South Korea bets on free software and changes from Windows to Linux

[Blexfraptor]

Neither Windows nor macOS, free software. Thus we call "any computer program whose source code can be studied, modified, and used freely for any purpose and redistributed without or with changes and / or improvements." Its defenders place the freedom of the computer user as a fundamental purpose.

For years it has seemed the romantic and hippy dream of a few computer scientists, but free software is no joke. The latest proof that it has no future but a present comes from South Korea, a country at the forefront of technology in many aspects. There, the Government has announced that it changes from Windows to Linux.

The Korea Herald tells that South Korea announces the change in the operating system of its Windows computers to Linux, due to the costs of maintaining Windows. And it does so now that Microsoft's official Windows 7 support is about to end, in January 2020.

The decision has been communicated by the Ministry of Interior and Security of the country, which has been responsible in recent months to test the operating system and verify that there is no security problem. It is now necessary to verify that Linux works on private network devices without risk and that it is compatible with the created web pages.

The Korean government estimates that $ 655 million will be spent on the move to Linux and the purchase of new computers. But there is more to be saved by leaving the Microsoft operating system behind. The official Windows 7 support ends in January 2020 and Korea had to buy new licenses.

The Korean state wants not only to save money but, according to its Ministry of Interior, to avoid reliance on a single operating system. If the move to Linux ends up being a fact, South Korea will become the largest government in the world that goes over to this free software.