A year ago, I translated a story published by Hispalinux about the Brazilian's government migration from proprietary software to Free Software.

Well, all hell broke lose when Linux Today and Slashdot picked up the story without providing sufficient context or the clarification that I subsequently offered.

Time has a way of giving due perspective to most events. A year later, it is clear that Brazil's move was an exercise in choice. Sérgio Amadeu da Silveira argues that by choosing free software the state can more easily fulfill its constitutional obligations towards its citizens by guaranteeing the perpetuity and transparency of the formats used to communicate with its citizens and those used to store their data.