Cuba places its bets on open-source software

Cuba places its bets on open-source software
Published on Wednesday, June 10, 2009

HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- In an attempt to reach technological independence
Cuba has placed its bets on open-source software, a fact evidenced at
the presentation of the Nova Operating System 2.0 during the 2009
International Convention of Informatics.

This application, based on the GNU/Linux open-source software, allows
users to do their office work, play music and video files as well as web
browsing among other features, and will be improved before its release.

Angel Goñi, specialist from the University of Informatics Sciences
(UCI), announced that Nova will have an antivirus developed by the Cuban
Consulting and Informatics Security Enterprise.

Goñi added that several contacts were made during a workshop given by
the Cuban software industry with the Society for the Development of
Specialized Informatics Products S.A. (DESOFT), which plans to use the
OS created by UCI's number 10 Faculty.

UCI hopes that this OS will be used as platform to other applications
developed at this higher education center, such as the "Guardian del
Alba" which monitors oil extraction in Venezuela, said Goñi.

Another advantage of Nova is that it has been diversified to work on
four different supports: PCs, servers, computers without a hard drive
and embedded devices (cell phones, real-time medical equipment, to name
just a few).

The expert highlighted the Guano software version, which will increase
the lifespan of machines with low storage capacity and speed since it
allows the installation of more up to date programs, due to the
optimization of the operating system.

The Cuban Technology Producer and Exporter Corporation (COPEXTEL)
announced that all computers that enter the country will use this Cuban OS.

Experts are currently working on a book named "Nova desde cero" (Nova
from scratch), which will help those interested in collaborating on
improving the software; one of the advantages open-source has over
proprietary software.

The suspension of IM services by Microsoft to Cuba and other countries,
and the ban on Google Wave for Cubans are some examples of the growing
need for the Caribbean country to develop its own digital products.

Caribbean Net News: Cuba places its bets on open-source software (10
June 2009)
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-16979--5-5--.html