11 Nov
2011
11 Nov
'11
9:11 a.m.
Toby,
A watered down form persists in the form of high
import tariffs -- a
laudable and necessary idea, except for loopholes which Dell and such
seem to exploit. Brazil doesn't have a corresponding ban on
foreign-owned local manufacturing, or if it does, it's incompletely,
ahem, enforced.
The big change in 1992 was exactly to encourage foreign companies to set
up local factories, as Dell did. And even Foxconn is expanding its
factory in Brazil to make Apple iPads locally (though the decision to go
through with this changes every two weeks). I don't have an opinion on
whether this strategy is good or not, but the results are certainly
those that were planned.
Also, these policies have not helped the Windows
problem: Brazil is one
of the worst-infested countries on the planet, by numbers (and hence
also in terms of malware and the black hat industry that has grown
around it there).
On the other hand, there is a strong open source movement and you can
see Linux based computers being sold in supermarkets. The ministry of
education only buys machines with open source for the students. The
impact on the Windows situation you described is slight, but it is
growing as time goes by.
-- Jecel