Posted on 12/30/2004 8:10:15 PM PST by Kitten Festival
8/31/2002 ... I wrote for the first time on Venezuela and Linux, due to an article which appeared in Linux Today entitled Venezuela’s Government shifts to open source software. The article generated a big discussion in Slashdot, most of which was useless as most writers have no idea how inefficient the Venezuelan Government is.
9/01/2002 A scandal broke out because it turned out that two of the three “advisors” to the Minister of Planning happened to have very strong ties to Linux commercial efforts. It was that and not some Microsoft plot that stopped that effort.
9/29/2004 Right after Venezuela spent close to US$400 million buying voting machines with embedded Windows and fingerprint machines, which are also Windows based, a new effort was announced by the President himself, promising “obligatory” open software. Officials spoke about “national scientific independence” which must be something equivalent to “secure embedded Windows” in the voting machines, coming from the Government that killed the most important scientific institution and project in the country’s history. The President also announced that day that he would open 343 “infocenters” by tomorrow. Oh well! Another deadline is past!
12/30/04 And thus we arrive at today, when finally the decree is in and once again the Slashdot nest is stirred with an article entitled Venezuela Moves Further Towards Open Source. Well, it turns out it is not “further”, it actually “less towards” Open Source than before. The previous decrees were never actually published or implemented and someone had the presence of mind not to make it obligatory, but to issue a decree to have all public institutions present their plans towards Open Source implementation and they all have no more than 24 months to adapt themselves to the decree.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.salon.com ...
Chavez is far worse than a clown.
Chavez wants free software. So what?? He's a brutal dictator.
The fact that he wants his state computers to run Free software (in this case Linux) means nothing. Any discussion of Free software in this context is meaningless. Chavez doesn't represent Free, Freedom, or openness. He just wants cheap software.
It's a bit like saying "Hitler had a lovely singing voice". It sort of misses the point about who Hitler was.
This article is almost as stupid as tracking box office numbers for Spider-Man 2 in Iran. It's not the real story.
hmmm ... free software ... socialism ... whatever
Your post was brilliant until I read the last sentence. This article is from a blog that has done more than anything, anywhere, to expose the depredations of the chavez regime. Certainly more than the MSM.
My recommendation to you is to open the essay and read the whole thing. There is nothing stupid about this article in the slightest - it's actually very profound. And its many articles and essays agree with your sentiment about Chavez.
In spades.
also known as third-world software
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