Cuba to move from Windows to open source software

Microsoft's war on piracy and illegal use of Windows has led to many disputes. Today the idea of moving from Windows to open-source software is running in many countries the governments of which are analyzing the advantages of such alternatives like Linux. There was no exception for the communist country Cuba.

Cuban government looks forward to move from Microsoft's Windows to open-source software. This step is going to expand the gap between Cuba and the U.S.-based corporation. Several ministers backed the idea of moving to open-source software.

Ramiro Valdes, communication minister, gave at a technology conference a keynote in which he stood for open source. At the same time the head of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, mentioned that proprietary software is currently quite insecure.

Another person to support the migration to open source is Hector Rodriguez, the head of a developing program withing one of Cuba's universities. Rodriguez mentioned at the conference that the customs service in Cuba has already migrated to Linux. The ministries of culture, higher education and communication are to do so later.

The migration to Linux might take some time but Rodriguez, being quoted by the Associated Press, declined to answer how long will the government of Cuba be moving its systems to open source. However, the number of computers that have already moved to Linux is growing fast.

The governments of other countries, including Venezuela, China, Brazil and Norway are still evaluating the possibilities of partial or total migration. There are several project running in different cities. Thus the administrations of Bristol, Amsterdam and Munich are looking forward to moving to open source rather than Microsoft's Windows.
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