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Cuba Lifts Ban on Home Computers
ianare writes "The first legalized home computers have gone on sale in Cuba, the latest in a series of restrictions on daily life which President Raul Castro has lifted in recent weeks. The desktop computers cost almost $800, in a country where the average wage is under $20 a month, but some Cubans do have access to extra income. Internet access remains restricted to certain workplaces, schools and universities on the island which the government claims is due to low bandwidth availability. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is laying a new cable under the Caribbean, but it remains unclear whether once the connection is completed, the authorities will allow unrestricted access to the internet."
What's new, though, is that [startin soon], they are going to be sold without operating systems... No more windows pre-installed. Or so I've heard. Now we only need tons of Ubuntu disks to give away at the sotre.
According to Cuban supporters, there is no restriction to visit websites, the real problem is that the whole country have a very limited bandwidth so most pages doesn't load at all. And this limitation is thanks to the US who put a ban on export of goods and services to Cuba.
The main problem I see is that they are using mostly unlicensed copy of windows, since Windows licenses can't be acquired in Cuba.
DNA in your Linux: DNALinux
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba, Cuban GDP per capita is $4,500; that is $375/month.
Seems much more realistic than $20.
The main problem I see is that they are using mostly unlicensed copy of windows, since Windows licenses can't be acquired in Cuba.
Hey, how come Cubans can order PCs and not have to pay for Windows? Heck, they are already once step ahead of us.
If the US was smart, strike and agreement with Cuba, given them decent pipe access via Florida so long as they put 1 million uncensored PCs on it in say 2-3 years. That will reach 1 in 11 Cubans. Free flow of information is a true friend of democracy.
Maybe a 10GBit undersea fiber run from Florida would be a good start. Getting their educational and medical infrastructure wired would help open up their community.
Cuba has multiple satellite uplinks which are capable of internet traffic, though it's *very* expensive, and as anyone whos ever tried to use satellite connections knows, it can be slow as hell. Couple with that the single T-3 (probably still channelized---demuxers are evidently "sensitive" equipment), and yeah, there are some major bandwidth issues. So settle down and lose the McCarthy bullshit, thanks.
DEAR AMERICANO - I HAVE BEEN LIVING CUBA SINCE 1951. MY FATHER HAS STASHED AWAY 500 MILLION BILION CUBAN PESSOS IN BASEMENT HERE IN HABANNNNA. HE ALSO HAS LARGE SUPPLY OF CUBBAN CIGARILLOS THAT HE BEEN QUIETLY TAKING ONE PER DAY SINCE 1962 FROM CIGAR FACTORY. HE NEEEDS HELP GETTING THEM OFF OF THE ISLAND INTO AMERIKA. PLEASE SEND YOUR BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION AND WE SPLIT THIS, GIVE YOU 10% OF PROFITTS. GRACIAS!
I imagine that there will be copies of Microsoft windows on pc's, and the dvd's will have a fee paid to hollywood licensing body at the mpiaa. Will Steve Balmer find himself in American prison for selling to Cuba ? Since no doubt some of this money comes from outside Cuba, are not the citizens of America helping propping up Fidel and his cronies. Will the bank records be used to hunt down these people. The US Treasury should be vigilant and like it did with the cuban inspired domain names enforce the laws to stop trade with Cuba (and covered here on Slashdot). Theres also the patent aspects, somebody in Cuba must be in breach of some us pto patents.
I think it's too bad that all the cheap computers such as the Everex ones seem to be US based, so that they can't get $200 computers. Can Asus sell them EeePC's?
Now if Cuba would just lift the ban on Cubans earning money then people will be able to afford the computers that they are now allowed to have.
Uh huh. Calm down and realize it's USofA who's largely responsible for current situation - lift embargo, and _then_ blame Castro.
I would say, both parts are true. Cuban bandwdith is severely limited, thus, it is obviuous that certain key areas are prioritized (oddly enough, universities aren't - we have a 1mbs for 10 thousand users at mine).
