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Linux Advocacy in Ethiopia: A Traveller's Journal
Jutta Horstmann writes "At the Horn of Africa, little is known about Open Source. To change this, Jan Muehlig and Jutta Horstmann (relevantive AG, authors of last year's Linux Usability Report) set out to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Read their traveller's journal and get more information on Linux and Open Source in Ethiopia at relevantive.de/ethiopia." Their travel report is the most interesting section.
~40% of Ethiopians are Ethiopian Orthodox - the oldest of all Eastern Christianities.
You end poverty by making the economy better, and you do that by making the country less dependant on foriegn aid and more able to participate as an equal in world trade. To that end, technology is highly relevant. You can't fix the problem by trying to first fix poverty and then second trying to improve the technology. If you don't work on the technology, you'll never fix the poverty. As far as why open source is important - it's important because it allows the people of the country to participate as equals in the development of the technology instead of just as consumers of the technology.
Look to the model India used to launch itself onto the world stage and become a real force to be reckoned with. When adapting technology from overseas, it would always opt for trying to buy the right to use the technology behind a product, rather than just buy the rights to use the end-product. It's still got poverty, but it's a lot better off than it once was, because its sucessive governments since independance have frequently pursued a policy of metaphorically wanting to be taught to fish, instead of just being given fish.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Linux advocacy worldwide is clearly important, but i'd like to highlight something far more pressing : poverty, disease, malnutrition.
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Here's a clue:
1 - Not every Ethiopian is poor and hungry. Most are, some aren't
2 - Reasonably wealthy Ethiopians get into Linux
3 - Reasonably wealthy Ethiopians can get access to computing thanks to Linux' low-low-cost, get good at it, start exporting their expertise
4 - Reasonably wealthy Ethiopians bring money into Ethiopia, become more wealthy, pay more taxes, create companies,...
5 - Less fortunate Ethiopians get to suffer less because the country becomes richer. The least unfortunate of them get enough disposable income to get into computers themselves
6 - etc...
What I'm saying is, Ethiopia and other such poor countries need to get a kickstart. They have no oil, and they're not likely to develop a huge successful agricultural economy of course, so anything you give them that has a potential to become something they can export will enrich them. Clearly Linux is a better alternative than Windows to help Ethiopia get into computers, and perhaps turn computer expertise into a national asset they can export, like India.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Most Ethiopians are very brand conscious, and no one will buy a computer in Ethiopia if it does not come with MS Office. And every corner you see a computer training schools that has introductory courses for Word/Excel/Access for like 10 - 20 dollars that span a few months.
We tried selling Compaq computers a few years ago, and failed. Now our supplies are limited to the UN, OAU and Embassies.
And besides local assemblers sell a computer most of it based on SIS chipset/motherboards for about Birr 4000 about 450 dollars including a 14" monitor. And these come with all sorts of software including Win XP, MS Office,etc.