In the midst of the proliferation of the production and use of technological devices, the free software and culture community created a date to promote their use. This April 27, the 20th edition of the Latin American Free Software Installation Festival (FliSol) will be held in the Capital, and in the interior of the province, where experts and interested people come together to bring the rest of the community a new way of seeing and living the technological world.
Free software encourages the participation of the technology user, not as a passive consumer but as an active user, and part of a community. The movement also promotes the reuse of technology and not only its consumption, transferring the principles also to the recycling and reuse of hardware, in the face of planned obsolescence practices.
free software
But what is the free software? This is any program that respects the freedom of users: they can share it, modify it and make improvements to it, and then also share those improvements. That freedom means that users can use the software for any purpose without needing to pay a license.
The initiative was started by Richard Stallman and spread throughout the world. A well-known example of Free Software is the GNU/Linux operating system, created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish computer science student.
Computer Science graduate Matías Bordone stated that there is a great discussion about what people understand by freedom. “The meaning of free software and culture is based on the possibility of accessing and participating in technological and cultural life, contrary to the privatization of technology and culture,” he highlighted.
In Córdoba, there are more and more followers who promote this lifestyle.
Computer specialist Sebastián Serantes, and one of the organizers of FliSol in Río Ceballos, said that the idea of this meeting is to promote and bring the use of the software closer to the community. “So that people know GNU-Linux, learn and install it on their computers,” he stated.
The Festival began in 2004 and over time it mutated and incorporated problems related to the topic, one of them is privacy. “We spread the use of free software to counteract what large companies do: accumulate data and information from their users for commercial use, something we consider dangerous,” he said.
An economical alternative
The specialists agreed that free software is a positive alternative, especially during this time of economic crisis, where it is becoming increasingly difficult for families to pay for technology.
In this regard, Bordone stressed that one of the first advantages of free software is that it is free: there is no need to pay for licenses. “Windows charges between $10 and $35. Not counting the Office license, around $26,400 a year,” he highlighted. There are also no problems with viruses or updates that involve formatting the program.
Other advantages are that it can be adapted to local needs, an example of this is the adaptation of Huayra to Guaraní so that children who speak this language have a computer in their language. “It is not just a question of license but how I can modify it, I can adapt it to the needs I have,” he mentioned.
In the field of education, free software is present in the virtual classrooms and the administration system of the National University of Córdoba (UNC), and the rest of the universities in the country, through the Guaraní and Moodle management systems. “For the State it is a good option because it can adapt them to its own needs and it is the owner of its data,” explained Bordone.
Regarding its use in governments, the province of Santa Fe enacted law 13,139 that obliges all branches of the State to use the GNU-Linux operating system.
Another example in which this type of software is used is Wikipedia. “It is free culture. Anyone access, use, modify, make derivative works, among others,” said Bordone. The same thing happens with the WordPress content management system.
And “the Alter Mundi or Quintana Libre community network in San José de la Quintana. There are already approximately 20″ in the country, he added.
Finally, Serantes pointed out that this hardware can be used in computers that are ten years old or more. With Windows, a machine that is the same number of years will work very slowly, and will not have updates, which makes the operating system unsafe.
“Even on Macintosh computers (Mac) it is more noticeable, because if it is 10 years old or older it no longer receives updates. The supplier does not update it either,” Serantes assured.
About the festival
At the Latin American Free Software Installation Festival (FliSol), activities such as the installation of free software, discussions, exchange of technology and books, hardware reuse, topics related to intellectual property, among others, are carried out.
Celeste Camacho, specialist in Interactive Digital Communication, stressed that artists, educators, specialists in Artificial Intelligence, programmers, communicators, among other people, participate in the festival.
“This year the focus is on education and culture as fundamental rights, understanding that promoting their free access constitutes a political act,” he highlighted.
And he added that the meeting causes a positive impact on society due to its characteristics. “That’s why we spread the word and try to make it known. We notice that people are eager for knowledge about free software,” she highlighted.
Some of the venues for the meetings are: Córdoba capital, it takes place, starting at 10, in the library of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the (UNC) and at the Agroecological Fair. In Río Ceballos, from 10, at Serrano Coworking, Avenida San Martín 5891. And in San Francisco, from 9, at the Tecnoteca, 9 de Julio 1,700.
