Simon Phipps's Blog

Brazil - the Global Java Leader?

I've just left an exciting week in Brazil where I had the honour to be a part of the strong and extensive Java family there. I've written before about Brazil so you may already know the respect I have for the steps the government there is taking to promote community-based software development. But last week there was an important new development, at the "Café Brasil" Java event in the national capital, Brasília, that once again sets Brazil in pole position as a Java innovator. In case you're not following the story, let me fill a few details for you before I tell you about the news.

JUG Power

To give you an idea of the strength of the Java community in Brazil, the world's largest Java User Group is based there. The Sociedade de Usários Java, "SouJava"¹ boasts almost 18,000 members and has now spread from its original base in São Paulo to be a national organisation (one of the two Java user groups in Brasília affiliated with it last week at Cafe Brasil taking its reach even further). And SouJava is just one of the Java User Groups in the country - there are many others, each doing excellent work with a huge community invested with the usual Brazilian enthusiasm and energy.

Last year, a group of Brazilians formed the Javali project², an ambitious project (with source hosted here on java.net) to create the software needed to faciliate the government vision of an inclusive, technology-assisted future society in Brazil. All the software in that project - from digital TV to a JRE - will be Free software under open source licenses. The project was launched with a day conference alongside the huge international FISL free software conference.

Back in January SouJava joined the Java Community Process, having incorporated as a non-profit organisation partly for that purpose. That step augmented the (already strong) presence of Brazilians in the JCP, where they are part of a small and exclusive club of individual experts serving on JSR expert groups. I was very impressed when SouJava did that, because it meant the experience they were gaining through the Javali project could be shared with the global Java community.

Then a few weeks ago the president of SouJava, Bruno Souza, was elected to the new board of the Open Source Initiative. At one stroke, OSI gained a representative from the developing world, a passionate Java advocate and the leader of a huge freedom community. I think they made an excellent choice.

Government Engagement

Last week, the Café Brazil event brought together politics and philosophy to accompany open source Java software. I was privileged to join a stellar line-up of speakers in front of a huge and energetic audience in Brasília. We heard from James Gosling, from Sergio Amadeu (president of ITI and advisor to the Brazilian government on ICT), from Onno Kluyt of the JCP, from Dalibor Topic (maintainer of the GPLed Kaffe virtual machine), from Tim Boudreau of NetBeans and many others. I spoke about the philosophy and model of open source that underlies Sun's extensive open source activity³. The event was followed by days of training in Java technology and the Netbeans Platform and was the fruit of months of work by its organisers, who did a splendid job.

The event reflects the fact that the Java platform is used extensively throughout the country, both for private and for government applications. Java applications provide the perfect vehicle for development alongside the extensive use of open systems such as the Solaris and Linux variants of Unix. Open systems like these are set to become more and more common in a society that has rejected Microsoft's products so assertively that the only path left for the head of Microsoft Brazil is to attempt libel actions against government employees. Using the Java platform allows application development to proceed independently of platform selection, allowing free choice rather than the usual "platform defines tools defines architecture" lock-in.

Although there are extensive civil systems (especially at the banks), the crowd in Brasília was dominated by federal employees working on Java systems. As examples, the Ministry of Health has a huge and innovative project that was recognised with a Duke Award at last year's JavaOne conference, and the Ministry of Finance uses a Java system to allow connected Brazilians to file their taxes, including from their mobile phones - James Gosling tried the application last week and was bowled over by it.

Growing the JCP

So to the new news, which I already flagged in my Sunmink blog. The agency responsible for that tax filing system, SERPRO, has applied to join the JCP. That makes the Brazilian government the first in the world to join the JCP in such a significant way. There was a high-profile announcement of this at Café Brasil, featuring Onno Kluyt for the JCP.

I think this is a huge step for the JCP. Gaining global developer involvement from SouJava was important, but the addition of such an important end-user government adds a depth the JCP has lacked. Moreover, the stance of the Brazilian government in treating software as a primary issue of sovereignty, with open source as its main expression, makes their membership a profound validation of the steps the JCP is taking towards open source. While nay-sayers worldwide strain over semantic gnats, the irrepressible Brazilians get on with spearheading open source Java initiatives. SouJava, SERPRO, Brazil - you are most welcome, thank-you for your commitment.

