| Brazil trains government sector on Linux |
Apr. 29, 2004
Brazil civil servants have started Linux training this week in Brasília according to a report in Brazzil. Over 2,200 public employees are participating in over 150 courses of free technical training through April 30, spronsored by the government. Educating the public sector in using open source Linux and helping the Brazilian government save an estimated US $ 1.1 B annually are the top reasons Brazil's governement is championing Linux in Brazil.
According to the report, Presidential Chief of Staff, Minister José Dirceu opened the program by requesting attendees "transform this tool into a concrete instrument for the improvement of public administration. Therefore, I ask all of you to pledge yourselves to pass along all the knowledge you acquire here."
Last Fall, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made headlines when he announced Linux would "bridge a massive technology gap" in his country and remarked that "paying software licensing fees to companies like Microsoft is simply "unsustainable economically."
Brazil is going beyond educating users of Linux. The country's Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro) is said to be developing software to translate text for visually impaired computer users. Called Open Screen, the project aims to connect 6 million disabled Brazilians to the Internet by 2005. A Serpro director has indicated the software will be freely available for download.
Earlier this year, Brazil signed an agreement with IBM to encourage government use of Linux. Other countries have signed similar agreements with Big Blue, including Great Britain, Russia, Germany, China among global pilot programs.
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