Cuba latest to endorse open source software

Cuba latest to endorse open source software

Cuba’s communist government has said that they are now considering adopting open source software to remove their reliance on the software giant Microsoft.

The government said that they are trying to wean state agencies from Microsoft’s proprietary Windows to the open-source Linux operating system.

Expert Hector Rodriguez said about this decision: “It’s basically a problem of technological sovereignty, a problem of ideology.”

Some other countries to have announced similar plans include: China, Brazil and Norway. Some Indian states too are increasingly moving to open source platform.

Cuban officials added that this step is also necessary for their national security as they are afraid of US government’s influence over Microsoft and other American companies.

Rodriguez added: “Two years ago, the Cuban free-software community did not number more than 600 people … In the last two years, that number has gone well beyond 3,000 users of free software and it’s a figure that is growing exponentially.”