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Introducing Eduardo Landaveri, Administrator of the Spanish Portal

Eduardo Landaveri - a happy dad



Summary: Eduardo Landaveri of the Techrights crew introduces himself to readers

AS TECHRIGHTS grew, so has the number of editors. For quite a few years, Eduardo Landaveri has produced translations of the articles in this Web site and then distributed these translations in schools (disseminated primarily among teachers). Only recently did he become the administrator of the Spanish portal of Techrights, which is a new section that we are proud to have and are grateful to Landaveri for building. It helps reach out to the Spanish-speaking community. We have asked Mr. Landaveri to provide an introduction for all of his followers who have enjoyed his work. Here it is in English:



Tue May 24 18:11:18 PDT 2011

"The truth is like the blade of a sword without its hilt, cuts on all sides to those who want to hold it, and more to those who want to wrestle with her."

--Eduardo Galeano

My first contact with computers was made before I went to the University in my home country. After that, I studied Education and my dealings with computers were not more than a regular user would do to get by them. Years later, during the nineties, I had the chance to work not as a teacher but as an assistant in a computer lab. Once there, I got interested in how they work and how network communication occurs. Going back to school and learning on my own led me to a full-time job as a Network Technician. I maintain a site with at least 350 clients (all flavors) and I've just finished upgrading the wireless network configuration of almost 40 sites. I ended the project before my other colleague by using Perl to customize and change on the fly the access points and bridges configurations. It's so wonderful how Free/Open Source can make your life so much easier.

During the nineties I worked with Macintosh and Windows machines, and I used to read about GNU/Linux system (e.g. Debian, Red Hat) as I was attracted to them. I said, "man, the guys who use these systems are really geeks," but I really did not have the chance to play or work with them. Finally, once Red Hat 8 was released I bought a book that came with 2 installation disks. I got a second hard-drive and loaded a dual-boot machine at home. I was surprised; It wasn't as hard as other people had put it. It worked out of the box and quite surprisingly I even made my hardware modem work with WVDial. Though Red Hat had already had its graphical system tools, I used most the CLI tools with the help of the book and other tutorials on the Internet. I got thrilled by it and used it more than my Windows hard-drive.

A couple of months later, my boss saw my book and told me: "are you playing with Linux?"

"Yes," I answered, "and I'm thinking of putting it on my workstation here at work." He told me, "do not deal with dual-boot systems just install it on a separate machine." It really surprised me coming from a Windows person so I thought, "If I really want to learn this, I better follow his advice and use it as my main system." I backed everything up & loaded Red Hat 8 on my job's workstation, so enough soon my home windows partition would be history.

Though I support users using Macintosh or Windows clients, which I do very well, you have no control when using them, you are at the mercy of the manufacturer. Once their life cycle is over, you get a piece of junk. With GNU/Linux you can keep on using your old hardware and it will perform better than their latest proprietary releases. I love the control that the users have when using GNU/Linux, I can set up this system as a server, a full fledged workstation, or a customized desktop. I even have the freedom to choose which desktop to use. That's what I loved from the beginning and I never regret that I have left behind proprietary systems.

Time went by and I set up an intranet for my workplace, which is still in use after three upgrades, a Samba and and FTP server. I also set up my main laptop which I use to troubleshoot networks and Cisco network devices. Every personal device I use has GNU/Linux. As a former teacher I have seen the increasing need for technology and how the majority of people in my country of birth couldn't back then afford a computer, and how the situation hasn't changed much in that regard, such that the only solution is not to teach future generations using proprietary systems but Free Open Source ones. The four freedoms guarantee that everyone will have unrestricted access to technology and the freedom to learn, which would benefit them not only as individuals but as part of society as a whole. Free Open Source Software is what Latin American countries need to break the chains of Colonialism which still exists and constitutes a threat to the future generations.

It is very sad to see teachers advise their students along the lines of: you have to buy this proprietary office suite or the other OS to "learn" computers. How ludicrous. How can I ever ask my students to buy a $400 office suite when that's what most of their parents barely make during a whole week in the United States. Not to mention the same in Latin American countries where the current media weekly salary is $99. Althuser said, "schools are to replicate the ideology of the dominant class" and this is clearly seen not only in the United States but all over the world when children are taught the use of proprietary technologies as though they were the only way to learn computers. Education tends to preserve the status quo due to lobbyists, corrupt politicians, and those who are helped by idle people or teachers who do not know better. Education must be for empowering the individual, not huge corporations that benefit from it and do not pay taxes and dodge the system.

