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How free software is fueling a new kind of patriotism

Posted by TimSlavin at December 5, 2003

"The autonomous region of Extremadura, in the bucolic southwest of Spain, is all hills, grapes, oaks, and olive groves. Centuries of industrial progress have breezed right by this place. Today it's an ecotourist bird sanctuary dotted with timeless farming villages. In the long siesta hours, dogs practically amble after cats.

But this quaint haven has suddenly become a bastion of Tux the Penguin. Extremadura has gone whole hog for free software: ¡Software libre para la libertad! Its government has minted some 80,000 CDs to marinate the populace in Linux. Social workers carry the latest open source code to remote schools, municipal offices, and city-funded ISPs. Thanks to Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, the left-wing academic who became regional president and has dominated local politics for the past 20 years, the Global Project for the Development of the Information Society aims to give every resident access to the knowledge gathered by humanity throughout history." How to use open source to help develop part of a country and minimize brain drain to the big cities. From Wired.

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