MIT Urges Brazilian Government to Use Linux

sebFlyte writes "MIT's Media Lab has written to the Brazillian government (who is looking into a method to get its citizens cheap, high quality PCs) and has urged them to use Linux. From the article: 'Free software is far better on the dimensions of cost, power and quality...if the source code is proprietary, it is hidden from the general population. This robs them of a tremendous source for learning.'"

Comments

Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

It isn't like MIT is going to recommend BSD is it?

knowledge source

[mirko]

if the source code is proprietary, it is hidden from the general population. This robs them of a tremendous source for learning

Incredible: it's the best argument I've heard about it. I don't really like the usage of the words "rob" and how emphatical it sounds but it's right.

Anyway, I learnt on an Acorn RiscPC (closed source OS) which was really ergonomical and it was also good so I sugest he should revise his consideration : open source is good but ergonomy also is and I'm afraid that, because progresses still have to be made, they can't argue much on this point.

Anyway I think the World would be better if the Brazilians heard that argument and accepted the principle.

Hooray for the MIT ! :)

Re:knowledge source

[morcego]

Lets please remember that learning oportunity is important by itself.

Just because the "overwhelming majority" of people AREN'T sociologist, that doesn't mean the government should not provide Karl Marx books for public labrary. (Note: Using sociology and Marx as an example due to my limited english skills, but the example should hold for any other topic).

This is just expanding the issue one step further. Also, in Brazil, the overwhelming majority of the population doesn't uses/need computers on a daily basis.

The whole idea of this project is to change all that.

Re:knowledge source

[morcego]

It sounds like a really bizarre argument to me. If the general population wants to browse source code on a Saturday night (and is this true even where MIT staff live?) they don't need their governments' computers to be running it, they just need to download some source code.

Lets just remember that computers are VERY expensive in Brazil, and for the overwhelming majority of the population, without these government computers, they won't have access to computers AT ALL.

I also see a lot of people saying "they can just download the free OS". Well, guess what ? Internet is NOT that common here either, at least for the part of the population that is the target of this "cheap computer" initiative.

No one is saying this is the best idea for USA. They are saying this is the best idea for Brazil. So, please consider that Brazil IS NOT USA.

Logical Move

[Anonymous Coward]

I know that Linux is used widely throughout the government in Brazil for their work, it seems only logical that they would load Linux on the machines they are distributing throughout their country for the poor.

Linux is free but not cheap

[littlem]

I found the article very encouraging. I think there's a danger of Linux appearing as something that's a cheap alternative used in the third world because they can't afford "first rate" proprietary software. This is patronizing both to Linux and to third world countries. It's great to see intelligent arguments to choose open source beyond simple cost being made by a government, as in If the source code is proprietary, it is hidden from the general population. This robs them of a tremendous source for learning.

Excellent value

[madaxe42]

Don't be so silly - we get excellent value for our IT services - it's a snip, at £48,000,000,000 per year to manage 160,000 government computers - I mean, seriously, that's only £300,00 per computer, per year, which is pretty minimal - and there's no such thing as 'free' software - if there was, microsoft would have told us about it.

Anyway, I'm in charge of government IT purchasing here, and it's just fine, thanks - oh, hang on, gotta go, the kids are playing on my gold plated runway again.

MIT OpenCourseWare

[revscat]

Because I am a big fan of it, I would like to take a moment to plug MIT's OpenCourseWare, where you have access to MIT's entire course catalog, including assignments, videos, and other materials. Want to learn Japanese? Go for it. Or perhaps Electromagnetic Fields, Forces, and Motion is more to your liking. Have at thee.

MIT has shown their dedication to an open academic atmosphere and the benefits for the public of easy access to knowledge. Their endorsement of free software here is completely consistent with their previous actions.

Good for them.

Re:What learning?

[MartinG]

No, its like saying that hiding Quantum Physics textbooks from the general public robs them of learning.