September 29, 2005

Peru May Require Consideration of Open Source Alternatives

Link: MercuryNews.com | 09/28/2005 | Peru to give open-source software equal footing with Microsoft.

Peru's Congress has passed legislation that would require public institutions to consider open-source software as an alternative to proprietary systems such as Windows. Peru joins Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and other countries in actively moving toward the Linux operating system and other open-source alternatives that can mean millions of dollars in savings. But a leading advocate for such alternatives said it remains to be seen whether President Alejandro Toledo will sign the bill into law. ``There are many associations on a national level that do not agree with this because they believe it will affect their interests,'' including revenues from the sale of proprietary systems, said Jose Cairo Gallardo, president of the Peruvian Free Software Association. The government palace did not respond to phone and fax requests seeking the president's position on the issue. In a move that went largely unnoticed, Congress voted 61-0 last Thursday to approve the legislation, which would prohibit any public institution from purchasing computer equipment that ties users to a particular type of software or ``in any manner limits information autonomy.''

Posted by Anupam Chander on September 29, 2005 at 09:50 AM in Digitization | Permalink