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Linux Gains Ground Abroad

Published by marco on

The Washington Post reports in Europe’s Microsoft Alternative that a region of Spain, “a western region of Spain called Extremadura, a mostly rural expanse of olive trees and tiny towns with 1.1 million inhabitants”, is planning “to convert all the area’s computer systems, in government offices, businesses and homes, from the Windows operating system to Linux”. This is a trend that started in Asia, with first China, then India, declaring that they would be standardizing on Linux or other open-source software for their operating software and applications software.

Venezuela also recently decided to use only open-source software for all government functions — covered in Venezuela’s Government Shifts to Open Source Software on Linux Today. The reasoning is quite logical, that Venezuela “indicated that they wish to implement this new policy so that now Venezulan programmers will be handling most of the government’s software needs, though keeping a large amount of government funds within the nation itself.” As The Register points out in Venezuela eliminates govt. software piracy:

“Piracy is of course a major concern of Microsoft, which for years turned a blind eye to the pestilence so long as world + dog was getting itself nicely addicted to their wares. Now, with nearly every government and business hopelessly dependent on their products, the company feels it’s safe to tighten the screws…, leaving behind huge bills for licensing oversights. … But as Venezuela has just come to realize, the best way to appease Microsoft — indeed, to assist them in this noble crusade — is to replace their products with free ones.”

Early this year, Peru had an open debate about whether to use only open-source alternatives (in which Microsoft played a very vocal interested party, full of gloom and doom). The original open letter written by Peruvian Congressman, Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nunez, is available in GNU.org.pe: Peruvian Congressman’s Open Letter to Microsoft, also on Linux Today. The arguments there are quite well thought out and makes the Microsoft sales flack’s repudiations look pathetic.

With OpenOffice and StarOffice both offering free variants and Mozilla providing a free browser and mail client, most government functions no longer really need to use Windows anymore, with their increasingly expensive licenses.

This switch in Spain is also not just a tiny test-bed, “more than 10,000 desktop machines have been switched, with 100,000 more scheduled for conversion in the next year”. The region paid a developer $180,000 to put together a custom install disc to set up a completely open-source operating system and applications environment. The disc has already been more widely distributed in Spain. As for the rest of Europe, countries “as far away as New Zealand and Peru have inquired about duplicating the region’s efforts”. In fact,

“There are now nearly 70 laws or policy proposals pending in two dozen countries that would force or at least encourage governments to use open-source software. This year Germany said it signed a contract to use Linux in many of its government systems; other significant economic powers such as the United Kingdom, China, Italy and Brazil are studying the matter.”

Microsoft’s response to this? The expected response: “Consider that there’s a lot more to the total cost and value of a product than the initial offering somebody might give you,“ Smith said.” Yes, and what exactly is that added value? The opportunity to buy more Microsoft products to get it to actually do what you needed it to do in the first place? Perhaps, it’s the fabulous support: “ For instance, it is often expensive to find support services for free software, whereas such help comes bundled with the purchase of Windows.” Keep in mind that this is the Microsoft rep speaking. My experience is that one can usually easily find free support for free products. Microsoft’s “support” plans are usurious.

And finally, “companies like Microsoft have a vested interest in updating their products; that’s not necessarily so with free software.” Again, my experience shows that free software, or software provided by more focussed vendors, is updated far more frequently than Microsoft’s. When was the last time your IE browser was updated with new features? Of course, Office and Windows get updated and those upgrades are usually much better for Microsoft than for you.

Namibia wisely spurns M$ ‘gift’ in favor of Linux on The Register is another tale of Microsoft’s efforts to spread farther. They offered to “help” Namibia switch from a Linux-based software offering to Windows. However, their help was to only offer “free licensing for Office Pro, valued at $2,000”, which would entail a resulting outlay of “an extra $9,000 for OS licensing in order to exploit the privilege of using the office software”. The switch to Microsoft networking and and connectivity products (presumed MSN) would “cost the organization something like $22,000…, in addition to the $9,000 [required] to accept Redmond’s incredibly generous $2,000 offer…”. The Register sums up nicely what can be construed from this example, that Microsoft “ intends to use non-profit organizations in desperately poor countries to subsidize its promotional ambitions and its sales strategy”.

No wonder countries are switching to Linux in droves. How else do you live with yourself?

Note: article authored entirely on and iMac ;-)