South Africa was the first, but not the last. Now Brazil has sent a letter protesting the adoption of OOXML as an ISO standard also, and Andy Updegrove says he has heard there will be more...

One of the perennial debates about the GNU/Linux desktop is how much it should resemble Windows. Usually, the debate is framed in terms of whether the desktop should look familiar to new users, or be developed in whatever way seems most logical.

"...Science, technology and social and economic interests are profoundly intertwined today, interacting and mutually influencing one another. Many movements that are struggling for changes now recognize that, unless these issues are taken up by many and various groups of citizens, it will not be possible to deal with the challenges of our times.

Ever wonder why Brazil and other BRIC countries are so hot on open source, including Linux? Gustavo Duarte gives several reasons, not the least of which is the punitive pricing that Microsoft inflicts on these developing markets.

"Brazilian minister of culture Gilberto Gil Moreira speaks on the transformative power of digital technologies..."

According to major newspapers, starting with the municipal elections of 2008, Brazil’s e-voting machines will use the Linux operating system, to be developed by the technical team of the federal elections tribunal the TSE. According to the TSE’s IT division, the advantages of using Linux in the electronic voting machine are standardization, since it is possible to use this OS in all models of the device, as well as transparency, since this is an open mcchanism in which all the source code is available to the public and can be freely audited. Another advantage is zero cost, because no license fees must be paid.

Segundo o WebInsider, na última semana o Ministério da Cultura lançou seu novo site totalmente gerenciado com Wordpress. . "Sim, o mesmo gerenciador de conteúdo que gerencia o meu blog, gerencia também um site de grande porte como este Webinsider e ainda o site de um dos ministérios mais importantes do Governo Federal."

In English

Accordingly with WebInsider, last week the brazilian's Ministry of Culture[1] launched its new website totaly managed with Wordpress. "Yes, the same content manager that runs my weblog manages also a big site like Webinsider and also the website of one of the most important ministries of our Federak Government."

[1] http://www.cultura.gov.br/site/

Ministry of Education from Brazil is buying 90,000 Debian GNU Linux computers, with compatible wireless cards, wireless routers, laser printers.