Taking Linux Seriously in Nicaragua
Submitted by fyl on Thu, 2007/06/14 - 10:58.
A friend just sent me a link to this article about the launch of "Bolivarian Computers" in Venezuela. The important part is:
"The price of other similar brands is US$ 930, and the price of our computer is US$ 690, almost 40% less," explained President Chavez. "But, in addition, it has an added value, given that it comes with open-source software and a three year guarantee, while other brands only offer one year."
That Open Source software is Linux. Other Latin American countries including Brazil and Costa Rica have endorsed and/or supported Linux but, as far as I know, Venezuela is the first to offer an integrated hardware/software solution. (Note that China did this some time ago.)
Is it time for Nicaragua/the Nicaraguan government to seriously get on the Linux bandwagon? The big win is decreasing the amount of foreign exchange being spent on computer hardware and software.
Definitely a wise decision
Definitely a wise decision in my opinion to start at least working around it.
You can copy fedora CDs and give to everyone with a negligible price and it has almost everything government and schools need.
There are only two main problems:
1- The "windows applications" which are already developed and being used in such places. If government can move applications to Web environment then everything would be fine. Firefox, Openoffice, Thunderbird and a few other software are all an office needs.
2- Technical support. You will need to educate people to be able to take care of the relatively more complex operating system and applications. (in my opinion learning linux up to a level which you can support users is almost 3 times harder than windows). Taking in mind that education is relatively cheap in Nicaragua if calculations show that Linux usage will be more profitable then why not? Then the country will save hundreds thousands and more important will have several highly knowledgeable technicians which are not just windows GUI professionals but have deep computer knowledge.
You know that most serious business platforms run on Unix/Linux,...
Some random comments
There are lots better options than Fedora these days. Kubuntu (KDE-based) or Ubuntu (Gnome-based) are more free in that you can ask for CDs or DVDs and get them mailed to you for free and that means you don't even pay the postage. And, all in all, a much better desktop choice today. (All the desktops and laptops here are Kubuntu. The server this site runs on is SuSE, our other hosts (NicaPlaza.com and NicaPages.com are all on other Linux distrubitions.)
The government in Costa Rica has moved a lot of stuff to Linux. They can be a resource to help with "how to move to Linux for government". I have contacts there that could help.
Linux support continues to get easier. For example, installing Kubuntu Linux is much easier that installing Windoze. We do need technical support but, because Linux is Open Source, technical support can become a local paid-for service rather than exporting money to the US to give to Microsoft more money. Beyond that, as these support skills are developed, because of Nicaragua's low cost of living, the services could be exported throughout the region as a profit-making venture.