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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."

8 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. What I want to know .... by El+Cubano · · Score: 4, Interesting

    is, given that we are seeing lots of governments adopting or considering adopting F/OSS, how long before document and data interchange in its current form (read: MS Office) becomes enough of a hassle that consumers and businesses will demand software that conforms to open data interchange standards?

    1. Re:What I want to know .... by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 3, Informative

      given that we are seeing lots of governments adopting or considering adopting F/OSS, how long before document and data interchange in its current form (read: MS Office) becomes enough of a hassle that consumers and businesses will demand software that conforms to open data interchange standards?

      The problem is, there isn't really a suitable format for office documents available just now. The leading candidate there is probably the OASIS Open Office XML Format standardization effort, however I have no idea if that project is progressing in a timely way.

      --
      Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
  3. We are getting closer to Antarctica... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Which is Tux's natural home, after all.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.
  6. 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.