Brazil and Unctad sign agreement for promotion of freeware (Comments?)

  • Thread starter Thread starter *ProteanThread*
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*ProteanThread*

http://www.anba.com.br/ingles/noticia.php?id=9206

<SNIP>
São Paulo - The Brazilian minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, and the
secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (Unctad), Supatchai Panitchpakdi, signed today (16) a
memorandum of understanding for the promotion of freeware. The
agreement was signed in Tunis, Tunisia, during the first day of the
World Summit on the Information Society organized by the United Nations
(UN).
<SNIP>

Can freeware be used to promote peace? ;-)
 
Can freeware be used to promote peace? ;-)
Click to expand...

No, but stolen moneyware can be used to promote war. Or, at least,
the fact that some countries have no concept of "property" (as it
applies to others) can.
 
*ProteanThread* escreveu:
http://www.anba.com.br/ingles/noticia.php?id=9206

<SNIP>
São Paulo - The Brazilian minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil, and the
secretary general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (Unctad), Supatchai Panitchpakdi, signed today (16) a
memorandum of understanding for the promotion of freeware. The
agreement was signed in Tunis, Tunisia, during the first day of the
World Summit on the Information Society organized by the United Nations
(UN).
<SNIP>

Can freeware be used to promote peace? ;-)
Click to expand...

I'm Brazilian, so I think I could say something:

Brazilians love free/cheap stuff :D so freeware/open source seems to be
the future.


But for adopting, say, Linux and other freewares/free software, there is
a problem:

Most Brazilians still use dial-up (like me). Newer modems ("winmodems")
don't work very well on Linux (personal experience; my LG modem works,
but is slow), and "real" modems (hardmodems) are becoming rare.

And most so-called "computers techs" don't have a clue to what is Linux
or how to work with it.

This results in an eternal loop... nobody wants to use software that
"nobody knows how to use", so it results in more pirated software [1] and
less "real free" software.


Just my R$ 0.04 (U$$ 0.02) that I thought I could throw in.

[1] Common excuse: if I can buy a computer for R$2000 (about $1200), I
can buy a warez CD for R$5 (about $3).
 
Al Klein escreveu:
No, but stolen moneyware can be used to promote war. Or, at least,
the fact that some countries have no concept of "property" (as it
applies to others) can.
Click to expand...

This is Brazil, exactly as you describe.

[]s
 
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