Cuba launches own Linux variant to counter U.S.
Cuba launched its own variant of the Linux computer operating system this week in the latest front of the communist island's battle against what it views as U.S. hegemony.
The Cuban variant, called Nova, was introduced at a Havana computer conference on "technological sovereignty" and is central to the Cuban government's desire to replace the Microsoft software running most of the island's computers.
The government views the use of Microsoft systems, developed by U.S.-based Microsoft Corp, as a potential threat because it says U.S. security agencies have access to Microsoft codes.
According to Hector Rodriguez, dean of the School of Free Software at Cuba's University of Information Sciences, "I would like to think that in five years our country will have more than 50 percent migrated (to Linux)," he said.
"Private software can have black holes and malicious codes that one doesn't know about," Rodriguez said. "That doesn't happen with free software."
The Cuban variant, called Nova, was introduced at a Havana computer conference on "technological sovereignty" and is central to the Cuban government's desire to replace the Microsoft software running most of the island's computers.
The government views the use of Microsoft systems, developed by U.S.-based Microsoft Corp, as a potential threat because it says U.S. security agencies have access to Microsoft codes.
According to Hector Rodriguez, dean of the School of Free Software at Cuba's University of Information Sciences, "I would like to think that in five years our country will have more than 50 percent migrated (to Linux)," he said.
"Private software can have black holes and malicious codes that one doesn't know about," Rodriguez said. "That doesn't happen with free software."
Apart from security concerns, free software better suits Cuba's world view, he said.
"The free software movement is closer to the ideology of the Cuban people, above all for the independence and sovereignty."
