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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.
The same type of people who built our digital past..
here's a hint, it wasn't megacorp!
megacorps just figure out how to make it for the masses...
I have not RTFA but I would imagine this is about the ever-increasing market share of GNU/Linux.
Now, I am not actually sure we'll see the day when everybody and their mothers will run Linux as we know it.
I somehow think that, in the end, Linux will indeed be everywhere but hidden below some proprietary interfaces... Kinda like BSD-under-Aqua = OSX.
I wish I were wrong but it would still be a nice thing to see both systems coexist this way.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
We're seeing usage and adoption here because it's free. On the face of it adoptions like this look good but there are no long term plans to educate or update the software that is being used in many of these scenarios... the reality is that vast chunks of the developing world will be dumped in 2003 with little or no sustainable technology future.
I think you are missing the point. Sure, $40 is a bargain to the Western pocketbook, but I assure you it is a hefty price for our brothers and sisters in Thailand. $40 may be several months salary.
didn't know what localhost referred to :P) but this is what you get without an affordable public education system...
That's a serious non sequitor. In my 12 years of "free" public education, I never took a class that taught anything about TCP/IP.
Most computer knowledge isn't taught, it's learned.
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
The same economic benefits apply to rich nations as well as developing ones. However, I'd expect several orders of magnitude greater benefit.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
This is an important development that doesn't get the attention it deserves. Meanwhile, U.S. schools are almost completely dominated by proprietary software -- could it be that in not too long a timespan ( 20 years?) the U.S. will start to become an intellectual ghetto? I mean, the ratio of engineers and CS majors is dropping in this country compared to MBAs/lawyers. Anyway -- here it comes: I for one welcome our new Brazilian street-urchin overlords!
Finally, an article that challenges me technically
Dude, the Christian Science Monitor is a general interest newspaper. What's more, it is of very high quality, and extremely cheap. Even though it is published by a church, the "Christian" part is negligible (and I'm not Christian). They have a fascinating history. You will be enlightened reading CSMonitor instead of USA today or other tabloid mass market crap.
Microsoft has been engaged in an some agressive pricing tactics here in Brazil for a while now, including in our major universities. They even give their software for free (you know, the first one is always free...), if they think it'll pay off in the future.
It is therefore important to make the decision people (including the government) realize that price is not the reason why free software is better, specially in schools and government-related projects. Hey, it's not even an important reason, in many cases.
They have to understand that free software is better because its quality is superior; because we get to see what's inside, so we learn more; we don't have to take anyone's word on its keeping our private data, well, private; we don't depend on a single vendor; we can even start developing our own version, based on what's available, if we want to, thus having complete control and developing our own technology.
It's just a better idea, pricing aside. If "they" believe price is the only advantage, we're on very thin ice...
That's a serious non sequitor. In my 12 years of "free" public education, I never took a class that taught anything about TCP/IP.
Most computer knowledge isn't taught, it's learned.
I have always believed that the most important thing you can learn from school (especially higher education) is the ability to learn.
Also, I am not looking at a single person, but rather a trend that I have seen.
Also bear in mind that when an ISP decides to upgrade a piece of hardware around here, sometimes we lose connectivity for *days.* Same with the telecoms!
Best Wishes,
Chris Travers
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Thanks to something called "sovereignty" {the international version of "an Englishman's home is his castle"}, if a person in country A does something in country A which is not against the laws of country A but would be against the laws of country B had that person done it on country B's soil, the authorities in country B cannot take any action against that person.
So even if the GPL is found invalid in the USA {and it can't be - read it, it's airtight} then it still carries weight in the rest of the world. If SCO are to be believed, Linux is in the public domain anyway {and thus can never be copyrighted by anyone}. But it's quite likely that, if anything enters the public domain, it will be SCO UnixWare - either by court order, or by natural lapse of copyright what with the case having dragged on for so long.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
So would that be translated into GNU/Portuguese?
Self Serving Sig: Hosting Comparison
Open your head just a little. The Monitor is a reputable journal.
Think global, act loco
That's a serious non sequitor. In my 12 years of "free" public education, I never took a class that taught anything about TCP/IP.
It taught you at least to read, write and some math, which is a prerequisite for learning any technology, but you seem to be taking it for granted.
Lisp is the Tengwar of programming languages.
OSS promotes learning about how a computer actually works. This is diametrically opposed to what the MegaCorps want.
It isn't necessarily about "what the MegaCorps want". Are you sure that everyone must know how a computer works in order to use one? Are you sure that they even care how the thing works? Why do PlayStations and such outsell PCs historically by orders of magnitude?
The "common" person just wants the thing to work. The thing is magic to them as far as they are concerned. Do they know how their TV works or even their automobile? I would bet that the vast majority of folks could care less. They just want it to work and work reliably. To them, these are tools, not hobbies or even lifestyles. Look at the Sci-Fi envisioning of computers in the future... voice responsive, human interactive, natural language processing machines. Not something you see Captain Kirk opening the side of a beige case dorking with jumpers and graphics cards unless the ship is being blown out from under him.
So, I would disagree with you a bit on what the MegaCrops are doing. I think the MegaCorps are doing what they think that people want.
Not sure how my comment got modded down as a troll and yours did not.....
Anyway, I would agree with you under normal circumstances. Joe Consumer has no interest in what goes on underneath the hood (car, computer, whatever). However, the article (you did RTFA, right?) is about how OSS can help developing countries. My comment was derived directly from the parent posters comment - "The other major advantage of investing in Open Source is that the younger generation ( who are'nt into the commercial aspects of computing as yet ) grow up and learn within a framework that encourages choice and alternatives rather than constricting you into a predesignated thought process." In other words, he was referring to people who are learning about computers already. Now if you choose to not want to know what makes them tick, that is your option, but OSS promotes learning in that if you want to learn, there is alot of accurate documentation available for most popular packages that make up the various free operating systems. Unlike Microsoft who refuses to publish many features of their software outside the realm of Microsoft. Again, the choice is yours, do you want/need to know what makes computers tick?
"Why do PlayStations and such outsell PCs historically by orders of magnitude? " -- do you have a source on that? Unless you are referring to games in general, I find it hard to believe that console games outsell personal computers.
"Microsoft's foreign price reductions will bite them in the ass. American companies and individuals will start asking why they're forced to pay $100 + per seat while those outside Microsoft's native land get away with less than half that. "
So when's this argument going to work against the RIAA/MPAA? I'm still waiting.