From: Görkem Çetin (gorkem@gorkemcetin.com)
Date: Wed 29 Mar 2006 - 00:37:43 EEST
Bilginize.
İyi çalışmalar
Görkem
http://news.tmcnet.com/news/2006/03/24/1487930.htm
Venezuela promotes free open-source software as alternative to Microsoft
By JORGE RUEDA Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
President Hugo Chavez has long been critical of big transnational
companies, and now his government is promoting free open-source software
as an alternative to market-dominatingMicrosoft ( News - Alert) Corp.
Venezuela's science and technology ministry on Friday began the Latin
American Free Software Installation Fair, an event promoting the use of
the open-source Linux operating system and other nonproprietary programs
over Windows by Microsoft.
Groups of Linux users are holding similar events simultaneously in
countries from Argentina to Colombia, and the Venezuelan government has
signed on as a promoter.
The technology ministry said in a statement that the fair, which ends
Saturday, is part Venezuela's move toward "technological sovereignty,
and taking advantage of knowledge for building national scientific
independence." The gathering began with seminars by experts on the
subject, and also was to include sessions for Venezuelans pick up and
install copies of Linux software.
Chavez, a vehement critic of the capitalist system, issued a decree in
2004 ordering all the country's public institutions to actively move
toward the Linux operating system and other open-source alternatives
that can mean millions of dollars (euros) in savings.
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, which have
become a top priority for his socialist government.
Chavez once called the switch to open-source software crucial to "stop
depending on software owned by others."
"If knowledge doesn't have owners, intellectual property is a trick of
neoliberalism," he said.
Government officials also have noted that open-source software
eliminates the need for costly upgrades since it is produced by
programmers across the world who share ideas to develop such programs
for free distribution.
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.
Chavez, a close ally of Cuban President Fidel Castro, has repeatedly
clashed with the U.S. government, although U.S. products from Coca-Cola
to American cars are sold widely in the South American country.
Venezuela also remains a leading supplier of oil to the United States.
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