[Fsf-friends] PERUVIAN EFFORT COULD BAN MICROSOFT ON GOV. COMPUTERS (fwd)

[Frederick Noronha]

Thanks to George Lessard for posting this across. FN

---------- Forwarded message ----------


PERUVIAN EFFORT COULD BAN MICROSOFT ON GOV. COMPUTERS
Peruvian Congressman Edgar Villanueva is pushing legislation to obligate all
public institutions to convert exclusively to open-source software.
Open-source programs, embodied by the Linux operating system, have
underlying code available to anyone who wants to modify or customize it.
Such software, in unadorned form, can be downloaded from the Internet for
free. Villanueva hopes his measure triggers activity in Peru's software
industry by freeing programmers from the constraints of working with coding
controlled by a few large companies. Open-source could take the expense out
of software upgrades; which is important for a country like Peru that owes
about $30 million in overdue software license fees.
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury, AUTHOR: Associated Press] 
(http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/3531007.htm)