The Cuban government is to migrate thousands of its computers to open-source software, a change that would further distance the communist nation from U.S.-based Microsoft.
Several Cuban government ministers backed the move at a technology conference held late last week. Communications minister Ramiro Valdes gave a opening keynote that advocated open source, while Richard Stallman, head of the Free Software Foundation, also told the conference that proprietary software is inherently insecure.
A Cuban academic, Hector Rodriguez, is supporting the migration to open source by heading up a development program within one of the largest Cuban universities. Cuba's customs service has already migrated to Linux, while the ministries of culture, higher education and communications are planning to do so, Rodriguez told the conference.
But Rodriguez, quoted by the Associated Press, declined to say how long it would take for the Cuban government to migrate most of its systems to Linux. "It would be tough for me to say that we would migrate half the public administration in three years," he told the conference.
The number of Cuban open-source users is growing fast, with around 3,000 in a country that struggles with outdated PCs and slow Internet links.
Other governments, including Venezuela, China, Brazil and Norway, are evaluating a partial or total migration from Windows to open source. Many city administrations are also running projects. In Europe, programs in Bristol, England, as well as Amsterdam and Munich, are well underway.
Richard Thurston of ZDNet UK reported from London.
Rząd Kuby chce wprowadzić w swojej administracji zamiast używanego obecnie kosztownego Windowsa, oparty na wolnej licencji Linux. Kubański naukowiec Hector Rodriguez zakłada, że w ciągu trzech lat połowa urzędów administracji publicznej zaopatrzona zostanie w systemy operacyjne Linux.

Mimo, że niewielka część Kubańczyków korzysta z oprogramowania open source (jest ich zaledwie ok. 3 000), to jednak wolne oprogramowanie jest coraz bardziej popularne, a liczba jego użytkowników szybko rośnie.

Także rządy Wenezueli, Chin, Brazylii i Norwegii są określane jako te, które częściowo lub całkowicie przyjmą oprogramowanie open source.