An interesting read (sorry… free registration required) about Brazil’s involvement with the Open Source movement. It seems that Linux has joined Soccer as this country’s passion. The New York Times says “Brazil: Free Software’s Biggest and Best Friend”.

Looking to save millions of dollars in royalties and licensing fees, Mr. da Silva has instructed government ministries and state-run companies to gradually switch from costly operating systems made by Microsoft and others to free operating systems, like Linux. On Mr. da Silva’s watch, Brazil has also become the first country to require any company or research institute that receives government financing to develop software to license it as open-source, meaning the underlying software code must be free to all.