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Linux in the Developing World

Posted by michael on from the next-wave dept.

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.

4 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Who will build our digital future? by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The same type of people who built our digital past..

    here's a hint, it wasn't megacorp!

    No offense, but have you ever heard of IBM? Or DEC? Or Intel? Or Texas Instruments?

  2. Re:I am in Indonesia at the moment by GigsVT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
  3. Re:Linux's best quality? by SgtChaireBourne · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The Brazilian government is up and going, too. There may be little or no correlationl, but stock took off there, but has been dragging everywhere else. I'd think less of it, but two of the larger European OSS nations, Germany and France, are showing better optimism than the UK which has been hamstrung by MS on a few occasions in the last 5 years. It's still possible to drop MS and restore the lead in IT that the UK used to enjoy.

    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.
  4. Re:Open Source in developing countries by rbp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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...