Andalucia Adopts Free Software

InodoroPereyra writes "Browsing Linux Today I found a link to an HispaLiNUX article stating that Andalucia goes OpenSource. More specifically, "All public educational centre necessities are intended to be fulfilled, first of all, with Free Software [...] It is compulsory to all hardware acquired by official educational centres to be fully compatible with Free Software operating systems. Furthermore, it must be preinstalled in all new bought computers". Andalucia is a region located to the South of Spain, with about 7.5 million inhabitants. This is an important follow-up to the many stories on Linux in Extremadura."

Just barely begun

Andalucia? Extremadura?
Sorry, but this needs to go much further.

What about Higgletypigglety and Ishkabibble? Ringolevio might get on board, but I think Jaberwocky will be the hold-out.

Small nations

Small nations/language groups may indeed follow suit. I remember when Microsoft refused to make an Icelandic version of Windows some years ago. Reason? Too few users... Well, there are actually 250,000 icelanders, like a larger city block. Which makes me think of my 25 minute old Mandrake 9.1 installation. It boasts support for 60 languages, including Icelandic.

Educational target

It seems to be focused on using open source software on educational centers, not for all activities in that region, but its a very good first step.

Anyway, ensuring that all computer and components are compatible with open source solutions maybe not ensures that they will not use windows, but at least that they can choose now or after without being forced to use one solution over another because winmodems, winprinters, and other hardware that depends on windows to work.

Economic Development

Sounds like they want to encourage Open Source software to encourage the local economy. Makes sense, they won't have to send X-dollars per computer to MS or IBM or SUN or Apple and that money can stay in the local economy. Before someone says, "but what about the cost of training?" The money spent on the computer training for people to use OSS will also stay in the local economy and is actually a direct expendature on educating the local work force.

Close minded

The question is, is the REQUIREMENT that all systems contain Free (they didn't say OPEN, just FREE, I don't know if this is a translation thing, but there is an important distinction) software good or not. Are they limiting themselves just as they would be if they declared "all systems must have Microsoft software". What if it turns out that MacOS actually suits their needs the best? (ok, you can stop laughing now)

The article is light on background and I don't read Spanish, so I don't know what precipitated this decision (purely financial, political (aka Anti-Microsoft), technical, or whatever). So it's hard to tell just how well thought out this is.

Re:Close minded

Are they limiting themselves just as they would be if they declared "all systems must have Microsoft software".

This isn't same kind of limitation (assuming that being free is a requirement). If they required that all systems must have MS-software, they would lock out competing companies. If they require that the software must be free, no company gets excluded. There's nothing stopping MS from offering software that fits their requirements. If MS chooses not to do so, it's MS's problem.

It would be same if I wanted to buy a station-wagon. Would I be excluding car-manufacturers that don't make station-wagons? Nope. If they don't have products that I'm interested in, it's really not my problem, it's their problem.

Sleep Well

"And that, children, is how Andalucia assured the world that nobody from our country could compete in the global IT marketplace. The End."

"Grandpa, could you read it again?"

As the Pixies (and Dali and Buneul) put it ...

I am un chien Andalucia.

Getting there...

Although rather low-profile on the global scale I think this I great. I would like to see a lot more of this happening in the United States and in South Korea (among other countries). I find it very disheartening than so many people I know have never heard of GNU-Linux/Free Software and never seen a non-Microsoft operating system on a personal computer. (Besides Macs of course) The school districts are by far the most important place to start. If kids know there is something out there besides Windows and MS Office they may be more inclined to use it at home or consider it at their place of work. Andalucia is a step in the right direction.

Maddog speaking about this

In case anyone is in the Worcester, MA USA area tonight, Maddog is giving a talk about just this kind of thing.

Guest Speaker
Jon 'maddog' Hall

Linux in Emerging Economies

Wednesday
March 26th, 2003
Kinnicutt Hall - WPI Campus
(Salisbury Labs 115
aka the usual place)
Worcester, MA USA
7:00 PM

More info at: http://www.wlug.org/

And in other news...

Picture Rocks, Pennsylvania, discovers Windows and the wonders of Graphical User Interfaces, or Gooeys, as they are commonly referred to. Details at 11.

