Cuba Switching to Linux

Tony Montana writes "According to several news sites the government of Cuba is dumping Windows in favour of Linux. Cuba's director of information technology, Roberto del Puerto, says that Cuba already has approximately 1500 computers running on Linux, and is working towards replacing Windows on all state owned computers."

Comments

Lets start counting

[__aahlyu4518]

how many people will make a comment about communism and linux....

this is 1

Re:Lets start counting

[ssj_195]

Damn, for a minute there, I thought we could use his celebrity power to start convincing people that Linux really is cool.

Nah - that's Wil Wheaton's job! ;)

Re:Lets start counting

[DenDave]

Communix?

Marxism Linism?

The Shining PATH?

Mao's Red Hat?

chkguevarra?

This is the sound of C..

Re:Lets start counting

[smchris]

They already have a health care system that costs a fraction of U.S. care and provides a similar mean population longevity. Linux seems like a natural complement to that efficiency.

But what if they decide to host the North American linux conference some year and nobody in the U.S. can go?

Re:Lets start counting

[Spy der Mann]

Damn, for a minute there, I thought we could use his celebrity power to start convincing people that Linux really is cool.

I can Imagine Castro doing a commercial for Linux:

"Linux. Works for computers as old as myself!" (smokes cigar)

whoo hoo 1500 !

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah 1500 computers !!, eat that AMIGA !!

And that children

[Timesprout]

is how the Bay of Penguins incident began...

At least one

[Udo Schmitz]

In communist Cuba Linux switches you! Oh my ...

Positive Image

[datadriven]

That's great Cuba has such a positive image. This is bound to make people switch to linux in droves.

Che Tux Revolution!

[Anonymous Coward]

Can I get my Che Tux Revolution TShirt signed by Fidel?

Another communications barrier

[jsheedy]

Man, not only do the illegals have to deal with never speaking the language when they boat over, but now they will have the deal with not being able to use the computers that are here either.

So much for spying

[jocknerd]

How are we ever going to spy on these countries if they stop using Windows?

Re:WMDs

[CommunistTroll]

Who? Cuba? Cuba has about as many WMD as Iraq did.

hmmmm

[Chaos_Thoery]

This has got me thinkning. If Cuba is switching to Linux, there is a greater possibility that North Korea uses or will switch to Linux too. This is actually good because imagine at some super secret North Korea nuclear missile silo, some Windows box displays: "A fatal exception 0E has occurred at 0028:C0011E36 in VXD VMM(01)+00010E36. The current application, 'missiles standby', will be terminated." So actually, there IS a reason they call it the blue screen of DEATH.

Free as in beer, then

[sita]

The free as in speach surely doesn't appeal to Fidelito.

Re:Nice Anti-Usian Propaganda, Now Some Facts

[Simonetta]

Overall, Cuba has a national GDP of $33.92 billion,

The reality simply is that Cuba is run by a corrupt and incompetant military dictator whose only prior qualification was being a spoiled rich kid and lawyer.

It sounds to me like Big Bill would be quite comfortable here, when he decides to retire. At only $33 Billion, he could just buy the whole place. Imagine him growing out his hair and having his image replacing all those of Che.

He could be just as corrupt and incompetent as he wants to be and no one would notice the difference. He'd have to get used to making eight hour speeches about the evil imperialist Linux worms, but we got pills now that make that no problem.

As for the rest of us, we'd finally get a real high quality English/Spanish translator built into
Windows!

Re:I am just curious to know...

[Filip22012005]

Isn't it a win-lin situation?