Brasília, November 19, 2002 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Olívio Dutra, and the president of the Federal Data Processing Service (Serpro), Wolney Martins, signed an agreement today involving technical cooperation and the use of free software. Rio Grande do Sul was the first state to use free software, such as Linux.

"This is a type of software that conveys freedom in its use and knowledge of the bases of what a program does. The benefit derived from this is that we shall be able to formulate solutions with greater confidence, solutions that are more adequate to our needs, and in the process formulate less expensive solutions. The gains from this accrue to us and also to a public company that serves society and produces results for the citizen as well as the tax-payer and the government," Wolney explained.

For Olívio Dutra, the program represents the idea of adjusting the machinery of government to provide better services to the citizen. "The document signed today represents a mutual assistance agreement, that is, an exchange of knowledge in the area of data processing," he said. (DAS)