On the other hand, that doesn't explain why don't we have conectivity even within our countries (it is faster to download Debian from the internet that it is to download it from the cuban mirrors). There is even one law to address this issue, that has been largely ignored except on the part of giving monopoly-like powers to our phone company. And it even seem they find cheaper to use satellite to connect two places within the city, than to lay a couple hundred metters of fiber to the nearest hub.
With that, though, I'm willing to call (the ministry of informatics and communications, the phone company, whatever), ignorant rather than evil. I do accept that the reason for that is technical (that we are forbidden to hook to the fiber optics that go around my country). But, there is censorship. Over time, I've collected a set of domains that seem to be banned. No one never confirms it, and the banning works as if the remote server was not working, but routing the request through a proxy server, you find out that it is indeed working. And more recently, we got this other law, that was publicly mentioned by this guy, and forbids chats, formus and mailing lists.
So, we have everything. We have serious technical difficulties caused by the US (internet access). We have serious technical difficulties caused by who-knows-who (intranet access). And, we have censorship. I have high hopes that if the first one is solved, the rest will follow. However, for the sake of my country and our socialism... I do wish that the last two are solved first.
So, now Venezuela has come to Cuba's assistance by helping with data cable. This is very good news for the American Empire, as this has their enemies paying for the cable they can waltz in and appropriate when they topple Raul Castro (or whoever succeeds him). Assuming the Democrats sweep in November, the posture towards Cuba will shift a bit, but only insofar as it benefits the USA. Expect a President McCain to invade Cuba, a President Clinton to encircle and crush Cuba's regime, and a president Obama to subvert and destroy it. Once that has happened, they will then set about dismantling the entire gov't system with the same "shock therapy" that worked so well in Russia. See Naomi Kleins book on the subject.
So, expect the USA to turn a big blind eye to this kind of infrastructural investment, as it will save them money later when they take the place over.
Contrary to some of the above comments, Cuba is VERY strategic to USA interests - it will become the jump off point for dominating South America, as global hegemonic forces (EU, USA, Russia, China) retreat into regional power centers under a doctrine of multipolar competition. This condition will be forced upon these empires due to the collapse of oil production and competition over the remaining sources. For more on that, I would recommend "Resource Wars" by Klare and "The Prize" by Yergin.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
I'd be happy to send them every copy of Vista that I own, but that might scare them back into severe isolation.
Invenio via vel creo
I spend more than $20 a day just on food, Cuba will have to import a lot of stuff over sea and they can live for $20 a MONTH ? Sure, cubans won't have the quality and quantity available to us, but I still get the feeling we are being ripped off.
Feel free to leave now. Remember to leave your computer and internet connection and freedom to rant and bitch about your government behind.
I'm a computer science graduate. I teach at my university and "informally" lead the computer network team over there. I earn 369 CUPs, or about $16 USD/month. I survive, not on my wages, but because my parents own an extra room that they rent (after taxes, it earns about $300 USD/month). That's a pretty high ammount over here, but it is also very frustrating that at 26, a university professor's options are to live with his parents or go the illegal way.
How others survive? I really don't know. Rather, everyone knows. IIRC, Raul Castro said not long ago that he was aware that no one here could live with their wages alone. My $16 used to be depleted on commuting alone (though in the last few months, not any more: public transportation has improved a lot). But, somehow... I don't think that computers are that uncommon over here, and with this change, they will become more common. Let's hope the income from selling computers to the "rich" goes to the Joven Clubs, our "social computing" project.
(to the inevitable comments that may follow: I'm not planning to leave Cuba.)
Really? They have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. Fewer stillborns don't qualify as better? You have a strange definition of better.
myselfmusic
As a person who has visted alot of .cu websites (suck it, Bush!) there is alot of stuff that America is missing that the Cubans have. Oh but the big evil Castro boogy man keeps us from visiting these websites. For all we know, thanks to our government (United States), the free information that is maded available via the communinist Cuban government is off limits...that is if you have online friends from Canada, Mexico, even Venezuela. But who is the bigger evil? Why should we buy into the fact the Castro tortures his people when America tourtures people just not within the United States.
