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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..."

13 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. NYT article. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Brazil: Free Software's Biggest and Best Friend
    By TODD BENSON

    SÃO PAULO, Brazil, March 28 - Since taking office two years ago, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has turned Brazil into a tropical outpost of the free software movement.

    Looking to save millions of dollars in royalties and licensing fees, Mr. da Silva has instructed government ministries and state-run companies to gradually switch from costly operating systems made by Microsoft and others to free operating systems, like Linux. On Mr. da Silva's watch, Brazil has also become the first country to require any company or research institute that receives government financing to develop software to license it as open-source, meaning the underlying software code must be free to all.

    Now Brazil's government looks poised to take its free software campaign to the masses. And once again Microsoft may end up on the sidelines.

    By the end of April, the government plans to roll out a much ballyhooed program called PC Conectado, or Connected PC, aimed at helping millions of low-income Brazilians buy their first computers.

    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.

    "For this program to be viable, it has to be with free software," said Sérgio Amadeu, president of Brazil's National Institute of Information Technology, the agency that oversees the government's technology initiatives. "We're not going to spend taxpayers' money on a program so that Microsoft can further consolidate its monopoly. It's the government's responsibility to ensure that there is competition, and that means giving alternative software platforms a chance to prosper."

    Microsoft has offered to provide a simplified, discounted version of Windows for the program. Though a final decision on which software to install has been delayed several times, as has the program's rollout, Mr. Amadeu and some other government officials have publicly criticized Microsoft's proposal, calling the version's abilities too limited.

    Still, Microsoft has not given up just yet. The company, which declined to make an executive available for an interview, said in a statement that it was still "working with the PC Conectado project to see if there's a way Microsoft can help."

    Under the program, which is expected to offer tax incentives for computer makers to cut prices and a generous payment plan for consumers, the government hopes to offer desktops for around 1,400 reais ($509) or less. The machines will be comparable to those costing almost twice that outside the program.

    Buyers will be able to pay in 24 installments of 50 to 60 reais, or about $18 to $21.80 a month, an amount affordable for many working poor. The country's top three fixed-line telephone companies - Telefónica of Spain; Tele Norte Leste Participações, or Telemar; and Brasil Telecom - have agreed to provide a dial-up Internet connection to participants for 7.50 reais, or less than $3, a month, allowing 15 hours of Web surfing.

    The program aims at households and small-business owners earning three to seven times the minimum monthly wage, or about $284 to $662. The government says seven million qualify, and it hopes to reach a million of them by year-end.

    That may seem ambitious in a developing country of 183 million people where only 10 percent of all households have Internet access and just 900,000 computers are sold legally each year. (Including black-market sales, the number is closer to four million, still a small fraction of the number sold in the United States last year, according to the International Data Corporation, a technology research firm.)

    "We're well aware that we're talking about doubling the domestic market for personal compu

    1. Re:NYT article. by jbolden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You are trying to conflate three issues:

      1) Do /.ers agree that governments should interfere in a free technology market?

      2) Does a free technology market exist for the government to interfere in?

      3) Do /.ers agree that the choice of technologies the government of Brazil is making are good?

      The answers are: no, no and yes. There is no contradiction here. The people of Brazil will have the option of buying a Windows OS from a store blowing away their shipped configuration and installing Windows. That's the same right that Americans today enjoy with respect to Linux. It will be interesting to see how many people do that.

  2. Have to say . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I agree with one of the sentiments in the article:-

    Others say the government should focus its technology initiatives elsewhere, especially in schools. Only 19 percent of Brazil's public schools have computers.

    This is where technology can be most wisely spent, where it will have the greatest benefit, and where kids will actually learn about computers.

    Of course it'll also be most effective at creating a mindset that isn't geared towards using MS products.

  3. Good.. by Keck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If only other politicians had enough backbone to use tax money in ways that benefit all the people who paid for it, instead of ingraining a monopoly ...

    --
    A computer without Microsoft is like ice cream without ketchup.
    1. Re:Good.. by Nos. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the government should decide on what gets the job done with the least amount of money
      I can't agree with you there. Its not about what's cheapest. A government looking to purchase or build anything (software, roads, a desk, etc.) should not decide solely on price. This is when we get into complaining about the "lowest bidder" and the crappy work they do. The government, like anyone, should choose a product based on cost AND quality. Sometimes its better to spend more if it will save time/money/lives later on.

