NACI: Gov't of South Africa Pushes Open Source 246
GNU lover writes "National Advisory Council on Innovation in South Africa
has issued a release concering the use of Open Source and the digital divide." The use of open source in the 3rd/2nd world is one way to get around licensing costs - at least more honest then pirating.
a World Map (Score:4, Interesting)
This would be probably educational, as well as a possible boost in moral.
Something titled: "Countries in the world where open source is recommended"
Extra brownie points for links, etc.
immoral or (just) illegal? (Score:2, Interesting)
Limited protections against copying in a western, capitalistic society makes sense; you want to protect new ventures by providing them with protections against their work being taken and sold by a competitor without regards to the development costs.
However, I wonder if other cultures somewhere do not have this sort of mentality. I just wonder if in some societies and cultures, if one person would be considered immoral for wanting more rights to something they took part in making than everyone else?
I don't know the answer, I'm just curious of other's insights.
Nice flame, please try again. (Score:2, Interesting)
I agree, those idiots in Redmond had better shut up. =:> I don't see the folks from Debian busting into grade schools looking for old versions of Emacs without documentation. The extortion of hundreds of thousands of dollars from US public school systems for "unregistered" and "pirated" coppies of Word and what not is a matter of public record [slashdot.org]. So, if second hand PC's get you that much trouble here, where M$'s avowed interest is the children, how do you think they will act overseas? The only frenzy I see is people reacting to the new blue screen of death, programs they pay for advertising at them, the mega improved clippy animations and quirkyness in general. They get a daily rise out of such insults. It's imposible to exaggurate the situation as people who don't have to deal with it all won't believe half of the truth.
Are we REALLY saying that if I found someone who had a LEGALLY LICENSED copy of Windows 95 from 1995, we could not engage in any sort of transaction to transfer the license (per whatever terms were stated in the Win95 original license) over to me?
Yes, Microsoft really says that, as was extensively documented here [slashdot.org] by Michael's excellent copyrant. Let's not forget the Naked PC [aaxnet.com] effort, where M$ tried to quash the sales of any computer without an OS. Kinda goes to show you where there heart is.
Re:Dang (Score:3, Interesting)
Their local gov't could ask anyone in the world for tips on anything. Solar cooking, ethernet over barbed wire... the point would be to find something to solve all of their smaller problems.
There is the point of view that GPL software can be used by someone who doesn't have a dime. This alone saves money. But being able to chat, e-mail, use USENET, browse the web, etc... can help them. It can certainly help anyone around the house. Anyone can get online and ask for help with anything. Sometimes you get answers. Of course sometimes you can't.
Being able to open a free web page somewhere could help a local gov't solve a problem. Geocities could host the question, you provide an e-mail.
Hopefully that is what the computers would go for. You know they aren't going to 'Nuclear Research', but you hope they will help someone interface with the world.
When someone orders something from Amazon.com I will lose my faith in the idea.
Open source not for the developing world? (Score:3, Interesting)
OK, it's a no-brainer that open source software would be a good fit for governments that, in many cases, have problems feeding, clothing and housing their populations.*
But how, practically is this achievable on anything other than an administrative level? Running Linux and Star Office rather than Microsoft Windows and Office and employing sysadmins with the relative skills is all doable in the halls of power but how can open source be brought to the people?
In countries where many rural areas lack running water, let alone electricity, is it realistic to hope that the open source movement can help the common man?
OK, so a little off the government's licensing costs can't hurt but will it really make a meaningful difference? Not to Joe Average it won't.
If there was some way of getting cheap (second hand?) no-thrills PCs to local schools in a developing country then I think open source software could make a difference but, for all sorts of reasons, this just isn't practical.
For one thing, even open source software requires support (and so does the hardware it runs on). You might find all the support you need online but someone who lives miles from the nearest telephone is going to find it a little harder.
I'd love it for it to be possible, but it's not. The real world just doesn't work that way.
In my humble opinion, hoping for open source software to take off in the developing world before it happens in the developed world is a pipe dream.
(* No, I don't put South Africa in this category. Thanks to it's mineral riches, it's one of the few countries in Africa that can stand on its own two feet. It's a pity that the interest payments alone on crippling debt stops other african nations from being so self-sufficient, but that's another story.)
Re:Open source not for the developing world? (Score:2, Interesting)
You are absolutely right - promoting Open Source initially will not affect the average man on the street (most of whom are either unemployed or live below the poverty line)
It will also not make much of a difference to corporates who are pirating software left and right - however it might make them think.
The real issue is that if we can save ZAR63m (approx US$5.5m) (IIRC this was the amount quoted) then we can use this to build low-cost housing (@ approx R5 000-10 000 each) - an extra 6300 houses will help immensely!!
We could also use this to reduce foreigh debt - thus saving interest payments into the future - strengthening the economy and providing more money for housing, education, etc.
So although the average man-on-the-street will not see Linux desktops in his immediate future, he might see a house with running water and live Electricity - a huge improvement on people living on the streets, and burning candles/parrafin for light and heat/cooking.
Food for thought!!
David R