MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-09-16 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Open source helps education effort in Third World
|
Posted on Sun, Sep. 14, 2003
Open source helps education effort in Third World
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/6769286.h
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By Dan Gillmor
Mercury News Technology Columnist
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - When Andy Rabagliati started working to deliver
Internet access to some poor rural schools, he chose Linux and other
open-source software for the core of his project. His decision was a
no-brainer.
For one thing, he says, he could do things he couldn't do with commercial,
proprietary software, such as change the programming code to suit his needs.
But there was a more pressing bottom line.
``It's about money, at the end of the day, because we're in Africa,'' he
says.
In Africa, in Asia, in much of the world -- especially in the developing
nations -- open source is looking like the best way to usher in the
information age. Money, flexibility and plain old independence from a
monopolist's clutches are a powerful combination.
Around the globe, educators, companies and governments are getting tired of
paying the Microsoft tax, which tends to rise inexorably, and sending the
money to America. They don't like the upgrade cycle, especially when older
computers run Linux just fine. They want to inspire more software innovation
at home, and suspect Linux may be the best platform in a world where
Microsoft also takes most of the profits in Windows application software.
With open source software -- sometimes called ``free software'' -- the
source code, or programming instructions, is open for free downloading,
inspection and modification by anyone. The GNU/Linux operating system is the
best-known project in the genre, but much of the core software used in the
Internet today is also open source.
It's a natural for the developing world, where the cost of a new or even
newish PC is prohibitive. Even an old Intel-compatible machine can be an
excellent workstation on a Linux-based network, says Rabagliati, who is
using just such a system in several schools his ``Wizzy Digital Courier''
project (www.wizzy.org.za) has set up for Net access.
It's also turning into a natural for governments. Officials at South
Africa's agency in charge of information technology have become strong
proponents since Microsoft jacked up licensing fees last year. They're
working with universities and foundations here to create an Open Source
Resource Centre, aimed at spurring its adoption and development.
Open choice
The point is not to shun Windows and other proprietary software, if the
price is right and it does the job. Rather, says Lyndall Shope-Mafole,
chairwoman of the Presidential National Commission on Information Society
and Development, the moves are to promote genuine, open choice.
``For there to be open choice,'' she says, ``we need to be building open
source components.''
Businesses are looking hard at it here as well -- one of the ``unintended
consequences'' of Microsoft's license fee hikes, says Masedi Molosiwa, head
of the Cape Information Technology Initiative (www.citi.org.za), a
non-profit development organization in Cape Town, where many tech
entrepreneurs have clustered. But the interest wouldn't exist were it not
for the software's growing quality and ease of use.
``Four or five years ago, Linux and the other open platforms were on the
fringe, the domain of technologists,'' Molosiwa says. ``Now it's shifted,
and become a credible option.''
Microsoft has been taking in large amounts of money in South Africa, by far
the wealthiest nation in the region, but is publicly calm about the open
source inroads. A local manager recently told the Financial Mail, a business
magazine, that the government was being even-handed in its approach, and
Microsoft-bashing doesn't seem to be very loud from the other side.
Perhaps South Africa is taking a page from other books. The company doesn't
like it, but customers and potential customers are starting to put
rebellious thoughts into more concrete actions.
China, Japan and Korea may soon jointly create a northern-Asia open-source
operating system. And in Thailand, where the government program was offering
Linux and other open source software on low-cost computers for its citizens,
Microsoft dropped its price for Windows and the Office suite to a remarkable
$40 per PC, according to news reports.
Microsoft's best argument against open source in the corporate and
government contexts is to say it really isn't free, given the support and
training costs. There's some truth to this, but the logic also assumes that
people are willing to keep buying new hardware to support Microsoft's latest
products.
In Africa, that's not just flawed logic. It's nutty, and cost fundamentally
rules out Windows on much of the continent.
Another open source software power, SchoolNet Namibia (www.schoolnet.na), a
project in next-door Namibia, has won plaudits for its innovation and
breadth. The project's founder and director, Joris Komen, has put
Internet-connected computers in some 260 libraries and schools.
Open source's savings
Open source is the only affordable, reliable option for the long term, he
says. A spreadsheet supports his contention -- installation of servers,
workstations, networks and, crucially, long-term support for considerably
less than a retailer would charge for hardware and a single year's worth of
support.
``It's a model we've worked on very hard,'' he says.
Komen says Microsoft is up to its typical tricks in Namibia and other
African countries, trying to undermine open source. Anyone familiar with the
company's tactics elsewhere will find this unsurprising.
But this may be one arena where Microsoft simply can't compete, fairly or
not. Barring a dramatic change in attitude, product and price from the
world's largest software company, open source is plainly the way developing
nations should move.
They literally can't afford to do otherwise.
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Dan Gillmor's column appears each Sunday and Wednesday. Visit Dan's online
column, eJournal (www.dangillmor.com). E-mail dgillmor-at-mercurynews.com;
phone (408) 920-5016; fax (408) 920-5917.
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