Opening up the internet is a step forward. Through the internet, we were able to communicate with people behind the Iron Curtain during the 1980s. Communication was one of the factors that allowed for the fall of the Soviet Union.
America should not worry about disestablishment by building communications with Cuba, or Venezuela, or Iran. If American had more contact with these nations, we could feld the plans of the estabishment that for years has tried to sack Cuba, has separated us from Venezuela, and who are attempting to bring war to Iran.
We are living the 1980s all over again. The government is bailing out corrupt financial firms. Gas is skyrocketing while environmental policities are being susspended. And we are in a volitile and overly expensive war that pays the war profiteers more than the men and women who are in the line of fire.
Opening communication with Cuba will create a dialog, bridged by our neighbors who do not face the embargo that is still in place due to a few old men in Washington. How we can be friends with China but not Cuba is a complex mystery.
Because we don't have dialog with Cuba, we do not have an ally to block off drug traffic from Columbia. Because America has not sought to resolve this problem, Cuba is supportive of Venezuela and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to which the FARC started to trade materials for nucular weapons.
Venezuela is worried that we (America) will invade them. Until we remove the leadership that has fueled those worries, or relationship with Venezuela, as well as Cuba, will still be on the rocks. The fact that FARC and Al Qaeda have not been shut down by Columbia and America, respectively, proves that the current Columbian and American leadership now conspires to bring more enemies to the United States who in their poor judgement and lack of people skills runs the risk of the invasion of Venezuela which Venezuela and the people (not the leadership) of America do not want.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
they have free health care!
They have very limited free health care!
There fixed it for you.
Care to guess how many MRI units they have? I had a Trachial Diverticulitis. MRI and a modified barium swallow found the cause of my neck swelling and breathing problem. I shudder to think of the free care option in Cuba for this condition. Is it anything other than a pine box? The MRI provided the location, size, and what it was attached to, tangled with, and such. It eliminated a total neck fillet to find it and remove it.
Anyone pushing for free two asprin solutions to a less than simple proceedue scare me.
Free medicine puts most people into general pratice with little options for speciallists. Visit a free clinic sometime.
The truth shall set you free!
First off, don't give me this "human rights" schpeel. Raul's daughter, Mariela Castro, is working on that with the GBLT crowd much to the chargrin of the Castro clan.
In terms of 14 y.o. prostitutes, clearly that would be the fault of a corrupt local police force within the cities of Cuba. If you don't want to get caught, don't sleep with 14 y.o. prostitutes, stupid! And if you are doing it with little girls from Cuba, Cristóbal Hansen would like you to "Tome asiento."
In terms of websites, let's start with something simple. The Cuban NIC website, leading to the Empresa de Tecnologías de la Información y Servicios Telemáticos Avanzados (Enterprise Information Technology Services and Advanced Telematics), a department of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medio Ambiente (Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment). (If Stephen Colbert were here, he'd probably say "Those vicious Cubans! They're commie actions are trying to save the world with their Science, Technology, and Environmental awareness! That's America's Job!") But this is just the tip of the iceburg. Thanks to the Medio Ambiente, finding stuff in Cuba is easy, even in the United States...pending some ass doesn't firewall it. A quick link to a list of Portal Links, and what is this? Cuba.cu! Noticias y Deportes! (The government might have control over it, but it looks pretty about the same as any American news website.) Energía solar! And of course, what everyone wants to know about Cuba: THE GOVERNMENT!
Hopefully, our friends at the NSA and Pentagon cut us some slack. The more we learn about Cuba, the more we can calm their fears that the big bad America is going to move in and make a glass parking lot out of their beautiful (though run down) country. A country with pleanty of UN protected historical sites such as Ernest Hemingway's summer house, is not going to be touched unless we fumigate the W.A.S.P.s out of our government offices.
If you want to get honey from bees, don't kick the beehive.
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.