'Using free software improves relation between state and society'
"There is a new relationship developing between the state and its citizens. Free software is rejuvenating these social relations this century", said the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his opening speech of the second edition of the International Free Software and Electronic Government (Consegi) in the capital, Brasília on 26 August.
Lula said that Brazil's ministry of Education has begun the world's largest program for distribution and education on Linux. This four-year program will next year bring open source software to 93 percent of schools, reaching some 70.000 schools and 800.000 PCs.
"It is important to know that we are not only users of free software, we are also developing it and sharing our solutions. The educational content that supports our extensive school computerisation program, can be used and modified by any citizen. The same occurs with applications for public administration. So, major programs created in Brazil for use of the federal government, can be modified for use in civil society organisations in municipalities and states, or even outside the country."
Brazil's public administrations regularly turn to open source software. Lula pointed to calculations that since 2003 the government saved 370 million Brazil reais (140 million euro) on proprietary software licences. "And all that we save, we reinvest in developing new technological solutions."
According to him, Brazil's Portal of Public Software, which is maintained by the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management, now has 50 thousand active users and its collection of open source applications is worth an estimated 50 million Brazil reais (19 million euro). Applications developed on this forge are used by 5,560 municipal administrations, said Lula.
Brazil's open source activities is bringing the country international recognition, Lula said. "More people use Internet search engines to look for our open source software than they do to find information about our soccer."
The three-day conference had 23 tracks specifically targeting open source applications for public administrations. These included a presentation of a national system for public administrations, a discussion on web site accessibility and a case study on the use of business intelligence tools.
More information:
Serpro news item (in Portuguese)
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