The ESOP, the Association of Portuguese Companies for Open Source Software, is to be unveiled on September 25.
ESOP was officially founded in late August, but it will organise its first event at the end of September. The association wants to increase the adoption of Open Source software, said Gustavi Homem, one of the ESOP representatives and technical director of Ângulo Sólido, a Portuguese IT company, in an interview with the news site of Sapo, a Portuguese Internet service provider.
"We hope to create a dynamic market for Open Source software. It is important that the country recognises the enormous benefits of the use of this type of technology", Homen said. "We also well need to debunk some of the myths surrounding Open Source.
The association will also work to make companies and government institutions interested in Open Source aware of Portuguese IT service providers.
ESOP is the second Portuguese organisation focusing on Open Source software. Begun several years ago, Ansol, Portugal's National association for Free Software, in recent months was active in Portugal's vote at the International Organization for Standardization ISO on OOXML, Microsoft's controversial proposal for a format for electronic documents. Ansol in late August pressured the ministry of Economy and Innovation to investigate the country's vote in favour of OOXML.
Portugal's use of Open Source software is on the rise, according to IDC, an IT research company. This is especially the case in public administration. José Ruivo, a second ESOP spokesperson interviewed by Sapo: "We should make sure Portugal does not miss the boat. Adopting Open Source can make Portugal more competitive and we intend to help it get there."
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News item on Sapo (in Portuguese)