Fw: [Patents] *ASTOUNDING* Statement by Peruvian Congressman on Free Software in the Government

["Nick Fleming" <Nick@bigfatpanda.fsnet.co.uk>]

 > (Simply breathtaking!  What could be more inspiring news
 > than this? [other than that an American official might one
 > day offer such a awe-inspiring statement]  -- Seth)
 >
 > >

http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:TvfSi6UFJpQC:www.gnu.org.pe/resmseng.ht
 ml+resmseng.html&hl=en&ie=utf-8
 >
 >
 > A letter from Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nuñez, Peruvian
 > Congressman, in response to a complaint from a General
 > Manager for Microsoft in Peru.

 My favorite bit :

 "To guarantee the permanence of public data, it is necessary
 that the usability and maintenance of the software does not
 depend on the goodwill of the suppliers, or on the monopoly
 conditions imposed by them. For this reason the State needs
 systems the development of which can be guaranteed due to
 the availability of the source code. "

 An amazing letter - I'm having trouble believing its genuine
 - seems too good to be true. No way can a congressman
 be so well informed about software development surely ?

 Strangely.. no mention of patents anywhere in the entire
 article either ?

 Regards.

 Nick Fleming.