Miguel de Icaza goes on GNOME Foundation’s First Latin American Roadshow
BOSTON, Mass. – June 24, 2002 – Miguel de Icaza, president of the GNOME Foundation and CTO and co-Founder of Ximian, Inc. is visiting three Latin American countries to discuss GNOME and free software with government officials, business, IT leaders and open source advocates in Peru, Uruguay and Brazil. GNOME is a user-friendly, powerful desktop environment and developer platform that is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, making it freely available for anyone to modify and distribute. GNOME boasts an advanced, component-based architecture and powerful development tools, that make it possible to customize it and add capabilities and applications easily.
“Emerging markets like Peru, Uruguay and Brazil have shown a strong interest in GNOME and free software,” said Miguel de Icaza, president of the GNOME Foundation and CTO and co-founder of Ximian, Inc. “I’m excited to be visiting these three countries and to be speaking with government, business and IT leaders there.”
Miguel will speak at the Auditorio de la Asamblea Nacional de Rectores today in Lima, Peru. He will be in Montevideo, Uruguay at the Universidad Católica del Urugual (UCUDAL) on June 26 and at Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul (UERGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil on June 27. He will also meet individually with business, government and IT leaders in each country.
“Given the current economic pressure of foreign debt in the region, GNOME helps bring the computer accessibility necessary for modernization without straining public budgets” said Timothy Ney, GNOME Foundation’s Executive Director.
A theme common to many De Icaza’s discussions will be that of “Software Libre and the State”, addressing how countries can more affordably bridge the “digital barrier” for their citizens while maintaining control of their domestic technology industries and destinies by building upon free, open-source rather than proprietary software.
GNOME has advanced internationalization capabilities and a host of accessibility features for users with disabilities. It also features a built-in accessibility framework for developers to add even more features. It is an attractive and cost-effective option for business, government and education, as well as individual users. GNOME is supported on a variety of platforms, including GNU/Linux (more commonly referred to as Linux), Solaris ™ Operating Environment, HP-UX, Unix, BSD and Apple’s Darwin.
“GNOME is technically advanced, user-friendly, cross-platform desktop that represents a way for countries like Brazil to bridge the digital divide and compete in a global economy,” said Marcos Mazoni of PROCERGS, the state data processing and Internet provider in Rio Grande Do Sol, Brazil “Miguel has made a huge contribution to computing through his work on GNOME. Millions of people worldwide use GNOME and we are thrilled to have him here.”
The state of Rio Grande do Sol in Brazil was one of the first governments in the world to implement a policy of using only free software. Among other things, they are deploying free software programs to manage their automobile registration system and other government databases, and they are installing computers loaded with GNOME in schools across the state.
About GNOME
GNOME is a free software project that is developing a complete, easy to use desktop for Linux-based operating systems, BSD and a variety of other Unix and Unix-like operating systems. The GNOME desktop is used by millions of people around the world. More than 500 computer developers, including over 100 full-time, paid developers, contribute their time and effort to the project.
About the GNOME Foundation
Comprised of hundreds of volunteer developers and industry-leading companies, the GNOME Foundation is an organization committed to supporting the advancement of GNOME. The Foundation is a member directed, non-profit organization that provides, financial, organizational and legal support to the GNOME project and helps determine its vision and roadmap. GNOME is an entirely free user environment for desktops, networked servers and portable Internet devices. The modern architecture and design of GNOME includes a technically advanced application development platform and a powerful end-user desktop environment. Major leading software industry and computer manufacturers support the GNOME development effort, which is led by a worldwide community of volunteers. More information on GNOME is available at www.gnome.org.