter of Peruvian Congressman Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nuñez. Linux Today has a followup interview with more in-depth information."

Comments

Minor pedantic point on N��ez's name

[Kiwi]

Minor pedantic point: His second last name is Núñez, not Nuñez.

More important point: I am glad he wrote the letter; I can now explain to all my friends in México why Linux is important by having them read the original Spanish version of his letter.

- Sam

Interesting background, little interview

[Jeppe Salvesen]

While the background information on the writing process of his now famous letter is intriguing, as well as the fact that this guy is a lawyes who has been with the OSS crowd for 6 years, I would have liked more eloquence directly from the horses mouth.

What intrigues me about the entire software industry, is that they charge relatively different prices around the work. In Europe, a copy of XP is maybe 1 week of average pay. In inner Africa, a copy of XP runs well into the months. Asking companies there to pay full price is plain ridiculous. When I'm rich and famous at 35, I'll go to Africa to teach them how to unleash the then awe-inspiring power of the Penguin. Hopefully, I'll be many years too late.

Re:Interesting background, little interview

[Anonymous Coward]

can the penguin build a roof over their head? does the red hat distro install running water? i am sure your time could be better spent. the answer to africa's problems is not a beuwolf cluster of linux server so they help out with seti proejct...

Re:Interesting background, little interview

[MdeG]

How come after 7,000 years or so of Human existance, Africa STILL needs OUR help in getting runnign water

africa had running water for more of those 7000 years than anyone else did.

Name one thing that has come out of Africa in the past 500 years that has benefited mankind?

Well I suppose the US includes mankind, and slavery certainly benefited the new world.

A solid corpus of study suggests that thats also the answer to your first question.

Re:Interesting background, little interview

[Lemmy Caution]

I'll ignore the hamfisted, blockheaded admixture of arrogance, ignorance, and crudity that informs your post - the idea of thinking of a continent in such ridiculous terms as you postulate - and answer the question in two very simple ways:

First, Africa is mankind, at least a goodly part of it. So, it benefits mankind by continuing to exist. The fact that you measure its value only by the things it gives to the rest of humanity is like valueing your neighbors only to the extent that they work on your yard.

Second, I will name one thing right off the top of my head: my old linguistics professor, Sam Machombo. He was a very good linguistics professor. Like hundreds of thousands of intelligent, generous, hard-working Africans, he contributed just by being who he was and doing a good job of it.

Interview?

[rot26]

I didn't see an interview.

Re:Considering Microsoft's Position on their own O

[ccady]

> Would you install a OS when it's creators tell you it is not secure? It is precisely *because* people are willing to accept that Linux (and no software) is totally secure, that I use it. Would you install an OS when it's creators tell you it IS secure, but they keep releasing "critical updates"?

Priority for Peru OSS support

[originalhack]

Since most of us don't vote in Peru, all of us in the OSS community should pay special attention to any requests for tech assistance from Peruvian sources.

Spread the word.

The Internet is so cool

[sam_handelman]

This is all a real blow to my cynicism.

People say "the internet will change the way the world works!" and I say "yeah, right", because people who say that sort of thing (often involving the non-word "paradigm") don't even know what a packet is. "It's shifted the whole paradigm for the sex movie industry", I say derisively.

Well, this, and by this I mean the whole imbroglio where Dr. Villanueva is now the cause celebre of the open source movement, could never have happened without all that international packet switching, and the culture that has grown up around it, and this is very significant.

This isn't a fake economic event - like stock quotes. This isn't a manufactured cultural event with no social or political relevance - like the pop music we're swapping. This isn't the sophistry of most modern political news which is nothing more than the latest lies to promote your own self interest.

This is real and genuine and the internet has made it possible.

Merely "very impressed"?

[tomdarch]

The Doctor's letter is more than impressive. His point by point rebuttal of Microsoft's falacies was both thorough and consise. He clearly called out the internal contradictions that are so common in Microsoft's arguments. I was stunned by how well he made his points. For anyone who hasn't read it, regardless of your position on the issue, you should.

You DO have options, you know

[wrinkledshirt]

If you're so desperate to throw a vote to some foreign guy based on only one of his stances, you might want to look up politicians who have similar agendas at home, like Ralph Nader. He has been keeping up with the issue.

Fear in Redmond

[theolein]

I don't know if I'm imagining it but everytime Villanueva's name turns up here on /. the anti-OSS trolling increases to a fevered pitch.

It seems as if opponents of this bill are very, very scared of the snowball effect that it could have. Peru is a poor country and is one of many on this earth. While I doubt that many of those countries have leaders that are as interrested in the wellbeing of their populace or as well articulated, I think there would be enough to see the benefits of a law such as this one, especially if it makes a notable difference in the IT landscape in Peru. Certain companies will certainly try to use dubious methods to try to silence efforts such as this, because it leaves them out in the cold, or did anyone think that poor countries had any possibility of expending their IT knowhow in any other manner?