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South African Gov't Declared An Open Source Zone

Posted by timothy on from the nice-to-own-what-you-pay-for dept.

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.'"

4 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. Intellegent thought by tuba_dude · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I love it! Finally a government entity seems to understand the benifits.

    However, Microsoft's response was the kicker.
    "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?"

    I almost fell off my chair laughing. It's interesting seeing them confuse state operations and business...Maybe they've been suckling (sp?) on the US government a bit too hard?

    --
    "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
  2. A slightly different perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    One of the areas for future growth for Microsoft was developing countries, so this is an interesting trend. If developing countries adopt OSS policy, that severely limits the growth potential and forces microsoft into a position it doesn't want to be in. Wall Street ranks companies based on growth, and if growth slows or stops all together, it looks bad. Does this mean the company is bad? No, just that wall street thinks in twisted ways and down grades the stock from buy to hold.

    Microsoft is still trying to figure out web services and .NET. The first version of .NET has a lot of improvements over IIS 3 and 4, but it still isn't enterprise class. For small and medium business with minimal needs, it's fine. For serious enterprise apps, it's still has a long way to go.

    If microsoft can't get windows and .NET up to enterprise class in 5 years, they can forget about it happening. I know first hand many large financial corps are moving towards clustered/grid approach to next generation platform, so there's only a small window for microsoft to break in. If they delay be 2 years or more, linux will become the defacto clustering platform for PC hardware.

  3. Three thoughts to repudiate Microsoft FUD in this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting


    (1) Open-source isn't a "sustainable business model?" So, according to Microsoft, forcing annual upgrades and software subscription on businesses IS a sustainable business model? In the now-infamous Peru letter, didn't Microsoft state that sales make up only a small portion of the overall software cost -- support, integration, and customization make up a far larger percent. That sounds like a sustainable business model to me. Being a US school district that received an audit threat letter from their marketing department, we sure aren't impressed with Microsoft's business model anymore. That's why we switched to StarOffice on 1000 PCs last fall (grand total cost, $25.00)

    (2) What happens when "the developers ... move on to something which will pay the bills?" Well ... either (a) others keep the project open, (b) you hire programmers yourself to keep the project going (and reap the rewards), or (c) you yourself learn to program and keep the project going. Tie in with #3 below.

    (3) What happens when "the developers ... move on to something which will pay the bills?" Well ... what happens when proprietary software is pulled from the market and no longer supported? My school district has a pile of software (as I do at home, for many years) that's been abandoned by their owners. I remember paying $$$ for Lotus Magellan back in the early 90s - incredible software, became abadonware within a year. I could name many more -- I work in education, we a lot of our software gets abandoned over time. You're out your investment. I guess the business model didn't work in those cases???

    The Microsoft FUD machine is really revving up ... but dominoes are still starting to fall.

  4. MS SA pricing by KeenestSA · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a South African business & games software retailer, I can tell you Microsoft is one of the few companies in the country who refuse to adjust their software prices based on the country they are dealing with. For example the Age of Mythology retails on average here at R 545 (exchange rate R8.80 = $1.00) Whereas a company such as Electronic Arts average PC Games retails for R 299 or even lower in SA. Taking Microsoft pricing policy forward to their business software and licenses, one can see they are horribly overpricing themselves in a country who can ill afford their high prices.