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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.'"

2 of 540 comments (clear)

  1. Probably not the best country to have done this by egg+troll · · Score: 1, Troll
    Although I support OpenSource software (OS X is amazing!) and I'm thrilled to see a government give it full backing, I'm less than thrilled to see that South Africa is the one doing this.


    Speaking from a publicity standpoint, South Africa seems to have little credibility in the world these days. I'm sure you all remember their government denying that HIV causes AIDS in a desperate bid to avoid having to take responsibility for South Africa's terrible AIDS crisis. Additionally, South Africa unfortunately has a huge problem with rape. It seems that the country is barely able to govern itself, and is perilously sliding towards the chasm of anarchy.


    Obviously none of this is the fault of Open Source software. However, I think that if/when South Africa collapses, this will taint whatever good using Open Source has done. All I can say is that I hope another, more stable country, does something similar so that when South Africa implodes, its failure doesn't taint the Open Source community.


    Thank you and God bless!


    Egg Troll

    --

    C - A language that combines the speed of assembly with the ease of use of assembly.
  2. South African Citizen call to gov tech support. by inteller · · Score: 1, Troll

    Citizen: "so now how do I use your system to sign up for health benefits and other social benefit programs?" Gov: ....dead silence....then "RTFM! Geez, don't you people know anything?!?! You probably use AOL or something...ROTFLHRHARHARHRA...you are just a Windoze user and not one of us l334 open source people" Citizen: "Time to move"