There’s a nice piece in today’s NY Times about how Brazil is rejecting Microsoft and striking out its own path across the so-called “digital divide.” The secret? Open source software.
“Looking to save millions of dollars in royalties and licensing fees, Mr. da Silva [President] 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.”