FREE SOFTWARE CARNIVAL: Latin America takes to FLOSS in a big way...

Latin America seems like a world away. But Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) there is growing much like in South Asia, and arguably, better. Recently, a study of FLOSS in that part of the word pointed to the contribution of GNOME (started in 1997 by Mexican devloper Miguel de Icaza), Brazil's Sorceforge-like Codigolivre.org.br portal site, the simple UTUTO distro from Argentina, and the widely-popular PHP-Nuke content management system from Francisco Burzi of Venezuela.

This distant continent has also challenged the role of proprietorial software and Microsoft (as done by Peru), and come up with interesting university-based software solutions (see www.univates.br) from Brazil.

For instance, the Brazilian UNIVATES says it has saved more than R$500,000 (about US$ 130,000) by *not* acquiring copies of proprietary software for servers and desktops. It saves R$200,000 (US$70,000) each year on software upgrades and maintenance. This is enough to pay the salaries of the development group. Meaning, Univates can effectively produce technology for its own use (and which others can also make use of) at virtually no cost!

To understand the larger canvas of the Free Software scene in Latin America, FREDERICK NORONHA <fred at bytesforall.org> spoke to Cesar Brod (39). Brod <cesar at brod.com.br> is vice-president of the Brazilian free software cooperative SOLIS (Cooperativa de Solucoes Livres).

More importantly, he coordinated the Latin American leg of a recent Finland-conducted study on the significance of Free/Libre and Open Source Software for the developing countries.

After studying Physics at the University of Sao Paulo and the Federal University of Rio Grande de Sul, he dropped out of college to enter the exciting world of software at a young age. "I abandoned university because I was travelling too much," he recalls. Getting involved with computers at the age of 20, he started work with multinationals, and shifted from being a hardware analyst to being a software programmer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- To start with Cesar, could you give us an overview of what's happening on the Free Software front in Latin America?

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I think almost every country (in Latin America) offers a very good story on Free Software. They have very good projects, but the only thing that is actually missing is communication -- people talking with each other about what exactly they have.

For instance, you have in Peru, a very good start-up project, which is an ERP for rural agriculture and the environment. This is some kind of thing that is exactly needed all over Latin America, and probably for every Third World country. But the people just dont know about it.

In the meantime, this software is very localised. So, the way it is, it won't serve other countries. But with very little effort, and probably very little financing too, it could be adapted to fit a lot of other geographies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can you give us some other examples of interesting projects you came across in the course of your recent study on FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) in Latin America? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most interesting ones was the FreeMed Project from Cuba. Its a very simple project. It just aims to establish a network connection between doctors in several different hospitals, in order to share information and diagnostics about people and diseases.

Another good one is the Free Education Network that was put together by the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. It's using Free Software to teach young people how to use computers, how to do their Math, and actually to use Free Software as a learning aid for all their first grade disciplines.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which countries, in your view, are the best off in this field in Latin America? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

In terms of Free Software production, Brazil. In terms of software projects allying with the GNU project, it would be Mexico, with Chile getting very close. In terms of a user community, Uruguay has a lot to teach us.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you see some Latin American countries lagging behind? Why? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

The truth is I don't know if they are really lacking, or they are simply not communicating enough.

For instance, in the first version of my report, I have nothing about Chile. And when the people in Chile got to know what I was doing, they collaborated with a wonderful report, and they actually have a lot of things going on which I was not aware of.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- In terms of revving up the FLOSS engine for take off, what is it that is actually required on the ground in any Latin American country? Is it a good technical base, access to the Internet, the ability of keeping in touch with the outside world, or what? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thats a very good question.

I think if you just give computers to the people and just some base training -- very little basic training -- you'll be amazed by the kind of progress that can be made.

I'm basing my reply on one experiment done in Uruguay, by MIT professor Etienne Delacroix. He has his programming-and-art workshop, where he introduces people to computers in a very artistic way.

For instance, he asks people how can you be sure that this motherboard will work once we know how a hair-drier works... and he compares the small streams of energy that goes into the mother-board with the electric plug of the hair-drier. And he asks people to identify where the big rivers of energy inside those small streams of the motherboard are located.

By doing that, he makes people peep into a motherboard, and get it working... and just by doing that he gets people together with technology. People who even lacked access to that kind of technology before.

And after a couple of weeks, those people would be programming in C language. So, what's missing is (the means) to re-connect people with technology. The Third World is a technology consumer; once you reconnect people with technology youll see a lot of good things happening.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are the three best things that Free Software can give to Latin America that proprietorial software cannot? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technology independence, regional development. (After some thought) its knowledge-freedom actually....

------------------------------------------------------------------------- What would you see as the main roadblocks that stop FLOSS from getting ahead in Latin America? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proprietorial software lobbying, meaning actually Microsoft lobbying. There's also fear of the perception of the unknown technology. You can't say the technology is unknown (but that's the perception created). And, still, the lack of support.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- What does Latin America have to give to the rest of the Free/Libre and Open Source Software world? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think we have already given a lot of good examples (laughs). Just to give one, the Gnome platform. Then, there's the PHP Nuke project. And a lot of KDE-standard tools that are coming out from Chile and Brazil.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- While studying the contribution of Latin America, what did you learn? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

That we have been reinventing the wheel in so manycountries that we have been researching. We should communicate a lot more. Actually for a community that lives on the Internet, it's amazing that we still dont know enough about each other's projects.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do tell us about UNIVATES and yourself? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

UNIVATES is a very small university centre in the south of Brazil, and I work for them as the technical consultant. Probably because they are so little and don't have any money, it's a community-owned university.

That means we have to be very creative in terms of technology adoption. That's why, in 1999, I have started for them the Free Software Project that ended up in several products to be used inside the university. That became quite popular, initially all over Brazil and now, in the Mercosur (the Southern Cone countries).

(See http://www.univates.br/freesoftware)

------------------------------------------------------------------------- And about yourself? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

I got to know of Linux just by chance in 1993 -- the kernel and the GNU tools. At that time, I needed a Unix to run in my notebook as I was supporting a customer far from where I was living, and didn't want to travel that much. But a SCO/UNIX license was too expensive. Since then, I have been using Free Software and doing some consulting jobs on that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- Has it made a difference to the way you work and think? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's interesting to think about that. I pretty much left the centre of the country, Sao Paulo and Rio, where you make the big bucks, and have moved back to the city where I was born. My life is a lot cheaper... and I have a lot more fun. I started using Free Software because I didn't want to travel; in the past year it took me to Finland and Sweden twice. (ENDS)