Open source: Developing markets and anti-Americanism

...government departments to migrate to open source software unless they can justify the continued use of proprietary software.

A few Brazilian states and municipalities have already passed laws that require public administrations to give preference to open source software, including the states of Espirito Santo and Parana, and the cities of Amparo, Solonopole, Ribeirão Pires and Recife.

But Jaques Rosenzvaig, who was the chief executive of Brazilian Linux vendor Conectiva said in April that these laws have not affected the use of open source in these states as they are not strictly enforced. Bancilhon from Mandriva, which was formed from the merger of Conectiva and Mandrakesoft, agrees that in Brazil there is "more talk than action". "There is still a gap between what politicians want to do and what administrations are willing to implement," he says.

As well as legislative policies, the Brazilian government has also funded projects to research and promote the use of open source, such as CDTC, a technology centre that provides training and support around open source software.

The Brazilian government claims that the main reason for its adoption of open source software is to cut costs. "The number one reason for this change is economic," Sergio Amadeu da Silveira, the head of Brazil's National Information Technology Institute said to the BBC in an interview. "If you switch to open source software, you pay less in royalties to foreign companies."

Lemos, who advised the Brazilian government its free software strategy, agrees that saving money is a "very important" reason for the government. Other reasons for the government's support of open source include the educational benefits from being able to access the source code, says Lemos. For example, this was seen when the São Paulo government set up community centres, known as telecentros, where people could access free software.

"The interesting thing that happened at the telecentros [in São Paulo] is that people not only started to use computers to browse the Internet, but also a significant number of people started to learn programming, by tinkering with the source code of the programs," says Lemos. "Free software creates a community of skilled programmers, that later become an important asset for the country's technological development as a whole. So the 'educational' benefits are also an important factor leading the [Brazilian] government to adopt [free and open source] software."

The adoption of free software by the public sector has also been driven by a large and active free software community in Brazil, according to Lemos.

Redmonk's Governor says that the Brazilian government's enthusiasm for open source is partly due to a "strong distrust of American corporations" and partly for cultural reasons. "Brazilians are very community-minded and open source fits into that," he says.