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Stallman Convinces Cuba to Switch to Open Source

prostoalex writes "It's a big victory for Richard Stallman in North America, as Cuba decided to adopt open source software on the national level. Both Cuba and Venezuela are currently working on switching the entire government infrastructure to GNU/Linux operating system and applications, the Associated Press reports from Havana: 'Both governments say they are trying to wean state agencies from Microsoft's proprietary Windows to the open-source Linux operating system, which is developed by a global community of programmers who freely share their code.' The AP article doesn't mention the distro used for government workers, but says that the students are working on a Gentoo-based distro."

5 of 582 comments (clear)

  1. Re:An Old Canard . . . by WED+Fan · · Score: 0, Troll

    i think this could be a good thing for linux globally,

    Are you trolling for a "funny" mod?

    Cuba has what, 3 PC's capable of running Linux?

    Who in the world didn't figure this was going to happen. Every copy of XP in Cuba is probably pirated (that's right Fidel, sue me for libel and slander). They haven't been able to get updates and can't afford Vista. So, free is the only answer. And the obviousness of adopting a quasi-socialist model for software is not that surprising a step.

    In fact, now that I think about it, the question has to be:

    What, they weren't on this already?

    --
    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
  2. Re:Stallman shouldn't be dealing with thugs by Kohath · · Score: 0, Troll

    This torture center's records are managed only by "open source" software!

    Open Source. Putting the freedom back into torturing your political opponents.

  3. Communism = 100 million dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    whats so terrible wrong about that?

    how about 100 million dead?

    btw, i just laugh when people claim the birthplace of communism isn't really communist. what useful idiots.
  4. Stallman is not a friend of USA by nomad63 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well, as much as I hate M$, I do not understand why a US citizen wants to help a country, who is one of the biggest enemies of the US. If they are using M$ windows, let them use it and let them pay US in licensing costs and what not. Why liberate them them from another US stronghold. Oh I know why: Because Stallman does not care what happens to US. Given the chance, I am sure he had no problem helping the terrorist countries like Libya, Iran and Syria.

    In my opinion, one has to choose his/her battles more appropriately and think twice before committing to such a stupid cause.

    Down with Cuba and Cuban communist regime.

    --

    __________
    The more I know people, the more I love animals
  5. Re:Politically and PR tone-deaf by ivan256 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Do you find that this approach has worked for you?

    Embargoes usually don't work. Especially when the rest of the world doesn't participate. We didn't have much luck shooting the guy though, and it doesn't seem to matter if we take peaceful or warlike positions against our enemies, the people who dislike Americans for simply existing will find a reason to bitch about it either way. Apparently you'd all be happier if we just let ourselves get nuked, and you all could have become Soviets. Perhaps it works out much better for us if we just ignore European citizens when they say they disapprove of American policies. It doesn't matter what they are unless we shoot ourselves in the foot, so why should we bother to try to make them like us?

    Tell me, what should we do to countries that point nuclear missiles at us? Give them a stern talking to and then look the other way? How have policies like that worked out for European countries over the last, oh, let's say three thousand years?