[Sussex] Brazil - Sao Paulo government launches linux centres...

[Mark Harrison]

>From the BBC's website. Hardly "breaking news", but a good case study and
another clear demonstration that Linux has a real place in the future.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3250876.stm

<SNIP>

The Telecenter project was started two and a half years ago in Sao Paulo by
a left-wing local government as part of a digital inclusion plan that aimed
to improve access to information.

Research carried out that year showed that there were about three million
people in Sao Paulo without any access to computers. Now, about 250,000
people are using the nearly 100 net cafes.

Although ownership of a computer and access to the internet are common for
middle-class Brazilians, of the population as a whole fewer than 10% have
access to the net.

"We want to take the telecenters to the poorer areas in the periphery, to
reduce the social and economic divide," said Beatriz Tibirica, co-ordinator
of a project called E-Government.

"Access to technology is fundamental in order to get full rights and
opportunities in modern society", she added.

Each telecenter has about 20 computers. Some are used for the courses and
others are free to be used for anything from preparing homework for checking
the latest about soap stars.

Since last year, all the centres have been using the free operating system
GNU/Linux.

</SNIP>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3250876.stm