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Essay: Perspectives of African FOSS developers

Posted by michael on from the visualize-world-peas dept.

philipp_at_bridges_dot_org writes "Bridges.org has just released an essay about FOSS issues in Africa, Straight from the Source: Perspectives from the African Free and Open Source Software Movement. It highlights a perspective that is often overlooked in the discussion of how FOSS can benefit developing countries: that of software developers themselves. The essay describes the conditions African FOSS developers work in and the difficulties they face, mostly letting quotes and personal impressions speak for themselves. The issues are very different from what I am reading in the typical slashdot discussions. It maybe an interesting perspective for your audience to see what others, who share the believe in freedom of source code are struggling with - hopefully to encourage thinking around solutions for these problems."

3 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Nice Quote by mopslik · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They don't ask if you can program. They ask, 'do you know (Microsoft) Visual Basic?'"

    Good to see they differentiate between the two there as well.

  2. Carry it out a little farther by Neil+Blender · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man 1: What do you do?
    Man 2: I'm a FOSS developer
    Man 1: Yeh... that, um, well... great.

    Man 2: Got any spare change?

  3. Do you know Visual Basic? by Spoing · · Score: 3, Funny
    1. "They don't ask if you can program. They ask, 'do you know (Microsoft) Visual Basic?'"

    I feel African already.

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