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Linux in the Developing World
Norsemann writes "Peter Spotts of the Christian Science Monitor has some very interesting things to say about the latest wave of Linux adoptions throughout Asia and beyond. He hits on some important points about not only China's role in Open Source but the 'global' role in Open Source... Perhaps the best is still yet to come." The BBC also has a nice story about Brazil using Linux in cybercafes.
We were living a dilemma here in Brazil, as our law doesn't recognize a contract written in a language other than Portuguese. On the other hand, the FSF would not recognize any translation of the GPL as official.
But now it does. As of yesterday, this article at creative commons talks about the very first official translation of the GPL into a language
other than English. (Full text of the CC-GPL in Brazillian Portuguese is here.)
The news I've read about it also say that there are some modifications to make the license valid according to brazillian laws, but I had no checked this so far.
-><- no
I'm currently stationed in Somalia in a physician exchange program. While they may not have the most advanced technlogy around, they offer dual-channel ISDN in the capital and dial-up access can be had in most towns.
While piracy is rampant, most legitimate (i.e. with international connections) seem to prefer Linux due to the prohibitive costs of the MS licensing. Of course there may be some issues when exchanging documents, but these issues are minor.
From speaking to some of the IT guys is their disbelief that we in North America still choose to spend so much money when there are low-cost options available. I guess it's why we drive SUVs and stuff our faces in all-you-can-eat buffets.
I hope you are being ironic.
For years the CSM was seen as one of the journalistic paradigms, favorably compared with the NYT and the Washington Post for the quality of her investigative journalism. While it has fallen off over the past 10 years, it is still and excellent news source, and very important, very fair, and exceedingly well written.
I have just returned from 5 weeks in India (honeymoon!) and after visiting cyber cafes in just about every place I visited I am not convinced that Linux is making any headway there. I did not see a single install! And every cafe operator I spoke to had only heard of Linux but never seen it. The bottom line for them was why bother using anything other than windoze when it costs circa Rs100 (a little over $2AUD) for a pirated copy and when there is next to no enforcement of licensing.
Sure this is merely anecdotal and YES, I was kicking myself that I did not extend my trip to get to Linux 2003 Bangalore (not real kosher on a honeymoon...) but nevertheless...
Similarly in KL (Malaysia). Every s/w package you could imagine for PC and Mac for a mere 10 Ringit ($4AUD) per burnt disc. All sold completely in the open. In fact the tourist brochure on KL that we picked up even mentioned the Plaza (Imbi) that is renowned for selling pirated s/w, dvds et al!
I was in Thailand not too long ago. Happy to report I found Mandrake Linux running in a few CyberCafe's in Chaing Mai.
Oh.. and $40 is not equivalent to several months pay to any Thai with a computer. A good meal in a half decent restaurant only costs about $5 sure...
And most people really can afford to eat.. Especially if they are considering what OS to run.
over.
r.