Good stuff.

All the arguments about TCO and which system is cheaper in the long run depend a lot on training pr retraining of staff and such. But if kids grow up on OSS and everyone is not stuck with the idea that Windows is your computer, then it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense to use GNU/Linux (or some other *NIX that can be made user friendly). Because then the main argument is between $0 - GNU/Linux or $>0 - Windows.
Doesn't seem like a very hard choice. :)

Sweet!

Wow! This is great news! - seriously, who cares?

Is this the "LookWhatOtherNoNamePlaceUsesLinux.com" website, or Slashdot? I mean really. Im glad people are using Linux, and OS/2, and OSX, and anything else, but uh... so one place no ones ever heard of adopts Linux as their OS of choice today and Slashdot posts about it? I wonder how many people setup a new environment based on Windows today? Or OSX? or IRIX, or Solaris? Post some of the places on that.

Take a trip to Spain

Cool, now we can all go on an fact finding mission [frontierholidays.net] on behalf of our governments.

More seriously, this is happening in more places than we can possibly imagine. Right now we are setting up a project for a small corporate to convert 300 desktops to Linux. A small step and admittedly we are a small arse company [catalyst.net.nz] in a small arse country [purenz.com] :-) but I don't feel what we are doing is at all unique these days.

Browsing Linux Today?

>>InodoroPereyra writes "Browsing Linux Today I found a link to an HispaLiNUX article stating

Wow...Linux Today must suck too.

IN SOVIET RUSSIA....

Man, this is a slow, slow day. I think I'll head over to Msnbc or the BBC or something.
How to pass the hours at work, I'll never know

Linus, good. Fuck SCO

Andalucia?

I always thought that was Portugal! [portugal.org]

I guess I always had my map turned sideways ;)

Free Software Marches on!

Today Andalucia, tomorrow Catalonia!

from the welcome-to-the-hotel-california dept.

Relax said the nightman
We are programed to recieve
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave

Require or choice?

Furthermore, it must be preinstalled in all new bought computers

Kinda limiting their hardware choices, aren't they?

They went FREE SOFTWARE, *NOT* Open Source

It never ceases to amaze me that people forget the differences between what is "Open Source" and what is "Free Software".

If you say "Open Source", and license your software with the GPL, then you are still doing Free Software, just without the emotional baggage.
The end result is the same, but your motives are questionable because your philosophical commitment level is low.

If you say "Free Software", well, you are letting everyone know where you stand and what your goals are. There can be no doubt. See "http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-software-for-f reedom.html" for details on the difference between the two.

And for the record, the referenced article states "Free Software" 7 times, and never mentions "Open Source" even once. Their goals are *definitely* not in doubt. I consider this to be a very good thing.

huh?

"More specifically, "All public educational centre..."

Is he trying to spell sentry?

Ino what?

InodoroPereyra writes [...]

Just for the benefit of all our non spanish-speaking readers, "Inodoro" means "toilet".

This EducationMinute 2.0 brought to you by the Organization For The Advancement Of Free As In Peseta Software Across The World And Other Obscure Places That Nobody Has Ever Heard About.

A Step Forward ... but other step back...

Also there are subsidizing M$, if you bought a computer in Andalucia (Spain), u can get 350 Euros from the regional governement, and 750 Euros for little corporations (The only requeriment is to live here and 1 computer per person...), but the law say ---> "The computer must have Windows Xp....." Ooopss....

Well Darn...

On first view of the headline I thought that my hometown local gov't in Andalusia, Alabama had adopted open source.
I was about to get very happy...

Oh well ...

Amazing

An extremely large European region gets mentioned but because the lack of geographic education is rampant on Slashdot people laugh at this "non-news", some small hickville school in the US adopts free software and everyone raves about it.

Gates.Sex.IRAQ.Troll...Readme NOW Mister!!!

World Domination
It's only a matter of time Windows Trolls!!!!
The more extreme your responses here
The more we know we're hurting you plenty LOL !!!
FREE ALWAYS WINS
JUST ASK NETSCAPE......

The Clash

Would say "No more Win-dows bombs in An-da-lu-cia!"

