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Cuba switches to Linux

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H_TeXMeX_H:

--- Quote ---ONE OF the last bastions of revolutionary socialism, Cuba is to switch all its computers over to Linux to counter the influence of the Evil Capitalistic American lackey Microsoft.  According to the government daily, Juventud Rebelde, Roberto del Puerto, director of the state office of information technology, said his office was working on a legal framework that would allow the replacement of Windows through-out Cuba.

  Cuba already has 1,500 computers using Linux.  Although what flavour is not clear.
--- End quote ---


 From: here
(the original yahoo news article seems to be missing)
Also, I hope this isn't a repost, even though I searched the treads to make sure it isn't.

Refalm:
Nice, I heard Cuba was running Microsoft software like crazy.

I think they will use Red Flag Linux or something :p

Aloone_Jonez:

--- Quote ---Cuba already has 1,500 computers using Linux.
--- End quote ---

That's a drop in the ocean, but how many computers are there in the whole of Cuba?

By the way would a mod please move this to the Linux section.

worker201:
Thanks to all the misinformation that has been circulating since the 1920s, I don't believe anything I hear about Cuba.  Especially if there was an article on a US-based news service like AP or Reuter's.

Interesting reason to keep this in the Microsoft area:
Nobody in Central or South America pays full price for Windows.  You can go to any music/video store and find Microsoft Windows XP for $3.  No shit.  For this reason, many of the computers I used in Ecuador were using current software technology on creakily ancient hardware.  For real, the Navy had a P2 running XP attached to a dot matrix tractor-feed printer from 1983.  Down there, the hardware gets fixed.  We rich (relatively) folks can afford to get a new computer if ours breaks, or get a new hard drive if ours flakes.  Down there, they fix it, because a hard drive costs the same as it does here, while wages are 1/2-1/3 of ours.

Anyway, there's no reason to assume that Cuba was running legally licensed copies of anything, including Windows.  So they were probably doing more to fuck Microsoft while they were using Windows than they will when using Linux.  No American relations of any kind extend to Cuba, which definitely includes Microsoft's legal team trying to find illegal Windows installations.

However, PR speaking, this was a pretty slick move by Cuba.  Making the simple choice of OS into a political issue was brilliant, and in non-US countries, this sort of statement will not go unnoticed.  Anybody who says no to the US gets underdog respect, especially in South America.  In many countries of the world, this will give Linux a new credibility, and poke major holes in Microsoft's foreign sales.  Don't be surprised if Venezuela, Columbia or Malaysia start going Linux as well.

So, to sum up - this won't have any short term effect on Microsoft's finances.  But the psychological damage to their foreign market strength could be huge.

Calum:
those commie pinkos! nuke 'em all and let the good lord sort 'em out! that's just like those good for nothin' lefties to use some half-baked wrong-minded software instead of good ole homegrown Microsoft Windows (TM), made right here in the US of A, the same country that gave you Mom (TM) and Apple (TM) Pie.

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