The Peruvian Debate

There are two law proposals being discussed in the Peruvian Congress. [Law Number 1609] which defines what constitutes Free Software and [Law Number 2485] which obliges the state of Peru to use ONLY Free Software in its proceedings.

The General Manager of Microsoft Peru, Sr. Juan Alberto Gonzalez, addressed a [letter] to the Congressman who is proposing the new laws "alerting him" about the "negative consequences" of such an act on the national software industry and the "security vulnerabilities" the utilization of Free Software carries.

However, the Congressman, [Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nuñez] seems to be a "tough cookie" and a thinking man. In his [response] not only he tears to pieces the arguments and logical fallacies of the MIcrosoft executive, but he also exposes a solid logical framework for the use of Free Software. Additionally, he seems to be very well informed and he mentions [a case of software piracy against Microsoft] where Microsoft was sentenced to pay a large ammount of French Francs!

After a small research on the Web I found both texts, [the original letter] as well as [the original response], in Spanish.

You can also see the scanned images of these documents:

The above images are taken from the [PimientoLinux] website in Peru. In the same Website you can see a list of what the press has written about the case.

An [interview of the Congressman] from Linux Journal (in spanish) on May 31st, 2002.

For further information you can visit [the Free Software Foundation] website. It offers a list of articles which present other people΄s philosophical opinions in support of free software, or related issues.

June 29th, 2002

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