Around the time MS was attacking GNU/Linux using SCO, I started to learn more about the perils of software patents, e.g. how they threaten not only users freedom but how they are used as an instrument of domination of Third World countries. I might be accused of communism like others before me -- those who have been harmed by those who defend those companies that bribe the system and take advantage of it. They have distorted the market in such a way that anything that threatens them is treated as a cancer and is attacked professionally and even at the personal level. The market serves them in that it keeps their dominant position, achieved not by technical advantages but bribery, dishonesty and corruption. Just look at the OOXML fiasco. Patents are their weapon of domination and they are being helped by politicians that push small countries into signing commercial treaties in exchange for económical "aid". To paraphrase my namesake Eduardo Galeano put it on 1970: "Technology doesn't change the inequality organization on the global market" - on the contrary the way it actually is with software patents it increases it.

I started frequenting this site through focused on how Novell betrayed the FLOSS Community -- it interested me due to that. It raised awareness and sentiments against software patents. Since there was no Spanish version of the articles I started translating them and email them to many former colleagues so they could pass it on to others and educate the Latin American teachers against the perils not only of Software Patents but Digital Colonialism. One day, I saw the need of give my part: "Freely you have received, freely give" and I started to participate on our Spanish Portal. Mostly I work with the software patents articles because its threat looms all over the world and the future e independence of Latin American and African countries depends of their utterly rejection of them. I am a regular guy like many of you, with a family, responsibilities and I wish I could do more, but any free time I manage to get, it is employed on this site. I do it because I know that a world without software patents will be better for our children and everybody. Do you want to see a depressing site? Take a look to: www.usdebtclock.org. Obama is trying to raise the debt limit and the American people are unaware of it. Politicians only look after their interests and the lobbyists who sponsor them. They have forgotten the people, meanwhile lobbyists and companies like Microsoft do NOT pay taxes and the gap between rich and poor widens second by second.

Teachers of America and the World, Why should you use software from an abusive and coercive monopoly that is screwing you up and indoctrinate children with it, when you can be liberating them by teaching them with Free/Open Source Software? Change is not difficult, I did it myself, the important thing is to give the first step. What do you do when you are not satisfied with a vendor? You simply STOP buying its products. Same thing. Stop using proprietary software. It is not good for you, not good for your wallet, not good for your children's future. You will never regret it!

People must have control of its own destiny. We all have to oppose software patents, write and held our representative accountables. Not to leave it to others. If we do not do anything, probably everyone will do the same. What we do now and what we just let pass will have consequences for our children's future.

“Proprietary software is an injustice and we want to help you escape from it.”

--Richard Stallman


And in Spanish:

Tue May 24 18:11:18 PDT 2011

"La verdad es como la hoja de una espada sin su empuñadura, corta por todos los lados a quien quiera sostenerla, y más a quien quiera forcejear con ella."

--Eduardo Galeano

Mi primer contacto con computadoras fue antes de ir a la universidad en mi país de origen. Después de ello estudié Educación y mi trato con ellas, no fue más que las de un usuario normal. Años más tarde, durante la década de los noventa, tuve la oportunidad de trabajar no como maestro sino como un asistente en un laboratorio de computación. Una vez allí me interesé en cómo funcionan y cómo se produce la comunicación de redes. Volví a la escuela y el aprendizaje por mi cuenta me llevó a un trabajo a tiempo completo como técnico de redes. Actualmente mantengo un sitio con 350 clientes (todas las versiones) y acabo de terminar de actualizar la configuración de red inalámbrica en casi 40 sitios. Terminé antes que mi colega gracias al uso de Perl para personalizar y cambiar la configuración de los puntos de acceso y de los puentes. Es maravilloso cómo el Free/Libre Open Source Software puede hacer tu vida más fácil.

