[Gllug] Venezuela Promotes Microsoft Alternative

[M.Blackmore]

Venezuela Promotes Microsoft Alternative

by Jorge Rueda
Associated Press
Caracas, Venezuela
Thursday, March 30, 2006
http://business.bostonherald.com/technologyNews/view.bg?
articleid=132899

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational 
purposes.

President Hugo Chavez, long critical of big transnational companies, is
promoting free open-source software as an alternative to market-
dominating Microsoft Corp.

Venezuela's science and technology ministry recently held the Latin
American Free Software Installation Fair, an event promoting the use of
the open-source Linux operating system and other nonproprietary programs
over Microsoft's Windows.

Groups of Linux users have been organizing similar events in other Latin
American countries, including Argentina and Colombia, and the Venezuelan
government has signed on as a promoter.

The technology ministry said the fair is part Venezuela's move toward
"technological sovereignty, and taking advantage of knowledge for
building national scientific independence."

Chavez, a vehement critic of the capitalist system, issued a decree in
2004 ordering all the country's public institutions to actively move
toward open-source alternatives, hoping to save millions of dollars.

Government agencies have gradually been making the change.

Chavez says previous governments spent more on licensing fees for
proprietary software than social programs to fight poverty.

The Venezuelan government hasn't focused direct criticism on Microsoft,
but Chavez has regularly condemned "the hegemony of the multinationals"
- saying many big companies are to blame for putting profits above the
needs of poor people across Latin America.

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