Linux spreading rapidly in Latin America

Linux, like the Internet, exists beyond the United States, Western Europe, and industrialized parts of Asia. The Linux OS has taken hold wherever computer users desire freedom, and wherever there is demand for inexpensive software. Latin America fits that description perfectly; current projections from IDG indicate that by 2003, 33 percent of computers in the region will be running Linux. (See Resources for a link.)

Linux has allowed Latin American governments to help their citizens become technological peers of people in more developed nations. Additionally, Microsoft and other American corporations have driven many people to Linux with their attempts to prevent piracy.

The market for Linux is not just rooted in necessity, but also in history. More developed Latin American countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina use domestic and open source technology to give their people the tools and education to compete with the rest of the world. Those nations are attempting to buck the historical trend that led to their dependence on Britain and the United States for factory and railroad equipment in the industrial revolution. They are working to become peers in the new world information economy, instead of merely a source of low-cost industrial labor. Since Linux is open source and not tied to any company, it is the ideal operating system to help such nations build an independent future.

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