Durante la década de los noventa trabajé con máquinas Macintosh y Windows y solía leer acerca de los sistemas GNU/Linux, Debian, Red Hat y me sentía atraído por ellos. Me dije: "Wow los chicos que usan estos sistemas son realmente geeks", pero en realidad no tuve la oportunidad de jugar o trabajar con ellos. Finalmente una vez que Red Hat 8 fue lanzado, compré un libro que vino con dos discos de instalación. Compré un segundo disco duro y cargé una máquina de arranque dual en el país. Me sorprendió no fue tan difícil como otras personas solían decir. Todo trabajó allí mismo, es sorprendente que incluso hice trabajar mi modem con wvdial. Aunque Red Hat ya tenía sus herramientas gráficos: system-config-blah, en su mayoría lo hice trabajar usando la línea de comandos CLI, con la ayuda del libro y otros tutoriales en Internet. Me emocione por ello y lo utilize más que mi hardrive con Windows.

Un par de meses mas tarde mi jefe vio mi libro y me dijo: "€¿estás jugando con Linux" Sí, le respondí y estoy pensando en ponerlo en mi máquina aquí en el trabajo. Él me dijo: "no hagas un sistemas de arranque dual sólo instalaló en una máquina separada." Realmente me sorprendió viniendo de una persona de Windows, así que, me dije a mí mismo, "Si realmente quieres aprender esto, será mejor seguir su consejo y utilizarlo como mi sistema principal". Lo hize y cargé Red Hat 8 en mi estación en mi trabajo, muy pronto en casa la partición de Windows pasaría a la historia.

A pesar de que apoyo a usuarios de Macintosh o clientes de Windows, lo que puedo hacer muy bien, cuando los usas no tienes ningún control sobre ellos, usted está a la merced de los fabricantes. Una vez que el sistema operativo es deshechado, te quedaste con una pieza inútil de hardware. Con GNU/Linux puedes seguir usando tu viejo hardware y va a funcionar mucho mejor que lo ultime de Apple or MS. Me encanta el control que el usuario tiene al usar GNU/Linux, puedo instalar este sistema como un servidor, una estación de trabajo hecho y derecho, o un escritorio personalizado. Incluso tengo la libertad de elegir qué escritorio uso, KDE, Gnome, XFCE, LXDE. Es por eso que me encantó desde el principio y nunca me arrepiento de haber dejado atrás los sistemas propietarios.

Pasó el tiempo y configuré una intranet para mi lugar de trabajo, que está todavía en uso después de tres nuevas versiones, un servidor SAMBA y un servidor FTP. También la configuración de mi ordenador portátil principal que yo uso para solucionar problemas de redes y dispositivos de red de Cisco. Todos mis dispositivos de uso personal tiene GNU/Linux. Como antiguo profesor he visto en la necesidad creciente de tecnología y cómo la mayoría de la gente en mi país de nacimiento no podría entonces comprar una computadora, y cómo la situación no ha cambiado mucho en ese sentido que la única solución no es enseñar las generaciones futuras con sistemas propietarios, pero los de código abierto. Las cuatro libertades garantizan que todos tengan libre acceso a la tecnología y la libertad de aprender lo que les beneficiará no sólo individualmente sino a la sociedad en su conjunto. Libre Open Source Software es lo que los países latinoamericanos necesitan para romper las cadenas del colonialismo que aún existe y es una amenaza a las generaciones futuras.

Es muy triste ver a los maestros "aconsejen" a sus estudiantes: hay que comprar esta suite de oficina de propiedad o el otro sistema operativo para "aprender" computadoras. €¿Qué ridículo? €¿Cómo se puede pedir a mis estudiantes a comprar un paquete de oficina de 400 dolares, cuando eso es lo que la mayoría de sus padres ganan durante toda una semana en los Estados Unidos. Por no hablar de la misma en los países de América Latina donde el salario medio actual es de $ 99 semanales. Althuser dijo que "las escuelas reproducen la ideología de la clase dominante", y esto se ve claramente no sólo en los Estados Unidos sino en todo el mundo cuando a los niños se les enseña el uso de tecnologías patentadas, como si fueran la única forma de aprender computación. La educación tiende a mantener el status quo ayudados por los grupos de presión, políticos corruptos y por docentes que no saben nada mejor. La educación debe ser para dar poder al individuo, no a las grandes corporaciones que se benefician de ello al no pagan impuestos y esquivar al sistema.

