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Followup on MS and Brazil in NY Times

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the stuff-to-read dept.

putko was one of dozens to submit a story running on the NY Times about Open Source and Brazil. The choice quote is "We're not going to spend taxpayers' money on a program so that Microsoft can further consolidate its monopoly..."

6 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. Re:NYT article. by westlake · · Score: 0, Troll
    And if the president's top technology adviser gets his way, the program may end up offering computers with only free software, including the operating system, handpicked by the government instead of giving consumers the option of paying more for, say, a basic edition of Microsoft Windows

    Isn't it strange, for all the talk of an anarchic, libertarian, freedom on Slashdot, that it is a paternalistic government's choice of O/S and software for the poor that is being applauded here? That the masses cannot be allowed to make their own choices, because their choices might include Microsoft?

  2. Re:What a load... by N3WBI3 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Except that Dell already competes with R$1400 computers... This is about the government making a decision for people it has no place making..

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  3. Re:Have to say . . . by g0hare · · Score: 0, Troll

    Benefitting anyone but Americans sucks. I'd rather destroy my old computers than let somebody in another country get it and learn how to take my job. /I don't really mean this but it seems like a lot of people I know do....

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    Vote Quimby!
  4. Re:What a load... by westlake · · Score: 0, Troll
    The *government* are not the masses. They choose to opt for a cheaper solution, whats the problem?

    The Ministry wants to government-stamp a Linux distribution for the poor.
    Imagine the howls of rage from the tinfoil hatted, middle-class, Slashdot Geek if the government were to back with all it's power a standard Linux distro for everyone.

  5. Re:What a load... by N3WBI3 · · Score: 0, Troll
    And so what? The poor people will still find a computer they can afford.

    So long as we realize this is a socialist grab, with nothing more to do that give a handout to brazilian pc manufactures..

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  6. OSS needs government edicts to compete because... by I'm+Don+Giovanni · · Score: 0, Troll

    it can't compete on merit.
    Sad that.

    If OSS is so great, why do you need government mandates to compete? In the future, history books will write about OSS taking over the software industry thru government mandate, and you guys look upon that as some kind of vindicaton for your ideology? What a joke! LOL

    You do understand that government's ultimate enforcement mechanism is the barrel of a gun, don't you? That's the ultimate way that laws are enforced. So, OSS takes over the world at gunpoint. Sounds like "freedom" (as in speech) to me - NOT.

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    -- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000