South African Gov't Declared An Open Source Zone

fungai writes "The Business Day reports that the South African government has decided to adopt open source software and develop support programs with local research institutes and universities. The CIO of the State IT Agency says: 'The logic for open-source is so compelling that after a year of debates we decided to stop talking and declare government an open-source zone.'"

Comments

CIO ?

[CySurflex]

The South African government has a CIO ? Next thing they'll be offering stock options and buying aeron chairs.

Re:/me rolls the dice

[tuba_dude]

"...becuase if it ain't broken, they don't want to fix it."

Sorry, don't mean to be an ass, but shouldn't that read "...because if it ain't broken beyond repair...?"

I don't know about the rest of you, but Windows for me is like an old portable CD player. It works, but you have to shake it a bit before the disc starts spinning.

sed s/developers/YourMonopolisticSupplier/g

[JayateMo]

MS Gordon Frazer said

"It's a very popular technology today, but ultimately it's not a sustainable business model. What happens when the developers who find it exciting today move on to something which will pay the bills?"

Re:Office is still expensive

[Anonymous Coward]

It's really fast and stuff. It also looks really sexy, unlike that lame M$ stuff.

Your sig

[Dwonis]

A set of...three button choices: Back, Next, Finish, and Cancel. --Windows SDK

I'm all for criticizing Microsoft, but that's going a little overboard. It's an honest mistake, and many of Microsoft's competitors (especially OSS developers) have made much larger blunders.

This quote is more fun:

Because both the system's privacy and the security of digital money depend on encryption, a breakthrough in mathematics or computer science that defeats the cryptographic system could be a disaster. The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers. Any person or organization possessing this power could counterfeit money, penetrate any personal, corporate, or government file, and possibly even undermine the security of nations [...]
(The Road Ahead)

[emphasis added]

Re:Africa doesnt need jobs it needs an economy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Africa has the ability to have an economy like this easily.

Before you post again, can I buy you a copy of National Geographic? Maybe two? Enlist you in the Peace Corps?

Re:Probably not the best country to have done this

[grammar nazi]

Greetings friend.

I am from nigeria and I have a huge fortune in source code (100,000,000 lines of source) locked up in the South African government. A friend at the embassy has made me aware of your trustworthiness... and should you help export this sourcecode from my dictator government, then I will give you 25% of the sourcecode. I will keep 60% of the source code and the other 15% will go towards the fees of transfering it out of my country and into an american repository.

I need to move fast, since I have only days to export this sourcecode out of my contry before the dictator finds out.

Ms. Micro$oft lifts her dress...

[Anonymous Coward]

Last week the company[Micro$oft]followed up with the surprise news that it will open its source code to governments worldwide so they can enhance the security of its software. That is a calculated move to entrench its position in government markets. But Microsoft's move has come too late to affect the agency's decision.

Micro$oft's 'open-source' sham is like a woman that teases you by lifting her dress for a second but doesn't let you touch anything... of course in the case of Ms. M$ you wouldn't want to touch anything...

Good news for other countries

[mr_tenor]

And now the US navy get 0wnz0red by hostile countries. Well, it's their choice.

Re:Intellegent thought

[lactose99]

What could 100s of millions a year (I'm guessing) properly invested do for big Open Source projects?

uh... buy open source programmers $10,000 hammers and $50,000 toilet seats?

and in the other news..

[Extrymas]

B.Gates and S.Balmer is going to South Africa next week to discuss aids and education problems in the country with SA Gov't.