En la época que MS estaba atacando a GNU/Linux usando SCO, empecé a aprender más acerca de los peligros de las patentes de software. €¿Cómo atenta contra la libertad sólo los usuarios, pero la forma en que se utilizan como un instrumento de dominación de los países Tercer Mundistas. Yo podría ser acusado de comunista, como otros antes que yo han sido, por aquellos que defienden a las empresas que sobornan al sistema y sacan ventaja de ella. Ellos han distorsionado el mercado de tal manera que cualquier cosa que las amenaza son tratados como un cáncer y es atacado profesionalmente e incluso a nivel personal. El mercado sirve para mantener su posición dominante logrado no por ventajas técnicas, pero por su falta de honradez, el soborno y la corrupción. Basta con mirar el fiasco del OXML. Las patentes son su arma de dominación y que están siendo ayudados por los políticos que empujan a los países pequeños a firmar tratados comerciales a cambio de "ayuda" económica. Parafraseando a mi tocayo Eduardo Galeano lo puso en 1970: "La tecnología no cambia la organización de DESIGUALDAD en el mercado mundial", por el contrario en la forma en que realmente está con las patentes de software lo aumenta de manera abismal.

Empecé a frecuentar este sitio, aunque en aquel entonces se centraba en cómo Novell había traicionado a la Comunidad de Software Libre, me interesó por que creó conciencia en contra de las patentes de software. Como no había versión en español de los artículos, empecé a traducirlos y enviarlos por correo electrónico a muchos antiguos compañeros para que pudieran repartirlos a otros y concientizar asi a los maestros de América Latina frente a los peligros no sólo de las patentes de software, pero en contra del colonialismo digital. Un día, vi la necesidad de dar mi parte: "Gratis lo recibisteis, dadlo gratis" y empecé a participar en nuestro Portal Español. Mayormente trabajo con los artículos patentes de software debido a que su amenaza se cierne sobre el mundo entero y la independencia e futuro de América Latina y los países africanos depende de su rechazo por completo de ellos. Soy un tipo al igual que muchos de ustedes, con una familia, resposabilities y me gustaría poder hacer más, pero el poco tiempo libre que me las arreglo para conseguir, se emplea en este sitio. Lo hago porque sé que un mundo sin patentes de software será mucho mejor para nuestros hijos y todo el mundo. €¿Quieres ver un sitio deprimente? Echa un vistazo a: www.usdebtclock.org. Obama está tratando de elevar el límite de la deuda y el pueblo estadounidense no es consciente de ello. Los políticos sólo buscan sus intereses y el de los grupos de presión que los patrocinan. Ellos se han olvidado de la gente, favoreciendo a los grupos de presión y empresas como Microsoft no pagan impuestos y la brecha entre ricos y pobres se agranda segundo a segundo.

Maestros de América y el Mundo: €¿Por qué utilizar el software de un monopolio y adoctrinar a los niños con ellaabusivo y coercitivo que los está arruinando, en vez de estar liberándolos con la enseñanza del Software Libre/Código Abierto? Cambiar no es difícil, lo hice yo mismo, lo importante es dar el primer paso. €¿Qué hacer cuando usted no está satisfecho con un proveedor? Basta con dejar de comprar sus productos. Es lo mismo. Deje de usar el software proprietario. No es bueno para usted, no es bueno para usted cartera, no es bueno para el futuro de sus hijos. Nunca se arrepentirán!

Las personas deben tener el control de su propio destino. Todos tenemos que oponernos a las patentes de software. Escribamos y hagamos a nuestros representantes responsables. No dejar que los demás lo hagan. Si nosotros personalmente lo ignoramos, probablemente el resto también lo har Si nosotros personalmente lo ignoramos, probablemente el resto también lo hará. Lo que hagamos ahora y lo que dejemos de hacer, tendrá consecuencias para futuro de nuestros hijos.

"El software proprietario es una injusticia y queremos ayudarle a escapar de él."

--Richard Stallman


We hope you will join us in thanking Eduardo for all the hard work.

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