HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 9 (acn) In an attempt to reach technological independence Cuba has placed its bets on open-source software, a fact evidenced at the presentation of the Nova Operative System 2.0 during the 2009 International Convention of Informatics.
This application, based on the GNU/Linux open-source software, allows users to do their office work, play music and video files as well as web browsing among other features, and will be improved before its release.
Angel Goņi, specialist from the University of Informatics Sciences (UCI) announced that Nova will have an antivirus developed by the Cuban Consulting and Informatics Security Enterprise.
Goņi added that several contacts were made during a workshop given by the Cuban software industry with the Society for the Development of Specialized Informatics Products S.A. (DESOFT), which plans to use the OS created by UCIs number 10 Faculty.
UCI hopes that this OS will be used as platform to other applications developed at this higher education center, such as the Guardian del Alba, which monitors oil extraction in Venezuela, said Goņi.
Another advantage of Nova is that it has been diversified to work on four different supports: PCs, servers, computers without a hard drive and embedded devices (cell phones, real-time medical equipment, to name just a few).
The expert highlighted the Guano software version, which will increase the lifespan of machines with low storage capacity and speed since it allows the installation of more up to date programs, due to the optimization of the operative system.
The Cuban Technology Producer and Exporter Corporation (COPEXTEL) announced that all computers that enter the country will use this Cuban OS.
Experts are currently working on a book named Nova desde cero (Nova from scratch), which will help those interested in collaborating on improving the software; one of the advantages open-source has over proprietary software.
The suspension of IM services by Microsoft to Cuba and other countries, and the ban on Google Wave for Cubans are some examples of the growing need for the Caribbean country to develop its own digital products.