Laws of Thermodynamics (in the computer industries

Gentleman, here are the three fundamental laws of turmoildynamics in the Computer Industries.

The Zeroth Law
The heated discussions and debates in the computer industry will always move from a cold topic area towards a hot topic area.

The First Law of turmoildynamics: aka the Moore's Law
The number of transistors per integrated circuit at the most economical price will double every 18 months.

The Second Law of turmoildynamics: aka the Microsoft's Law
The retail price of a standard Microsoft package (like Microsoft Office) will double every 60 months.

The Third Law of turmoildynamics: aka the Open Source's Law
The amount penetration of GPL open source programs in the commercial business environment will double every 30 months.

Funny thing is....

...I submitted a story of the Netherlands converting to Linux (inhab. 16 million) and it was ignored. All finely hand-translated as well. N00bs!

Linex and other Spanish issues

I wonder if they will use or suport the "Linex" Linux distribution, based on Debian and developed in Extremadura with funding by the Comunidad Autonoma government.

Spain has a sort of federal government structure. Andalucia is next to Extremadura, and both "Comunidades Autonomas" (equivalent to state governments) have a parlament with majority of the same party, that is the oposition to Mr.Aznar, the Spanish president.

How long will it take for the rest of Spanish public institutions to support open source software ? Or will they follow the path of Catalunya government, this is, cooperate with Microsoft ?

Andalucia not so small

Actually Andalucia is not so small as you might think. Spain is one of the major economies of the world, its just that many people from the U.S. are blind to anyone below position number 1.

In fact, articles like this show how far behind the U.S. is in terms of open source/free software and how forward thinking countries will someday dominate the silly hicks in the U.S. Who prefer their comfortable monopolies.

On a more related note, I have a cousin-in-law who works for the Junta de Andalucia (Andalucian government) in a school and they are quite advanced in the way they handle the education system here, with many programs for school management given to them by the government and data exchange going on via the Internet.

The use of Linux on their systems will just help the standardization of school systems and also give the developers a standard platform to develop future applications as well as save important Euros for spending on things that matter like educating the students.

Re:I don't like it

I hope the guy who modded the parent down isn't in a management position, because anyone who is opposed to using the right tool for the job is doomed to lead his/her company into bankruptcy.

Re:they must know something most slashdotters don'

Because the world is actually made by lots of two-bit no-name regions.

Re:Slashdot to English Translator-matic

"...I've just finished reading 1984. Go figure."

Whatever else they may be, in this day and age, I can't knock anyone who reads something worthwhile.

Re:I don't like it - I still satand by my argument

Really, if you always exchange data with office users (and dear slashdot readers, in the real world that is often needed), then life is a lot easier if you have it yourself. Not trying to defend the software, but that's reality. It would cost my employer more if I'd have to spend 30 minutes/day cleaning up bad powerpoint imports, instead of buying a pc or mac with office.

Unfortunately if you think short-term, you're right. Though I personally have a problem with other companies dictating what software I must use. And for what? to have some pictures move around on the screen? Tell me that can't be standardized with a straight face.

This type of change (we WON'T use MS) just forces the ball to move the other way. Now I can say, for example, YOU must use OpenOffice (if MS Office doesn't open filetype X). The only issue that is that you have to download it. No cost to you.

That's what standards are for in the first place. Avoiding unnecessary 'bulge'. Not one company buying products just to view data from another.

Re:I don't like it - I still satand by my argument

Let me offer another perspective:

When I use LaTeX for my documentation and people everywhere cannot make sense of it, I send them pdf files (or well formatted html files, since LaTeX2HTML does a very good job).

Likewise, when people don't want others to muck around with their documents, they send them in pdf , often with an additional Acrobat license. They sometimes also send bad html from MS Word.

Interchange of the documents will only get better with time. I can safely venture and say openoffice does a better job than, say MSWord 95. Soon it will be MSWord 97, and 2000.

S

Re:I don't like it

So far as I read it, they aren't forcing the use of OS, they're requiring that every PC be capable of running a free OS, like linux or whatever.

