350,000 Linux (Virtual) Desktops Land In Brazil

xufem writes "Millions of Brazilian schoolchildren will soon be 'brought up right' running Linux on over 350,000 seats each using PC sharing hardware and software from Userful and KDE. This is world's largest virtual desktop deployment and probably also the world's largest Linux deployment, and seems to have been selected over OLPC by Brazil. Definitely a moment to celebrate — and just in time for Brazilian Carnival which starts tomorrow!"

Comments

Re:Tell me when it's done

[Captain Splendid]

The Brazilian government is really good in announcing things, but not really good in making them happen.

Ethanol.

Extramadura Spain

[emj]

The place to look would be Extramdura in Spain, they have been using Linux for a long time. They claim very, very low costs. I don't have any recent posts but LWN wrote about it in 2003, and last time I heard it was still going strong.

making a profit on GNU/Linux ..

[viralMeme]

"While others debate whether GNU/Linux is ready for the desktop, Userful is quietly proving that it is -- and making a profit while doing so"

"By combining a mixture of proprietary administrative tools with a modified Red Hat distribution and a GNOME desktop, Userful has updated the concept of timesharing by adapting it to a personal computer. The result is DiscoverStation, a hardware and software solution that connects as many as 10 terminals to a single computer"

Pay attention to the license

[Anonymous Coward]

This solution may not be entirely Free/Libre:

http://support.userful.com/wiki/index.php/Manuals/UMx/Readme#Copyrights.2C_Licenses_and_Trademarks

"Copyrights, Licenses and Trademarks

Userful Multiplier is commercial software and contains proprietary, patent-pending intellectual property. See the Userful-EULA.txt file for full terms of the license agreement."

From the EULA in the download:

2. LICENSE TERMS
==================
2.1. Software is owned and copyrighted by Userful and/or by third party suppliers. Customer's Software and Support License confers no title or ownership and is not a sale of any rights in the Software. Third party suppliers shall have the rights to protect its own proprietary rights to the Software in the event of any infringement.
2.2. Unless otherwise permitted by Userful, Customer may only make copies of the Software for archival purposes or when copying is an essential step in the authorized use of the Software on a backup device, provided that copies are used in no other manner and provided further that the use on the backup device is discontinued when the original or replacement device becomes operable.
2.3. Customer may not use more terminals than stipulated in the License, nor may the software be used if it is not within the Term of Validity of the most recent License or Support Agreement with the Customer.
2.4. Customer will not modify, disassemble or decompile the Software without Userful's prior written consent. Where Customer has other rights under statute, Customer will provide Userful with reasonably detailed information regarding any intended disassembly or decompilation. Customer will not decrypt the Software unless necessary for legitimate use of the Software. In addition Customer will take all reasonable steps to ensure that users of Userful's software in Customer's possession do none of the aforementioned.
2.5. The customer shall not:
2.5.1. Remove any product identification, copyright notices, or other notices or proprietary restrictions from the Software;
2.5.2. Disclose results of any benchmark tests of the Software to any third party without Userful's prior written approval
2.6. Userful may terminate Customer's License upon notice for failure to comply with any applicable License terms.
2.7. If Customer does not renew a license agreement with Userful by the termination date all Userful software must be immediately removed from the Customer's computers at the Customer's expense.

3. LICENSE GRANT
==================
3.1. Subject to timely payment of the License Fee and the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Userful grants Customer a non-exclusive and non-transferable license to use the Software during the Term of Validity of the License in conformance with:
3.1.1. The terms set forth herein;
3.1.2. Use restrictions and authorizations for the Software specified in the Customer Agreement;
3.2. Many of the Software Programs included in Userful's software are distributed under the terms of agreements with Third Parties ("Third Party Agreements") that may expand or limit Customer's rights to use certain Software Programs as set forth in Section 2. Certain Software Programs may be licensed (or sublicensed) to Customer under the GNU General Public License and other similar open source license agreements ("OSLAs") which, among other rights, permit Customer to copy, modify and redistribute certain Software Programs, or portions thereof, and have access to the source code of certain Software Programs, or portions thereof. In addition, certain Software Programs, or portions thereof, may be licensed (or sublicensed) to Customer under terms stricter than those set forth in Section 2. Please visit and review www.userful.com/support/licenses for the on-line documentation that accompanies certain Software Programs, or portions thereof, for the applicable Third Party Agreements. To the extent any Third Party Agreements require that Userful provide rights to use, copy or modify a Software Progr

It will be done. Mostly.

[iris-n]

I live in Brasil. This kind of things are announced from time to time, and the implementations varies. But they are mostly done. See for example the conversion of the government's computer to Linux. It was slow an irregular, but it was done, and it is working for some time know.

This is an issue that has been on media for quite some time, and it would be quite shameful if it failed again. I really think this time is for real.

The thing that really worries me is how these systems are going to be administrated. There aren't exactly a lot of Linux sysadmins here. If they aren't very careful about it (and they seldom are), we could end up with a huge expensive system badly misconfigured, that would just harm the kids and Linux's reputation.

