21653

 What is, what it was, and where free software is going to, was the subject of Eustaquio Mendes Guimarães in the last day of fisl12. Besides remembering and explaining how free software was created and works in society generating profit and reducing expenses, he also mentioned the public petition and the open letter to the federal government that were created to demand for more support from the federal government.

"Information sharing comes all the way since Santos Dumont (early 1900's brazilian aviation pioneer)", he remembered. Free software appeared in 1969, in a small computer game that wasn't working very well in the machines of that time. More than 40 years after the development is quite visible and there's a huge number of softwares that can be personalized.

Free software is cost-effective. The federal government has already saved like R$ 380 million by using it. The brazilian army has over 40 thousand workstations installed with free software. The Public Software Portal is an opportunity to learn and deal with free software, and also to make money with it", saus Guimarães.

In 2003 the federal government implemented a rule so that federal administration would start using free software. However, by the end of Lula's government, in 2010 the initial enthusiasm vanished, according to one of the leaders of that initiative. "Not even half of the ministries have machines running free softwares", he explains. Guimarães said that two weeks ago the group gathered together and they came up with an open letter to the Brazilian President, Ms. Dilma Rousseff, and a public petition (automatic english translation here) which is addressed to the Ministry of Science and Technology. The goal is to seek for more support and commitment from the government towards use of free software. "The Science and Technology Minister Aloisio Mercadante may act as a national speaker to the free software movement", says Guimarães.