A great deal of them will indeed run Windows, because that's a skill that gets you a job. Outside of the IT world, noone is impressed by 'linux' on a resume.

All their doing is limiting their hardware choices.

Personally I prefer to use only hardware that works with linux, even though I dont use it on the desktop. It's generally a sign that the hardware has been around for a few years, and as a rule of thumb, by the time linux support exists, windows support is rock solid. Video cards notwithstanding.

Re:Slashdot to English Translator-matic

I've spent the last two years being subjected to biased slashdot propaganda. I couldn't hack into a properly configured windows system if my life depended on it

Absolutely right. Microsoft's latest patches [computerworld.com] are unbeatable. If you can't boot the OS, ain't nobody gonna crack the box.

Ever notice how many blue ties Bush wears..

I wonder if the 'Man in a Blue Turbin' is really supposed to be the man with a blue tie.

Maybe Nostradamus didn't get it right, or it was bablefished wrong ;)

Re:frist ps0t

spanish bombs in andalucia, mandalina

yo te quierra oh my corazon...

That posting really clashes with the article.

Re:they must know something most slashdotters don'

'cause it means installing hundreds of computers at every secondary school. (At least, that's the way the HispaLinux folks did it Extremadura). And when you save literally hundreds of thousands of bucks, it's indeed a deal.

Add that to the independence from a software company.

Add that to the fact that you can develop your own software to improve the well-being of your country. (As the opposite to "let's buy software from USA and let's give 'em all our money). It employees your own people, and keeps money in the same country.


Now, has a "two-bit no-name region" (with big incomes from tourists from USA, BTW) a reason??

Re:Slashdot to English Translator-matic

"I've spent the last two years being subjected to biased slashdot propaganda. I couldn't hack into a properly configured windows system if my life depended on it."

Just because YOU can't doesn't mean others can't. Yes, getting a remote shell on Win2K is very difficult but using a documented exploit to run remote code is just a matter of following instructions [barnesandnoble.com].

Re:Yes Andalucia adopt free software but.......

Ha... ha... nice troll! Even the fack that you can not speak English worth a crap didn't stop you from releasing that troll into the rest of the world. You my friend are my hero! MORON!!! No wonder if the rest of Spanish people are like you, the Basques want to get the hell out of your country...

Navarra forever! Biatch!!!!!!

Spanish Federal Republic

Well, the Spanish way of government is really out-of-date. Damn!

The Autonomous Communities are just a joke. Central government has a lot of power, yeah that's it, it's too powerful. They Autonomous Communities are yelling "we need a Federal Republic system" Don't you hear it? - Say yes to States, no to "Autonomous Communities")!

King? What the hell does a king in a country in the 21th century? Guess it. You're right. Nothing. There is no need for king in a democratic system, indeed he's earning money the easy-way- doing nothing. In democracy all people are equal. In a monarchy all people are equal except the king and his "real" family. All the speeches of the king are written by other people and the king has no responsability (he's above everything including the law) in what he says and reads (in 99% cases he doesn't speak, just read texts written by other "common" people). Sorry, your majesty, your highness, ... , but you better be going.

In 1936 there was a referendum asking the Spanish citizens if they really wanted a king, and the majority of people say no to the king, yes to the Republic, so Spain became a Republic. Years later a f*cking dictator (Franco) re-established the monarchy in Spain. From that date until today, Juan Carlos is the king and owns the "kingdom" of Spain. I have to say that the king Juan Carlos is one of the richest men in Europe thanks to Franco. I have to note that thanks to Hitler and Mussolini Franco won the civil war.

Besides he has a lot of property and budget from the State for him (all Spanish people is paying taxes to support the "Familia Real"), under the dictatorship government, Franco gave to the king lots of things that they were owned by "regular" Spanish people that didn't think the same way as Franco. The king Juan Carlos is a sign of backwardness and is the shadow of the past. In a few years, won't exist monarchy countries, hopefully.

Democracy and a Federal Republic way of government is what many countries really need.


n0dez

PS: If you want to contact me, you can do it at the following address:

Spanish Federal Republic

I have just written an article about the way of government that many countries need such as Spain.
Please feel free to send me any comments. (My address is at the end of this post)


n0dez