Let me give you a real example. In my university, there are countless computer labs, and two of them run linux. One of them is run by be central administration of the exact sciences department. It is a bloody mess. They couldn't even get the user accounts working well, and its a heroic feat to get anything to compile there. The other lab, is run by the physics department. Mostly physics students that are hired to administrate it from time to time. Runs tighter than a duck's ass.

That said, it is really wonderful to get that mindshare, and for the first time kids won't be trained to think that windows is all that is.

Re:Tell me when it's done

[kusanagi374]

But Gasoline is more cost-effective than Ethanol where I live, for instance.

Because:
1. While Gasoline is about 42% more expensive than Ethanol, the mpg is lower on Ethanol. So, to correclty compare prices, you have to multiply the gasoline price by 0.7. When I do that, Gasoline ends up being 5% cheaper.
2. There is no control over ethanol tampering in Brazil. Quite a few gas stations add a bit of water to the tanks, and the flexible fuel cars won't stop working because of that. You just get lower mileage.
3. The temperature in our region is lower (Hey, 25ÂC is SMOKING HOT for me). We actually have a bit of snow during the winter... and Ethanol doesn't play nicely with cold temperatures. The engine deals with it by adding gasoline to the mix.

Unless you live in Sao Paulo (where ethanol is 45% cheaper when comparing prices vs mileage), it's just not worth it.

Diesel cars, the ones that are truly efficient, are not allowed in Brazil. That is because while Brazil doesn't depend on others for heavy crude oil, we have to import ALL of our light crude oil... and diesel cars would screw up the import/export balance. What about biodiesel, you say? We barely have enough volume to replace the diesel used in our trucks, nevermind fueling cars.

Re:Hmm...

[Anonymous Coward]

While I could not find really useful English links about it, the Open.Amsterdam project has been running for two years now, and last October the City Council have declared that the long-term goal is to have all of the local government on open-source desktops. The pilot used SuSE Linux for two of the city's departments. Along with the wide-scale deployments like Munich or Vienna have done, I think you will have plenty data points in a few years.

See here for a minor press release in English.

This is 350,000 monitors and keyboards, and users

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't your classic "virtualization". It might be better termed as PC hardware sharing. Each PC can have 2-10 monitors, keyboards and users connected. So 350,000 kids **will** be able to work simultaneously. Presumably this translates into somewhere between 35,000 PCs and 175,000 actual PCs.

There is no server required for this deployment

[xufem]

Seems like "virtual" is perhaps the wrong way to label the posting and is being miss-used in the title, they are really multi-station or multi-seat desktops. Up to ten monitors and keyboards per PC. No Server Required. In fact many of the schools are in remote rural locations: http://www2.userful.com/company/linux-desktop-virtualization

Wonderfully understated

[Mark_in_Brazil]

GP said:

The Brazilian government is really good in announcing things, but not really good in making them happen.

PP said:

Ethanol.

Wonderfully understated. But in this case, taking it further is interesting. So here I go...

Brazil's government has achieved a bunch of really aggressive goals in recent years. Let's start with the ones in energy independence...

* Ethanol is a viable fuel, being based on sugar cane and not corn. It's been that way for a while now.
* New cars in Brazil are now sold with engines that are equally happy burning gasoline or ethanol or a mix (or, with a conversion, natural gas - see below)
* Natural gas, originally imported via a pipeline from Bolivia, and now with big reserves found in Brazil, presents another alternative fuel with environmental, financial, and geopolitical advantages over petroleum. The pipeline was announced and then successfully executed. Exploiting Brazil's own natural gas was a new challenge. The programs were announced and then successfully executed.
* Over 95% of Brazil's electrical energy comes from hydroelectric plants. Hydroelectric projects were announced and then executed successfully.
* Total independence from foreign petroleum. Planned, announced, done.

Changing from energy, there are other things, like the...
* massive migration to FOSS going on since the early days of the Lula government (2003-present). I saw with my own two eyes huge numbers of Linux desktops at ITI (Information Technology Institute) and other government offices in 2005-2007. This one is still in the process of happening, and faces very well-funded opposition (from MS and friends), but despite that, it's been successful. Announced and made to happen.
* A more stable (and, not coincidentally, better-regulated) banking system than the one in the USA
* Health care policy that has basically done away with the black market for transplant organs, maintained the viability of what is widely considered the best AIDS policy in the world, and brought the benefits of generic drugs to the Brazilian people. All planned, announced, and executed successfully.
* A GROWING middle class. Tens of millions of people have joined the middle class of Brazil in the last several years. Growing the middle class is often a stated goal, but rarely achieved as spectacularly as it has been in Brazil in recent years

* I would also mention that the Brazilian government paid off close to $20B in loans early just in the year 2005, meeting the goal of reducing foreign debt, which the previous governments seemed to love, and saving something on the order of 10^9 dollars in interest payments. Goal announced, goal achieved.

Every place has its advantages and disadvantages, and wherever you go, the deal is the same: you've got to try to make the most of the advantages and minimize the effects of the disadvantages. Brazil's advantages and disadvantages are different from those of the US. But to say the Brazilian government isn't good at making things happen is just wrong. I hate to pull out a mean word, but here it is: saying the Brazilian government, especially in the last several years, isn't good at making things happen, is just plain ignorant.

