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n the past, we have read about European countries and cities planning to replace closed source software like Windows and Microsoft Office with open source products. In a move of similar nature, Italian military decided to adopt LibreOffice and save millions.

However, not every country thinks like that. In a shocking move, Brazil has asked the federal government bodies to express their interest in using Microsoft’s software until November 11, according to a ZDNet report. Notably, this Latin American nation was pushing the open source model in public sector since 2003.

The government is moving ahead in this direction to “generate cost efficiencies and standardize the IT applications across departments.” Brazil and Microsoft are working to enter into an agreement that will allow the government departments to grab products at a previously negotiated price within one year period without any need to launch new tendering process.

This purchase is being seen as the biggest purchase of Microsoft products by the Brazilian government. The most in-demand products are Windows 10, Office suite, and Windows Server.

Back in 2003, it was aimed that open source model will reduce the licensing costs and encourage the local companies to develop software for use in government departments. However, the lack of skilled developers killed this initiative.

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