[luau] NEWS: Peru - A law to mandate open-source?

[Warren Togami]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/770299.asp?cp1=1

A law to mandate open-source?
Pioneering effort
in Peru could ban Microsoft
on government computers

CRESPO SAYS HE would need $120,000 just to pay licensing fees for 200
versions of the latest Windows office suite. That alone is about four
times Callao’s annual computer budget.
       If Congressman Edgar Villanueva gets his way, Crespo might have
some more maneuvering room. Swimming against the Microsoft tide,
Villanueva is pushing legislation to obligate all public institutions to
convert exclusively to open-source software.

...

 HIGH COST FOR POORER GOVERNMENTS
        For poorer governments in Latin American and elsewhere,
open-source would mean big savings without losing functionality,
proponents say.
       “The basic issue, really, is that governments are paying a high
price for commodities,” said Miguel de Icaza, chief technological
officer at Ximian software company in Boston. “A country shouldn’t be
paying between $200 and $700 for each workstation to run word
processors, spreadsheets, Web and calendars, and e-mail.” 

...

Sales of Microsoft products — mostly made through local businesses —
encourage local growth, Muratorio argued.
       Microsoft Peru expects $27 million in sales this year, which
would generate about $70 million for local businesses, Muratorio said.
       Rolando Liendo, president of the Peruvian Association of Software
Developers, said the country’s fledgling software industry — which
produces $40 million a year in mostly proprietary software — could be
hit hard by Villanueva’s legislation. Roughly a quarter of its business
goes to the government, he said.

(read more in the article)