Um recorte da história do software livre no estado brasileiro: um estudo de caso do programa de software livre do SERPRO

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35819/tear.v8.n2.a3476

Abstract

A Cutout of Free Software History in Brazilian State: A Case Study of Serviço Federal de Processamento de Dados (SERPRO)

Abstract: This paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary master's research that sought to understand how the process of building free software took place by users and developers of a Brazilian state-owned information technology company between 2003 and 2018, during a state program which had, among its objectives, the promotion of the national software market. As one of the motivations, questions by Birkinbine, Oram, and representatives of the Brazilian software market about the effectiveness of state open source projects are presented. This qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research used primary data collected from a case study and secondary data collected from research of documents compiled or made by other authors. The case study consisted of intensive direct observation by the interview instrument. The subjects of the research were human actors (users and developers) and non-human actors (the selected software). For the analysis of the results the Free Software Foundation – FSF concept of free software and contributions of the Feenberg Critical Theory of Technology were used. The research assumed as premises the existence of intersections between the free software, solidarity economy and social technology feature sets. In the final considerations we approach contradictions found in the discourses in favor and against the production of free software by the state. The results indicated that among more than 800 software projects created by the company and classified by it as free software, only 4 were free software according to the FSF.

Keywords: Free Software. Social Technology. Solidary Economy. State-owned Enterprise.

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Author Biography

  • Flávio Gomes da Silva Lisboa, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná
    Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologia e Sociedade - PPTGE

Published

2019-12-04

How to Cite

Um recorte da história do software livre no estado brasileiro: um estudo de caso do programa de software livre do SERPRO. #Tear: Journal of Education, Science and Technology, Canoas, v. 8, n. 2, 2019. DOI: 10.35819/tear.v8.n2.a3476. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ifrs.edu.br/index.php/tear/article/view/3476. Acesso em: 3 jul. 2026.