14 DAY TRIAL // Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, announced last week a governmental initiative, called "Bolivarian Computers", through which the Government aims to sell four different computer models made in Venezuela shipping the Linux operating system.
The computers are primarily addressed to the state companies and institutions and their hardware will be compatible with Windows as well. They will be made of Chinese components and the machines will also be available for exportation. This initiative aims to diversify the users' options in what concerns the IT domain and also offer a better independence to the country as, so far, Venezuela has been known to have had imported most of its computers.
"The price of other similar brands is US$ 930, and the price of our computer is almost 40% less. But, in addition, it has an added value, given that it comes with open-source software and a three year guarantee, while other brands only offer one year." stated President Hugo Chavez.
The offer is made out of 3 different desktop models and a laptop and their price ranges between US$ 405 and US$ 1,400 according to each system's hardware configuration. The processors will range in speed from 1.5 GHz to a 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV and the laptop will be based on a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
The computers are produced by the VIT (Venezuela de Industria Tecnol?gica) joint venture, owned by the Venezuelan Ministry of Light Industry and Commerce and the Chinese company Lang Chao. The production started even from the end of 2006 and the first more than one thousand units have already been distributed to students of Integral Medicine through the Mission Sucre governmental program. Venezuela isn't the first country in South America to fall in love with the Linux OS and open source software. There is also Brazil, which benefits of a wide Linux spreading.