Debian GNU/Linux adopted in Extremadura

August 3rd, 2006

The councillor for Infrastructure and Technological Development, Luis Millán Vázquez de Miguel, announced that within one year all the computers of the Junta of Extremadura (government of the autonomous region of Extremadura, Spain) will run Free Software office tools and gnuLinEx, the local flavour of Debian GNU/Linux 3.1, as mandatory operating system. It will be gradually introduced to all administrative organisations of the Junta of Extremadura.

From now on, all workers of the public administration will also use Open Document Formats (ISO/IEC DIS 26300) for their office applications as well as PDF/A (Portable Document Format, ISO 19005-1:2005) for document exchange, when guaranteed unalterable visualisation is required.

Vázquez de Miguel explained that at the end of the period all additional software must be distributed under a free license. "This is an important initiative that the Junta of Extremadura has been working on for a long time, accumulating experience and analysing the impact on our organisation so as to guarantee its success", the councillor declared. According to Vázquez de Miguel, Free Software also improves security, autonomy and rationalises public spending.

Using Open Document Formats will guarantee the conservation of all the administrative documents for longer periods of time. It will also improve the relationship with the general public since it's not obliged to acquire proprietary software to access official documents.

About Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous region in the West of Spain, with a population of about 1 million. It is well known due to its innovative efforts to bring the information society to all citizens, recognised with distinctions such as the 2004 European prize for regional innovation, granted by the European Commission.

About gnuLinEx

gnuLinEx is based on Debian GNU/Linux 3.1, with GNOME as the default desktop. In 2004, it was already deployed in all public schools in Extremadura, and was in use in other environments, such as community centres. gnuLinEx closely follows the development of Debian, with a special focus on translation into Spanish, and easy of use and maintenance.

About Debian

Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system, developed by more than a thousand volunteers from all over the world who collaborate via the Internet. Debian's dedication to Free Software, its non-profit nature, and its open development model make it unique among GNU/Linux distributions.

The Debian project's key strengths are its volunteer base, its dedication to the Debian Social Contract, and its commitment to provide the best operating system possible.

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at https://www.debian.org/ or send mail to <press@debian.org>.