Linux in Spain

[This article was contributed by Ladislav Bodnar]

While Germany's Munich has been stealing the headlines with its effort to convert the city's public administration infrastructure from Windows to Linux, another European country has been even bolder and more successful in adopting open source software for similar tasks. This country is Spain. Based on its many success stories and the determined approach of several regional governments, it won't be an exaggeration to claim that Spain -- of all European countries -- is furthest along the road to Linux adoption and is setting a notable precedent for other countries to follow.

Although Linux had always been popular with the geek segment of Spain's computer users, its wide-spread adoption really got off the ground with the announcement in April 2002 of the LinEx project. The LinEx distribution, based on Debian GNU/Linux and with GNOME as its default desktop environment, was created by the regional government of Extremadura in Western Spain. Extremadura had set itself some clear goals: create conditions for wide-spread adoption of information technology and increase computer literacy among the citizens. Various ideas for achieving those goals were followed by clear plans -- until the realization that the cost of providing the hardware in combination with inevitable software licenses would be unbearable.

Refusing to give up at the first hurdle, the Extremadura government turned to open source software. It did not hesitate to employ engineers to create a customized Linux distribution which would meet its exact needs. Although the first releases of LinEx were not without problems, the subsequent ones have seen dramatic improvements, especially in the area of hardware support. There was no shortage of testers, as the government gave away the product CDs at every opportunity - in government offices, magazines and even daily newspapers. There was a determined campaign to get LinEx out to everybody. Finally, the effort bore fruit and the Extremadura government announced last month that it had successfully deployed 80,000 LinEx computers in schools, or one system per two students, and it had also created 33 computer centers for use by the general population.

Enthusiam for free software tends to be contagious, so few people were taken by surprise when the neighboring province of Andalusia, the largest in Spain and roughly the size of Minnesota or Austria, also began flirting with Linux. It wasn't long before a firm policy was declared in March of this year. It demanded, among other things, that all software development carried out by "La Junta de Andalusia" or any official educational entity be developed with free software. Additionally, all hardware acquired by official educational centers was to be fully compatible with Free Software operating systems, which was to come pre-installed on all newly purchased computers. All official Internet access points were required to be equipped with Free Software.

Next in the line of "infected" regions was Aragon, another large province in the North East of the country. Earlier this month, its government introduced intensive 40-hour Linux courses in Zaragoza, the region's capital, while the local Linux enthusiasts have launched the Zaralinux portal and even their own distribution called Augustux. Augustux is a Knoppix-based live CD with full support for the local language and its latest version is freely available for download. It is worth noting that Richard Stallman visited Zaragoza earlier this month to take part in a conference on Free Software movement and GNU/Linux.

Even if the remaining regional governments of Spain have yet to declare any open source software initiatives, they are undoubtedly watching the progress made by the pioneers in Extremadura and Andalusia with keen eyes. After all, politics and finance play important roles in every society. If other regions can save substantial amounts of money and provide their citizens with access to technology at the same time, then opposition parties and taxpayers in other provinces will have every reason to demand the same. This in turn will create further opportunities for commercial companies in software development, education and technical support.

And indications are that this is already happening. Spain has always had a fair share of Linux distributions and while some of them are no longer around, new ones are being established regularly. The oldest ones are HispaFuentes and ESware. Although HispaFuentes seems to have withdrawn from developing their Red Hat-based distribution and is concentrating instead on custom solutions, support and security, ESware continues with active development of its Debian-based desktop and server products called ESware365. The company also provides consultation and support services as well as educational and certification programs. Several new Linux companies have sprouted recently. Among them is BlueSock Linux Solutions, a company creating a Debian-based distribution called BlueSock Linux (a first beta release is now available for download) and Lambdaux (λux), a commercial company producing yet another Debian and LinEx-based distribution. Both of them also offer a range of Linux training and certification services.

Spain is a country which has embraced Linux and free software with open arms for the benefit of both its population and its economy. Between the government initiatives, volunteer efforts, commercial companies and non-profit communities, the country has pioneered Linux adoption like no other on this planet. Determination in overcoming difficulties, resistance and FUD of those whose livelihood depends on the current status quo, together with a clear plan of action has made Extremadura and LinEx an example to follow. Many countries are a lot poorer than Spain, yet they still run their public administration on expensive proprietary software and channel their taxpayers' money out of the country. As Extremadura has shown us, it doesn't need to be that way.

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