Brazil’s government is urging its massive bureaucracy to use free software like Linux on its computer systems in a cost-cutting move that could cost Microsoft 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, which launched a campaign to create an open operating system to compete against Windows in September. Full Story
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