Comments

• ...OSI gained a non-westerner..

  We, Brazilians, ARE westerners.

  Posted by: fabiocastilhomartins on April 14, 2005 at 09:58 PM

• Well, yes, and then again no. Can you suggest a way of expressing it differently (to indicate someone not from the Euro-American cartel) and I will change it.

  Posted by: webmink on April 15, 2005 at 02:42 AM

• How about "southerner". Neither Europe nor the US is in the south! Kudos to Bruno.. he's a nice guy.

  Posted by: dog on April 15, 2005 at 05:43 AM

• how nice to hear so pleasant commentaries about my country ... :^)
  
  best regards from Brazil,
  
  Felipe Gaúcho
  visit my projects

  Posted by: felipegaucho on April 15, 2005 at 05:47 AM

• ops, I forgot the link to my projects....
  
  here it goes:
  
  http://wiki.java.net/bin/view/People/FelipeGaucho

  Posted by: felipegaucho on April 15, 2005 at 05:53 AM

• I am an American working on various Banking systems throughout Brazil, and the push is definitly towards more and more Java. I go to Brasilia and São Paulo on a regular basis, and what I have noticed above all else is that Brazil's initiatives are definitly well placed, but the overall lack of senior developers is really hurting what could be the largest potential for software production worldwide. I applaud these kind of conventions for this reason, but what Brazil really needs are expert courses lead by non-Brazilians. Why non-Brazilians? Well, as anyone from Brazil will admit, courses of any kind in Brazil have turned into somewhat of a social event where the goal is not necessarily to excel in the course, but simply to make contacts and get that certificate. This can be noted throughout the country in a place where courses are very common. In Brazil, it's not about "what you know, and more who you know" (QI=Quem Indica). This stems back especially from the government where the system is extremely corrupt, and again merit does not constitute success. So, while I am one of Brazil's biggest fans and I am rooting for their success, I also know that what they need cannot be accomplished before the java society in Brazil goes through some first class training from (preferrably) abroad (not Brazil). This could very well be Brazil's ticket out of the third world, as they are very versitile people - much more so than Americans even!

  Posted by: plucas on April 15, 2005 at 05:55 AM

• I agree that brazillian developers (not just java developers) need better techinical education, not just certification training. But I don't agree that this has to come from abroad. It's a fact we have a trashed educational system, both public and private, and companies here don't think you really need college to be a software enginner. This reflect on the poor level of the medium IT pro. Other problem is the fact we started to get serious about J2EE just two or three years ago.

  But we have some of the best techinical people on the world, and one of our Java Magazines was evaluated by foreigners as so good (maybe better) than US and European Java magazines. Brazillian government and corporations should put more focus on in depth training using the good pros availabe here, and should fix elementary and high school education, besides chaning the evaluation parameters used by the Ministry of Education on colleges -- they think colleges should have only researches, no actin professionals.

  Posted by: flozano on April 15, 2005 at 06:17 AM

• This stems back especially from the government where the system is extremely corrupt, and again merit does not constitute success.

  Hi Simon, Remember our TSS thread few months ago ? PLucas comments is exactly what I meant. Believe me, we could really do MUCH more success than we are already doing if the our government was driven by meritocracy instead of "QI=Quem Indica" an others more serious ways that lead us to a selvage corruption level. To give you an idea, this government has been hiring ten of thousands of "friends" to work within public sector. I quit working for those guys. I am working for americans now. I dont make the money I could do (and still paying the big taxes of the world) but at least I am preserving my mental health. BTW: I don´t know PLucas.

  Posted by: rodolfo_dpk on April 15, 2005 at 07:34 AM

• ...OSI gained a non-westerner..
  

  This is specially disrespectful because this comes from someone is supposed to have an education. I wouldn't mind if this was said by an ignorant farmer or a "white power" website. I really don't think you did this on purpose, because racists are not that bright, but this was a bad bad mistake and unless you want to hear other brazilians flamming in forums, please reflect upon your view.

  This is the same case as calling blacks "afro-americans" as if they were less americans than the rest, you don't hear "euro-american", do you?

