Wednesday, 21 February 2007

Cuba Embraces Open-Source Software

The only communist nation in the Americas, Cuba has decided to embrace open-source software, a decision that will block out Microsoft. To initiate the shift, Cuban academic, Hector Rodriguez, is piloting a development program in Cuban universities. The country’s customs service has already shifted to Linux.

The decision is not suprising, as the economic logistics make sense for a country with a low GDP and aging PCs, but open source also enables the communist Cuba to escape any ties with the US-based Microsoft.

The year 2007 began with the open source arena forming a rather formidable fan following. In the beginning this was a small community known only to a niche audience but today we see a different picture. Commercial software and the open source software seem to be at the same footing.

On the other hand, many a one is not too happy with the merge between the open source community and the commercial community.

US embargo on Cuba has led to this opportunuity. Besides a variety of reasons, Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes specified the fact that Microsoft's cooperation with U.S. military and intelligence agencies also can be a source of mistrust.