Talking with Open Source advocates from Peru and Vietnam http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/10/23/0049208.shtml?tid=19
Last week, at a conference in Washington, D.C., I listened to a speech by (and had private conversations with) Peruvian Congressman and "Open Source Hero" Edgar Villanueva and an interesting gentleman from Vietnam who both told me, in no uncertain terms, why their countries must switch to Linux and Open Source instead of depending on proprietary software from foreign companies. ... Even though he is often identified as "doctor," his doctorate is in jurisprudence. He described himself as "just a lawyer and politician, not a technical person," and said he first encountered Linux and Software Libre when he was mayor of a small town and wanted to get some computers for the local school so that students could learn what they needed to know to get decent jobs in modern society. Villanueva's town didn't have money for proprietary operating systems and software. His (then) IT advisor wanted to do what most people in Peru and other low-income countries have always done: make illegal copies of someone else's software. But Villanueva wanted a legal solution if one was available, and it turned out one was out there: Linux, courtesy of some local Software Libre advocates he met more or less by chance. They installed Linux, he tried it, and it worked. Glory be! Suddenly a school in a small, impoverished town had a few old but usable computers up and running, and kids learning how to use them, without breaking any laws -- or spending all of the town's tiny education budget on computer hardware and software. ... (About Vietnam) To Professor Chuong, it is an "extremist" stance to mandate the use of Open Source software by law, while in his eyes a "moderate" stance is merely to encourage its use. And whether through mandates or encouragement, he believes Vietnam needs to use Open Source software for reasons that go beyond money and trade. He said, "We need to increase our IT security and IT sovereignty," and later added, "We need to reduce our independence on international vendors." (continued in article)
