Banrisul

by Miguel de Icaza

Today I was invited to do a talk to a group of people at one of the banks in Porto Alegre, Banrisul. I did the same Gnome presentation that I had done the day before. After the presentation was over, I saw some of the work that the bank has been doing with free software.

The ATM machines that they started rolling out in 2000 are all Linux-based systems, and I had a chance to see the ATM machine boot: the traditional Linux boot sequence is shown, followed by the X startup and finally the ATM application runs.

Not only is the bank rolling out ATM machines with Linux-based systems and their own software, but the terminals that are being deployed are running Linux systems as well.

Debian

Marcelo and I later on went to meet with some of the Debian developers from Porto Alegre in a Churrasquer�a, the food was most excellent. First you begin by getting some salads from the salad bar and some rice and beans, and then you wait for your choice of meat to arrive. The waiters bring different kinds of cuts to the table, and you pick the pieces you like the most.

We created an interest group: Gnome-RS (Rio Grande do Sul) to start developing and contributing to the Gnome effort.

Yerba Mate in the central market in Porto Alegre.

Remembering Arturo, I ordered a Guaran� drink (people remember Arturo fondly, not only for his passion for the Guaran�, but also for his crazy pupilo-adventures in town).

Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is the home for the World Social Forum. Whose motto is: "Another World is Possible". They have taken this principle to practice with the Participative Budget.

Basically, the people decide what the budget should be spent on and the government just executes on the decisions from the people (Unesco report)

Posted on 28 Jun 2002