[forinti]

I would spend my vacations with my grandparents in Uruguay in the 1980s and 1990s. The shops had all sorts of micros, from Amigas to Coleco Adams.

There was a small Amiga shop on 18 de Julio Avenue and I once took a friend from Brazil there and he was mesmerised; I couldn't get us out of there. I remember the owner was called Juan; he was a nice chap and we talked all afternoon.

[rbanffy]

Luxury!

In Brazil we had to make do with mostly clones of PCs and Apple IIs (and, later, MSX). Sadly, computer imports were very restricted in order to protect a local industry which was considered strategic. The policy was somewhat successful in the end, but not to the extent the government - a military dictatorship - intended, which was to bring about a completely local industry. There were few locally developed architectures, most based on imported components, and the bulk of the industry centered on clones with minor improvements (such as better peripherals, higher integration) in order to remain compatible with the existing software base.

[forinti]

I believe two key components were missing from Brazil's protection of its IT industry. Firstly, there was no attempt at educating the public (such as with Britain's initiative in the 1980s). Secondly, there was no attempt at making the machines cheaper.

And when push came to shove with Unitron's Mac, Brazil gave precedence to its orange exports. So I would classify it as a half-hearted attempt at industrial policy.