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Brazil's Government Snuggles Up to Linux
By Alberto Alerigi Jr.
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) -
Brazil's government is urging
its massive bureaucracy to use free software like Linux (news - web sites) on its
computer systems in a cost-cutting move that could cost
Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) millions of dollars in lost revenue.
The initiative seeks to reduce the cost of proprietary
software licenses the government needs to use programs like
Microsoft's Windows operating system, which runs about 90
percent of the world's computers.
The government says it spends more than 100 million reais,
or about $34 million, a year on license payments, an amount
deemed too big for the cost-conscious, left-leaning
administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula's pro-Linux policies have put him in line with similar
initiatives in China, Japan and South Korea (news - web sites), which launched a
campaign to create an open operating system to compete against
Windows in September.
Brazil's state-funded National Institute of Information
Technology (ITI) also wants the initiative to boost the
country's trade balance by exporting more locally developed
software and reducing payments abroad for software licenses.
The Brazilian (news - web sites) Software Excellence Promotion Society
(Softex) estimated that the country imported $1 billion more in
software than it exported in 2001.
"We buy 10 times more than we export," said ITI President
Sergio Amadeu, who set up the government's guidelines for
reducing the use of proprietary software.
Initially, the government is recommending that ministries
and federal agencies stop buying computers embedded with
operating systems, usually Windows.
Amadeu says the goal is not to change all government
software over to Linux but to promote "open software use."
The ITI has launched pilot programs to explore which
programs, systems and database software could benefit from free
solutions based on Linux, an operating system whose use is
growing in corporations around the globe.
Government agencies will have the autonomy to choose
whether they want to opt for Linux, but they are being urged to
identify specific areas where it can be used.
A complete switch to Linux would take time. "It would be
possible to achieve 80 percent of that in three years," said
Ricardo Sigaud, director of systems integration at Brazil's
planning ministry.
One of Lula's objectives is to extend computer access to
low- and middle-income families, mostly through Brazil's public
school system. Last year, only 10 percent of the country's
public schools were equipped with computers.
A switch to a free, open system like Linux might help. For
one thing, according to Amadeu's calculations, it would cost
the government $200 million every two years just to pay for
software licenses to install computer laboratories in 100,000
of 170,000 Brazil's public schools.
MICROSOFT UNFAZED
In fiscal 2002, total sales by Microsoft's partners in
Brazil were 878.5 million reais, or about $300 million, and 6
percent of that was generated by the government, according to
the company's marketing and business director, Luiz Marcelo
Moncau. Microsoft's own revenues were not available because it
does not break out its sales by countries.
The Microsoft marketing director said he believes the
state's shift to Linux will not affect sales in Brazil for now.
But Alberto Luiz Albertin, who heads the Getulio Vargas
Business School's technology department, said the gradual move
toward Linux could signal more changes in the future.
"It's inevitable that this will change the market. This
attitude creates some trust for the system (Linux) in the
sector and can encourage the creation of a broader users
group," he said.
The number of mid-sized and large Brazilian companies that
started using Linux grew to 12 percent in 2002 from 8 percent
in 2001, Albertin said.
For its part, Microsoft has told the government its
technology is actually cheaper than Linux because it needs less
support resources.
"There are studies showing that the total cost of owning
and maintaining Microsoft technology can be 16 percent cheaper
than using Linux," said Emilio Umeoka, general-director of
Microsoft Brazil.
The software giant is also preparing a proposal that would
grant the government discounts, Moncau added.
"The government would like to have a different negotiation
and we understand that, and we are trying to answer those cost
necessities," he said. "We have always defended free choice."
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