State promotion of free software is good, but it must strive, says GNU founder

"The Venezuelan state's promotion of free software is good, but it must continue to strive in this direction," GNU operating system founder Richard Stallman said at the eighth national conference for free software in the country. Several strategies would encourage greater use of such software in Venezuela, Stallman said. The GNU founder advised the government to make all local operating systems GNU or Linux-based, organize hardware manufacturing projects to avoid the use of licensed software and to create a law establishing that any program distributed or promoted by the state should be based on free software. Schools "should not teach with the use of licensed software, because this goes against the social mission of education," he added. Venezuela's ICT ministry ( MCTI) has taken steps towards this policy in recent years. Decree 3.390 of 2004 states that public institutions must prioritize the use of open-source and free software in systems, projects and IT services. A more recent decree was passed in 2011 making it compulsory for all public sector institutions to migrate their workstations to GNU or Linux operating systems. At the end of 2011, 83% of basic government services were provided using free software, compared to 79% at the end of 2010. Meanwhile, 31% of public sector work stations were using such software at the end of 2011, decreasing from 45% at the end of 2010, according to figures from MCTI. The Venezuelan government is among the main promoters of free software, according to MCTI's IT management, access and use director José Sosa. "The government understands free software not just as an ideological and ethical issue, but also a strategic one," he said.