In early 2003, the US invaded Iraq to save the world from Saddam Hussein's supposed stocks of weapons of mass destruction, and to fight a war against terrorism and bring peace, stability, and democracy to the Middle East. I remember the announcements. I also remember announcements of how the economic policy would continue US economic dominance into the 21st Century. I'm a US citizen, so I know the answer to this question as I ask it: how are those goals workin' out for ya? Is terrorism down in the last several years? Was the haul of WMDs worth the multi-trillion dollar cost of the stupidest war ever, plus the destabilization of the region? I guess by mentioning the destabiliz

Re:Wonderfully understated

[Caue]

You got real stuff and propaganda stuff all mixed up, dude. Brazil is only independent in the production of heavy oil; we still import more than half the oil used for gasoline, diesel and querosene.

Health care sucks. You can get AIDS medicine, but if you are in an emergency and depend on the SUS (sistema unico de saude, unified health system) you're pretty much toast. that's why health plans sell like water around here.

Our financial system broke down several times in the last 70 years; the american and european broke twice.

No new hydroelectric plants are coming around until 2015. All the recent growth is based on gas and coal burning, and some crude oil.

The middle class in brazil is different than the middle class in other states. Here, middle class don't have two cars, nice house with front lawn and a trip to disney every year; we strugle between paying the rent and paying school and highschool for our children, because the educational system is a hell of a mess.

We are not so good, but we are not so bad either. I speak that as a brazilian. I really love brazil, but i'm as skeptical as the next guy when it comes to analysing this or any other governaments before.

Re:Wonderfully understated

[Mark_in_Brazil]

You got real stuff and propaganda stuff all mixed up, dude. Brazil is only independent in the production of heavy oil; we still import more than half the oil used for gasoline, diesel and querosene.

I'm honestly not sure if this is the case. It doesn't contradict what Petrobras says (in Portuguese) on its site: that average daily production is higher than average daily consumption of petroleum products in Brazil. Meanwhile, new platforms are coming online and huge new reserves have been discovered, so petroleum production in Brazil is expected to grow faster than consumption.
Those ethanol and natural gas cars, plus the hydroelectric power, make this possible. The Angra nuclear reactors are a joke, at least as far as energy production in concerned. I suspect they may exist solely so Brazil can have a nuclear weapons program. Officially, it doesn't, but why the insistence on continuing a program that has been so spectacularly unsuccessful?
Anyway, in the near future, we can expect average daily petroleum production in Brazil to grow significantly more than average daily petroleum consumption, and Brazil can become a major petroleum exporter.

Health care sucks. You can get AIDS medicine, but if you are in an emergency and depend on the SUS (sistema unico de saude, unified health system) you're pretty much toast. that's why health plans sell like water around here.

There's another reason. Health plans are significantly more affordable in Brazil than in the US. And before you go badmouthing Brazilian health care, I'll point out that there is still "medical tourism" in Brazil, where people from the US and other uncivilized countries (it's a joke - I'm from the US) find that even adding in the cost of international travel, private health care providers, and private accomodations, it's still significantly less expensive to fly to Brazil and have the surgery done there. Why Brazil? Because obviously price is not the only consideration, and Brazil has an excellent cost-benefit: quality health care provided much less expensively than in the US. I'm paying a lot less for my (Unimed Paulistana) health plan here than I would pay for a plan in the US, and I've found the quality of care to be pretty good.
Are you aware that there are about 50 million US citizens that can't afford any kind of health plan, and that the latest ex-president of the US once argued that really people without insurance are fine, because they can go to emergency rooms?

Our financial system broke down several times in the last 70 years; the american and european broke twice.

Oh, of course. Brazil has dealt with major economic instability. What I'm saying is that Brazil's banking system is better-regulated and therefore, at this point, more secure than its counterpart in the US.
There's a mini-version of what happened in the recent US housing bubble going on in Brazil now with cars. Just like unethical lenders did in the US with mortgages, unethical lenders in Brazil have been pushing people to take loans they probably can't pay to buy new cars. There are many people around who have cars they realistically cannot afford, but like their home-buying counterparts in the States, they have gone ahead and bought the cars anyway. In a year or so, I expect relatively new used cars to be really cheap, because there will be so many forfeitures, seizures, and auctions. The tightening of credit due to the US-born worldwide financial crisis has already started to reduce the demand for some cars in Brazil. But in the environment of relatively cheap and easy credit that obtained in recent years, lots and lots of people, including many who probably should not have, bought new cars. Since people don't pay enough attention to the total of what they're paying on l

Re:Tell me when it's done

[Fluffeh]

You live in Brazil? The same Brazil i live? I have never head of snow in Brazil, not even in the south region, in high altitude cities... They get a little frost during the night, thats all.

Prepare to be amazed! Prepare to have you socks knocked off your frost bitten feet! Prepare to make icicles like only a man can in the winter!

Santa Catarina
Rio Grande do Sul
Brazillian Snow Ski Holiday (Okay, there is in fact only ONE result...)