OSS Provides Opportunity, Challenge for Developing World

NewsForge has an interesting article looking at open source in the developing world. From the article: " Open source software and development can push governments of developing nations ahead in the world, but only if they participate as producers of the technology themselves, United Nations University (UNU) researchers say. While they say developing regions such as China, East Asia, India, and South America are among the biggest markets for open source software, UNU officials worry that there may be too few open source developers in those regions."

Open Source has no chance!

[n3m3sis]

I can give the view from Pakistan: Open Source software has NO CHANCE HERE!!!! Pirated software is abundantly available here. Heck talking about open source, Linux is not even bought in the markets as it IS MORE EXPENSIVE than windows, because it comes in 2-3 CDs and windows in one(the dealers charge per CD) The linux distributions available in the market are two versions old. Like Fedora C3 hit the market recently. Downloading distros is no option for people here, as the majority are behind 56kps dialup modems. It is extremely rare to find people who are expert at Open Source. However major universities have started to incoorperate open source software into their curriculum, and many undergraduates to their degree projects on open source software. The Pakistan government, had launched, something called the Open Source Research Center, which's aim was to promote open source usage in the country, however it is defunct now! Software companies in Pakistan exclusively offer services on proprietory software, and hence all universities try to produce programmers/developers/SW engineers who are adept at them. I'm sure the same scenario is being played out in India. I dont see open source succeeding here for the next decade or so.