Windows in Brazil Costs 20% of Per Capita Business Income

mjasay writes "Ever wonder why open source is so popular in Brazil and other BRIC nations? As one study suggests, one big reason may well be Microsoft's punitive pricing, which exceeds 20 percent of Gross National Income for businesses in Brazil (and 7.8 percent of consumer GNI). This leads to a second, related reason: At those prices, there's little hope that Brazil can build a home-grown software economy on the foundation of proprietary software. This factor is exacerbated by Brazil's widespread disdain for the United States, which also tends to favor software that is not perceived as American. Of late the free and open-source Brazilian dream may be fading a little but its importance to the long-term growth prospects of the Brazilian economy shouldn't be understated."

Did anyone RTFA before approving?

[supabeast!]

The original article does NOT claim that Brazil pays 20.1% of its income to Microsoft, it only states that the âoeCost of Business Licenses as % of GNI per capitaâoe is 20.1%. Only a complete moron would read that as 20.1% of Brazilâ(TM)s income going to Microsoft.

Furthermore, the OP claims that the linked article is a study; it is NOT a study, it is a blog post. It has not been fact-checked or reviewed by editors or peers, and could be a complete load of BS.

Re:20%? What are the customs duties?

[LurkerXXX]

Shhh, if you tell folks the Brazilian government is the one that's hiking up the price so much, Microsoft might not look as totally evil!

Grossly Misleading (Fraudelent?) Headline

[Jane Q. Public]

Nothing in the article states anything like what the headline of the post does. That was just plain irresponsible sensationalism.

Re:That's OK.

[truthsearch]

The biggest problem, as I see it, is Microsoft software's entrenchment. It's partly that the customers are hooked on it (the devil you know?), but it's also the expected difficulties in switching. It's becoming a lot less of a problem these days, but it's still a major concern. So while they may consider open source to be superior, they still may not be switching any time too soon.

In Rich Countries Too!!

[mmport80]

It's not just Brazil. Look at any startup in the US. Flickr, Google etc etc, all used open source to get their businesses off the ground!

Valid point if title corrected

[Exp315]

The point which the author intended is valid, i.e., that commercial software licenses are much more expensive compared to local income levels in developing countries than in the USA. It's just unfortunately that the title is a bit misleading, deflecting the discussion. As a software publisher who has distributed my software in Brazil (in Portugese) in shareware and free-trial form, I can tell you that registration levels from Brazil are equal to those of the United States or Europe. I feel that's because my software is reasonably priced there for local income levels (about 40% less in local currency than it sells for in the USA). I would also like to add, as a frequent visitor to Brazil with many friends and family members there, I don't agree that there's any anti-U.S. attitude about software.

no widespread "disdain" for US in Brazil

[Anonymous Coward]

One Pew Global Attitudes survey, indicating that 51% of Brazilians surveyed have an unfavorable view of the US, hardly points to "widespread disdain" for the United States in Brazil. In fact, most Brazilians find many aspects of the US very favorable, and worthy of admiration. Unfortunately, all of that tends to be lost next to the overwhelming disapproval of American foreign policy (an attitude shared by even greater percentages of Americans). Certainly, though, there is no widespread disdain for the US IT industry, which is admired and viewed correctly as world-class.

The threat of GPL being abused is considerable

[Anonymous Coward]

Here in Venezuela the government has made free software a priority, where almost all ministries and public internet cafes run Ubuntu, in the company I used to work with was forced to provide Linux solutions but they themselves were closed source, even worse they wanted me to take code from a GPL and slap it as their own. Suffice to say I am not working there anymore.

That said there is hope in social comptrollers, the LUGs are checking the ministries for fake open source solutions, and reporting them.

Re:Time for us westerners to wring our hands...

[billcopc]

The only difference between the Brazilian coast and the US coast is you can get killed over less money in Brazil. They have problems, just like every other country on earth.

Re:Big Mac Index

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, yeah, maybe we should discount the price of oil and gold for third world countries too. Everything knows that nothing costs anything and prices are completely arbitrary.

Re:Did anyone RTFA before approving?

[canuck57]

The original article does NOT claim that Brazil pays 20.1% of its income to Microsoft, it only states that the âoeCost of Business Licenses as % of GNI per capitaâoe is 20.1%. Only a complete moron would read that as 20.1% of Brazilâ(TM)s income going to Microsoft.

Furthermore, the OP claims that the linked article is a study; it is NOT a study, it is a blog post. It has not been fact-checked or reviewed by editors or peers, and could be a complete load of BS.

First off, north of the border (Canada) we experience the same thing and I can assure you with NAFTA it isn't taxes. Check say amazon.ca and then amazon.com and check the prices. We see it on cars also. Be it Honda, GM, Toyota, Ford or others, the dual pricing happens all the time. Usually one price for the USA and a higher price elsewhere.

The term is called price fixing to local markets. Or, what is the term where I will sell to US customers at one price, and sell outside the US for more (or less)?

In some cases, Microsoft even charges less in foreign countries, often to prevent Linux from making too much headway.

That is the way it works. And running open source is a great way to save money.

Re:Not American?

[Shihar]

You joke, but the full name for Norway is the Kingdom of Norway.

Re:There are "Studies" and there are Studies

[gustavoduarte]

As the author of the blog post, I totally agree :)

Re:That's OK.

[Luscious868]

Free software is only a better deal if it works just as well as the commercial alternative. In some cases open source does, in others it does not, and there are still many instances where an open source alternative for a particular kind of software simply does not exist.

More: How to lie with statistics

[redelm]

Sure, the statistic may be correct, but it can also be meaningless -- take BR biz income (a relatlively small number because it excludes local barter) and divide by a huge population and you get a small number, easily and incongruously compared against MS Windows licence costs.

For a concrete example of abuse by statistics, consider that in the US, MS-Windows licence costs exceed the total annual income of at least 50% of all computer users [kids!]

Please do not mistake me for an MS-toad. Personally, any MS licence cost above large negative numbers is overcharging. I have to be _paid_ to use MS products.