Linux "goes large" in Brazilian schools

Brazil has been stealthily growing an amazing sounding project called ProInfo

They are rolling out infrastructure, technology and software to reach 36million students by the end of this year, with more to come!

The software is Linux (KDE desktop), The technology comes as an instant "computer lab", in a couple of different flavours:

• an inner city one (more seats per single, shared server)
• a rural one (simpler / lower power usage)
• a presenting one (one piece of kit with integrated projector, cpu, bundled content and DVD player)
• an accessible one (huge screen, and extra accessibility devices connected)

I had heard rumours of this, but with no idea of the scale, or the fact that the roll-out includes open content as well.

ProInfo is not about mobility, but a parallel project UCA (One Computer per Student) is. They are about to launch a second phase, buying 150 000 portable machines. Possibly ClassMates, or OLPC.

Wow! The numbers are staggering. The vision bold. The open source world excited. We wait, with baited breath ...