Open Source, a development option

The Open Source (OS) movement is one of the most amazing revolutions in last decades. It is probably the most successful collaborative project in history. Its philosophy: learn, innovate and share, has created an immense knowledge base which has been opened to everyone. It brings technology to everybody and empowers people, communities, governments and companies. The purpose of this paper is to show how OS solutions, methods and communities can support a number of key areas for a nation's development, at the same time that generates its own infrastructure which not only supports development but also has the potential to become a main business activity for that nation.