Cuba Launches Own Software

(Havana, Cuba) The Cuban Informatics and Communications Minister, Ramiro Valdes, has announced that Cuba has launched its own variant of the Linux computer operating system for the public who only last year was given permission to own computers.

The Cuban variant, called Nova, was introduced at a Havana computer conference on "technological sovereignty" and is central to the Cuban government's desire to replace the Microsoft software running most of the island's computers.

The government views the use of Microsoft systems, developed by US-based Microsoft Corp as a potential threat because it says US security agencies have access to Microsoft codes.

Also, the long-standing US trade embargo against the island makes it difficult for Cubans to get Microsoft software legally and to update it.

I thought Nova meant "doesn't go" in Spanish.