Uruguay passed law mandating use of free software and open formats in governmental wherever possible

[froggyboy604]

Free Software to increase security and state efficiency

On wednesday, the parliament passed the Computer programs in governmental bodies-bill, also known as the law on Free Software and Open Formats. With this law, the state will have to prioritize free software tenders, contracts and purchases, and will in other cases have to justify the choice of proprietary software.

The socialist deputy Daisy Tourné, who first proposed this bill to parliament seven years ago, said that purpose is to give a clear goal in the purchase of software for the state. "When one wants the state to function in a certain way, you have to state it in law. What we want is that state utilizes free software, that it promotes and advocates it in the educational system, that it first and foremost uses free and open formats rather than the proprietary. If it doesn't do this, it has to be because of well founded reasons and it will have to have it in writing. We need to have criteria to follow, and we do not believe that free market can do that and it has already shown that it does not", she stated.

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It's good to see countries switching to free software like Linux instead of paid alternatives like Windows, and Mac.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

problem with free software it can be harder to use and not have as much assistance getting it installed and working.

 

[froggyboy604]

Not all paid software is easy to use, or easy to find help with like Windows Command Lines because fewer people these days know command lines because people mostly use keyboard, touchscreen, and mouse instead of command lines for doing stuff in Windows.

I use mostly free software like Ubuntu, Firefox, Chrome, and OpenOffice/LibreOffice, and it is not harder, and sometimes easier to use than paid software like Windows, Internet Explorer, and MS Office.

Most free software have online forums, blogs, books, videos, and articles for helping users use free software for free. There are also fan clubs related to free software where members can get free help if they need help from another member, or new users can pay a tutor to teach them how to use free software at home or work.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

The only concern with free software if it suddenly shuts down due to lack of funding or whatever the reason.

 

[froggyboy604]

Poor funding is a concern for free software, but there also are a lot of free alternatives to a free program like OpenOffice  which also has other free alternatives which like LibreOffice, IBM Lotus Office, KDE Office, and Kingsoft Office. There are also many free Linux based operating systems, and programs, so finding a new free alternative should not be very hard, or time consuming. 

Paid programs also have concerns like lack of funding, and other reasons. It can also be worse since the codes to the programs and operating system are not freely available like Firefox, LibreOffice, and Linux where people can make different versions of the same program, but with custom mods, user interface, and new codes for doing more tasks which the original free program cannot do like run on very slow computers.

If the codes are gone with the closed company, the codes for the program will be gone forever like the company which is gone.