Dear members, sorry in advance if this post should belong to n existing thread (I couldn't find an appropiate one)

In Peru, as in all Latin American countries, commercial department stores are giving very cheap desktop computers with Linux (mainly Fedora Core and (k)Ubuntu). But they don't tell you so, they rather hide the nature of OS because people is looking for Windows computers, and now Vista computers.

It is funny to see people approaching to the sample PC and thinking that it is Windows Vista just because it doesn't look like WXP.

But there isn't a single note to tell the buyer that this is Linux. Intead of telling people to try this opportunity, sellers even tell the costumer "you can easily overwrite this OS with a pirate copy of WXP, and you don't even lose your guarantee". Pirate WXP professional can be aquired in Lima streets for less than 2 dollars.

Obviously, installation of Fedora Core in these PCs goes without knowledge of Fedora Core developers. It's used just to bring prices down, but it relies in the possibility of widespread access to illegal software.

How could we help Linux promote itself in 3rd world countries?

Sorry again for the long posting (I'm a journalist)

Multitud

This is probably the wrong forum to whine about Microsoft losing money.

That's very kind, thanks.
I'm not talking about Microsoft losing money. Can you read?

I think that's a job for the MS twins Bill Ballmer and Steve Gates. Just wait until they begin to pursue their Genuine Windows & DRM policies on the South American market too and many will "miraculously" discover the many advantages of Linux.

This is not the way I read the OP. What I took away was that we should encourage people to use Linux--and not just throw it out the window for Windows (pirated or otherwise)

Wow, this is interesting. I spent half my life in West Africa (Sierra Leone and Ghana mainly) and still have connections there...(obviously). I wonder if I could start exporting the CDs to Africa. (Internet is killer slow over there, they would rather use windows than sit there for a week while a 700mb iso downloaded).

"How could we help Linux promote itself in 3rd world countries?"

Since you are a journalist you could tell your readers how MS products are used to spy on them and will strangle your countrys' chances at technological independence.

Well---quite a few sites offer "mail-order" CDs---and Ubuntu will send a CD FREE ( At least they used to)

As a philanthropic cause, I think the idea is great. As a way to make money, probably not.

I'm from Southern Africa. I send Linux discs to my friends on a regular basis and there seems to be a growing number of people who know about alternative OSes. The only problem is that pirated Windows software can be very cheap, so some people opt for that instead of opensource solutions.

And is it not true that MS tends to look the other way on piracy in some areas? Presumably, they would rather have you using pirated Windows than legal Linux......

There is no way to fix this. The problem is deep-rooted:
1) a disregard for the work of others because it doesn't influence you
2) a lack of time to educate yourself to new approaches
3) a lack of caring to dedicate the time
4) a desire for the simplest short-term approach
5) the ubiquity of Windows
6) the image of success among the nations using Windows
etc.

This whole battle is a slow change. To address point (6) we need to get something high-profile changing without failures. The whole open-formats thing works well here. Point (5) is Bug #1 for Ubuntu to fix. Point (4) is human nature. Points (2) and (3) are related to prosperity. Point (1) is prevalent across the world, and something that every community, nation, organization, and religion has constantly battled with.

It can't be done overnight, and the forces resisting the change are much greater than the forces for change. The only way anything can happen is to find a really good lever to magnify the force for change, and that's something that all Linux user are looking to find.

The best lever I can think of is:
a) This change is eventually going to become inevitable. Windows is diverging users, not converging them to Windows.
b) You want to be employable when the change happens. You know Windows already - Microsoft cannot make giant leaps in Windows, they are sabotaged by their large user base. Why not use Linux at home, so that you are familiar with both systems?

At least, that's the reason I switched to Linux.

I'd like to thank all of you for your interesting opinions on this matter. Before commenting them, I'd like to tell a little more of this story.

My friend finally bought this $2000 Linux based computer (whih is the cheapest price you can get for a retail PC down here). As he is an absolutely computer-illiterate, he asked me to help him setting it up. When we started the PC, the system showed that the Fedora installation was not even complete, but they didn't include the distro CDs in the package! Finally we got to the login screen (lacking audio configuration), where no user was yet created and the "root" user asked for a password that we just couldn't guess. As I'm not an expert nor a programmer, I just overwrote the system and set him a nice Mandriva 2007 (the downloaded free 4 CDs version), and showed him the software that he could use for his work (he is a graphic artist).

What I mean is that what was an hipotheses when I saw the demo PC in the store (Fedora working), became a truth: they badly set you any OS, just to avoid selling the PC with nothing; expecting as the only possibility, that you will use an illegal Windows copy. This is a fraude, but people just take it.

Anyway, there are two sectors here in Peru (and in all Latin America, I guess) where Linux is walking fine. As a Free Trade agreement with the USA is about to be signed, surveillance on illegal software has begun for governmental offices and big companies. You can see Linux systems in every gas station and in several gov offices. Yo can see tailored Linux systems (I've seen Suse) in telemarketing companies and so.

The other sector is that of NGOs and grassroot organisations, where a consciouss migrating process is taking place (that's the sector where I work). Next monday, Creative Commons, for example, is launching a Quechua language version of the license.

It's the open market for middle class urban people where the promotion of Linux and free software is failing. Middle classes want Windoes and there is no way to convince them of other pssibilities. And big stores rely on this participating in the promotion of pirated Windoes and general software: they are part of the illegal market.

This may not be unique to Peru or Latin America. There is a large segment of society which is not inclined to challenge the mainstream. In the US, for example, MANY people buy Windows computers without ever thinking about it. The marketing effectively says that this is how the world runs and you are really **required** to have Windows.

The majority of people are sheep at one time or another--sad but true.....

But this is common attitude for the middle class. To illustrate, the great minds of the past generations come from either the poor or the rich.

The rich have the training and extremely hard pushing of their children.
The poor just want to escape their conditions, and have an amazing determination to do that.
The middle class, unfortunately, aren't rich enough to have private tutors, and aren't poor enough to swear "not for me."

Not that all the rich/poor/bourgeoisie are this way, but when you only focus on the revolutionary thinkers [or was it high IQ?], that's what the statistics indicated. I can't remember where I read it, though, sorry.

Hello to all.
Updating the story: I made a mistake, my friend's computer cost was 2000 peruvian "soles" (640 USD, not 2000 USD as I stated before). Sorry about that.

The other day, when I came to visit this friend, I found a brand new pirate windows XP OS on his new machine. There was no dual boot system, not a single trace of his original Fedora nor my donated Mandriva.

"I'm an artist", he said (he indeed is a paintor). "I need Photoshop". He told me that he could not understand the GIMP, and also that he could not read clearly .doc files from his coleagues and pupils, nor use his webcam to communicate through MSN.

The purchased PC included one free month of DSL connection to the internet. When the technician came to configure the modem, he said that he did not understand the Linux OS, but casually, he had a copy of WXP, and that he could install it with no aditional cost.

I've just read a post in Slashdot, about a woman who bought a Compaq laptop and installed Ubuntu. Then her keyboard began to fail, but her warranty was void because of the OS change.

So, if you buy a windows computer and change to Linux, you lose your warranty. But if you buy a Linux computer and change to windows, even illegal windows, your warranty is safe.

!!!!!