  Let's analyze the facts:

  • Brazil is located in the western hemisphere (until yesterday, unless the continents have moved while I was sleeping);

  • It was colonizated the portuguese, a western people;

  • The language spoken throughout the country is Portuguese, a neo-latin language. Not chinese!

  • Speaking of latin, we are all heirs of the greek-roman culture, not only in language and but in written works and manners, and in my personal opinion of studying portuguese, spanish, french and latin(not mentioning the non-latin languages) , portuguese is the closest you can get from Latin;

  • Brazil is the biggest catholic country in the world, where did catholicism come from, China???

  Now the question, what's culture?

  Spider-man, coca-cola, burger king and linking park? I don't think so.

  Culture in my humble opinion are works and people whose actions echoes throughout the centuries (not until the next "trend"), and that means "masterpieces". You cannot compare a Goethe to a hollywood movie for example, Faust to Spider-Man.

  Homer (ah, the Iliad!), Virgilius, Caesar, Cicero, Socrates, Aristoteles, Plato, etc... just to name a few that are widely know, is culture for me.

  It would be unfair to all other people living in the western hemisphere whose contribution were not cited, the american natives, the africans, etc. That influenced much of the customs of my country.

  Just in case you were wondering, I'm Brazilian, descendant of portuguese, spanish, indians and africans. This is what I call a reall multi-ethnical society.

  Conclusion, Brazilians are western.

  Posted by: thiago_s_c on April 15, 2005 at 09:20 AM

• Can we keep this on topic? So someone made a mistake and said "OSI gained a non-westerner". They've been corrected and were more than willing to make a change but they just didn't know what the proper term should be. Going on like you did just makes you look angry and taking it personal doesn't help your argument. On the topic of the entry I think it's great that Brazil is pushing forward with Java like they are. It's interesting that it's protrayed as though it's a national initiative in a sense. I hope some good software comes out of it!

  Posted by: mbosch on April 15, 2005 at 09:51 AM

• "Non-English-speaking" or "Non-Anglo-Saxon" maybe?

  Posted by: afishionado on April 15, 2005 at 10:14 AM

• Perhaps "caboclo" ;)

  Posted by: rodolfo_dpk on April 15, 2005 at 11:58 AM

• Removed the phrase. I will remove the associated comments in a few hours too so future readers aren't distracted. Sorry for the confusion.

  Posted by: webmink on April 15, 2005 at 12:39 PM

• Just to amplify flozano, the User Group magazine given out to everyone at JavaOne last year was written, published and printed in Brazil by Java experts and exported to the US.

  Posted by: webmink on April 15, 2005 at 12:42 PM

• "been corrected and were more than willing to make a change"

  Perhaps you have interpreted the text too much, what I understood is "tell me what to call you and I'll change it" like a nomenclature change only and not a mistake. And he also confirmed 'no', so it wasn't a mistake on his view and he would change only on "input" from others, just making clear the non-willingness.

  Just change it for "non-north-american" and it will be fine.

  Posted by: thiago_s_c on April 15, 2005 at 12:51 PM

• So, do you still think he called Bruno that on purpose, trying to offfend him or the Brazilians?
  Well, that's far from true for many reasons; I will not even waste my time trying to explain explaining why.
  What I can do though is to prove it was a mistake: he showed me (I'm Brazilian, FYI) the text before publishing it, asking for a review. If I had noticed such "mistake" (which I didn't, as I got his point and didn't realize the inaccuracy), I would have informed him and he would have gladly fixed it. So, if there is someone to blame, it's me, not him.
  

  Posted by: felipeal on April 16, 2005 at 01:14 PM

• Nice article. Don't worry about the geography mistake. This is not the point. The point is that we are here to make TI better and funny, with Java. ;) Alessandro Borges - ( Brasilia - Brasil )

  Posted by: aces on April 20, 2005 at 12:10 PM

• The event gets better and better! Best regards! Olivia (Brasíla - Brasil)

  Posted by: oliviaclaudia on May 02, 2005 at 08:36 AM

• They're an ambitious bunch the Brazilians, that's for sure! Glad you enjoyed your trip to Brazil so much!

  Posted by: chris843 on October 31, 2007 at 07:54 PM

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