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IBM, Brazilian Government Launch Linux Effort

Posted by timothy on from the where-is-provo-again dept.

chriscooper1470 writes "Here is an update to the Brazilian Government Continues Push for Free Software. Brazil has become the latest country this week to show its support for Linux. Following moves by the UK and Russia, the government of Brazil announced Friday that it has signed a letter of intent with IBM pledging to develop initiatives that will promote the use of Linux in the Latin American country."

9 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. One day... by 1010011010 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One day the U.S. will be running Microsoft software, and the rest of the world will not.

    Or, Microsoft will stop being such a control freak.

    --
    Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
    1. Re:One day... by nels_tomlinson · · Score: 3, Insightful
      However bottom line is that Windows lets me get work done that would be far harder to do on the other platforms.

      If your job description is: ``Run MS Windows programs.'', or the equivalent, then I don't doubt a bit what you're saying.

      If your job is to work with data, to produce structured documents, et cetera, then you'll be shocked to find just how much harder it is to try to do things the Windows way on Unix, or the Unix way on Windows.

      The two OS's are quite different. I think that KDE and Gnome have done the computer-literate a disservice: they make Linux look a lot like Windows. The capable Windows user switches to Linux, and finds that it's harder to do the familiar tasks the familiar, Windows way. He then claims that the Linux guys must be ``Freakin zellots [sic]''. If Linux didn't look so much like the nightmare from Redmond, that competent Windows user would assume that a new platform required new ways of doing things, and would learn the easy ways to do things on the new platform, rather than finding that the easiest way to do things on Windows just doesn't work out well on Linux and saying ``Freaking zealots! Linux sucks!''

      In short, Linux and Windows are different, and what works best on one isn't going to work best on the other. If you use either the way it was intended, you'll be fairly happy with the results (give or take a few viruses and application crashes).

      --
      See what I've been reading.
    2. Re:One day... by Nucleon500 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      True, one would presume that the people using Windows are using it because it's the best choice for them. But consider why that is.

      Windows is the best choice because it's popular. That's the only reason. Because of Windows's popularity, it has more commercial software and more hardware support (counting only x86). When people buy computers, the get Windows by default because everyone else does. It's not technically superior. It's not cheaper. It's not more secure. It's just more popular.

      In some cases, popularity is the result of superiority. But this wasn't the case for Windows - it's popular because Bill was smart enough to sell DOS cheaper than CP/M, which made it easier to push Windows on the desktop market. This has nothing at all to do with it's quality.

      --
      Litigious bastards
    3. Re:One day... by William+Baric · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sorry but you are the freakin zealot. My productivity has nothing to do with the OS running on my computer. I don't use an OS, I use applications. As long as the computer/OS works, the only thing which matters to me is the cost.

      Personally using MS Office over OpenOffice won't improve my productivity one bit. IE won't make my google search faster and I have been burnt by Outlook so don't talk to me about it. The only problems I have is with some specialized windows only softwares because my clients are small business and they don't have enough purchase power to ask for a linux version... but for a government (who buy softwares with MY money) linux is perfect!

  2. like the metric system by ron_ivi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The US seems to like hanging on while the rest of the world moves on.

    1. Re:like the metric system by cmorriss · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Before you go putting down the U.S. government for not dropping everything to make a very public switch to Open Source, consider that Microsoft is based in the U.S. Do you think Brazil would be doing the same thing if Microsoft were based out of Rio de Janeiro?

      --
      10 minutes working on a sig. What a waste.
  3. Ah yes, by Sevn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I know what that sound is. It is the sound of a thousand Microsoft Apologists typing on their keyboards. But they are NOT in fact recreating the complete works of shakespeare. They are preparing to click in the submit button. They'll have enlighting things to say like:

    This means nothing.

    This is a publicity stunt.

    Microsoft will stop them.

    They are just trying to save money.

    Balmer will be on a plane.

    They'll offer huge discounts.

    I hurt my winky.
    And so on. In the end the thing that escapes them is the fact that things like this are happening at all is significant. It is a displayed desire to change things. :) And that my friends is very cool indeed.

    --
    For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
  4. Re:Dispersing the Linux Myths by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Denial ain't just a river...

    Neither is SoBig, Slammer, Blaster, or the HL2 source being stolen through a buffer overflow in Outlook.

    Of course it's all about choice. When was the last time a Windows XP install asked you which programs you wanted to install? When was the last time you installed Windows XP and didn't need to ever download and install another program because everything you needed to do all your work was included, for free, on the install cd? Linux is only as bloated as your ineptitude allows it to become.

    The revolution will be blogged.

  5. The point is... by BrunoC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Guys... the whole point is: Brazil is a *poor* country! (Yes, I was born and raised in Brasil) We're a poor but *huge* country with *lots* of government driven agencies and government funded companies. It's quite simple: Linux is very suitable for government funded companies/agencies/whatever and it is *free*! It saves us money and we really need that money. The whole poit is: Linux (or any other free software {as in beer} for that matter) saves us a *lot* of money. Is not that our president loves Linus or Stallman, we just want to save some penny, and that's what it is.