NewsForge: University Students in Mexico Promote Free Software

“The Congreso Software Libre y Nuevas Tecnologias was held last
week in Villahermosa under the auspices of Universidad del Valle de
Mexico (UVM). It was a student production, with mostly students in
attendance. It was straight-up free software advocacy from start to
finish. The state of Tabasco, in southern Mexico, is not exactly a
computer science research hotbed, and ‘Linux’ isn’t exactly a
household word there. Yet.

“The biggest employer in town is Pemex, Mexico’s
government-owned oil company. Villahermosa is its center of
operations. This means there is more money in Villahermosa than in
many Mexican cities. While there is certainly plenty of poverty,
there is also an overlay of money that happily supports BMW and
Lexus dealerships and many restaurants and hotels that charge New
York-like prices. Prodigy.mx has billboards all over the place
advertising Internet access and a computer for about $30 per
month…”

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