  4. Great! by chris09876 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Brazil has also become the first country to require any company or research institute that receives government financing to develop software to license it as open-source, meaning the underlying software code must be free to all.

    This is really a wonderful, wonderful idea. It's a shame more governments haven't adopted this philosophy. Lots of governments just find it so easy to spend money that they didn't "earn". I have to congratulate Brazil on this!

    --
    I store my recipes online (the way nature intended)
    1. Re:Great! by Karpe · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm a brazilian researcher. Public universities, like the one I work at, are responsible by the largest part of scientific research in Brazil. While most of what we develop is open source, it is not because any government requirement (I had never heard about this "requirement" prior to reading this article), but by the nature of what we do. I am pretty sure many people develop closed source software in the universities. Do we get government financing? Well, you could say that, since the government pays the universities bills (electricity, communications), professors salaries, etc. But that's mostly all about it. It doesn't have any money left to spend on researchers, equipment, etc, and universities have to find financing elsewhere (typically in cooperation projects with the private sector, who, among other things, requires NDAs and ownership to some of the deliveries of this funded research).

      Free software, in Brazil, has become much more of a publicity stunt, and definitely used for self-promotion by a lot of people. But definitely not that close to our reality. It is a pitty and a shame.

  5. I love Brazil! by IdleTime · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not only do they have the hottest women in the world, but they have a government with a working brain too!

    --
    If you mod me down, I *will* introduce you to my sister!
  6. It doesn't matter... by JhAgA · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... if the equipment will come with Linux pre-installed. They will end up being replaced by the user by an easily bought U$2 pirated version of Windows XP anyway, sold in every corner of São Paulo. Or do you expect everyone will care to install Wine to play starcraft of use MSN? :D

    P.S. - I'm Brazilian and despite the fear of fraud, like it is happing with the Zero Hunger program, I strongly support this initiative.

    1. Re:It doesn't matter... by deathguppie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most computer literate people, with experience on windows will switch to pirated copies of XP. Some will do it at the beckoning of their friends. But most will just use what comes with their computer so that they won't break their computer.

      Funny thing is that when they see what will happen to their friends unpatched pirated copy of XP in a few months, they will realize that was a wise choice

      --
      once more into the breach
  7. What a load... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "That the masses cannot be allowed to make their own choices, because their choices might include Microsoft?"

    The *government* are not the masses. They choose to opt for a cheaper solution, whats the problem?

    Its pure capitalism, Microsoft are free to offer Windows free and open source to Brazil, if Microsoft can't compete why should Brazil make a special exception for them?

  8. Re:Let Brazil join the EU! by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That would be bad - how the hell are england supposed to win the european cup with brazil in the UEFA group?

    seriously though: YEAH!!!

  9. Brazil: Just Do It! by ahodgkinson · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The Brazilian government may actually have the staying power to just say no to Microsoft.

    Consider what Brazil has done in the recent past:

    • Photo-ed and fingerprinted incoming American citizens in response to America's change in visa policies.
    • Charged fairly hefty import tariffs for PCs to promote local industry.
    • Promotes Brazilian music, and indirectly, interest in Brazilian culture and tourism, via the encouragement of free music downloads [I read this in a magazine, but can't anything online confirming it. Can anyone help?]
    I'm not saying that these are necessarily all good things. I just want to say that Brazil tends to do it their way, in spite external pressure.

    It's nice to see a country actually withstand to pressure from the multi-nationals and try to implement a policy for the benefit of all its citizens, rather than the usual vested interests. Let's just hope it doesn't become corrupted.

    Also, recognize that Brazil is interested making their population computer literate. This includes the longer term goal of developing a viable computer software industry. Open Source is an inexpensive and suitable platform for giving everyone a software development environment. Why only a few may actually use it, I'm sure it will create a lot of talented programmers.

    --
    ---- It won't be as bad as you fear or as good as you hope, but it will take twice as long as you plan.