Essay: Perspectives of African FOSS developers

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."

Comments

Zimbabwe

[crossconnects]

I have a friend in Zimbabwe who does web development, but has to pay for internet access by the minute, partly because he has to pay for phone service by the minute.

Re:Whoa

[WormholeFiend]

and with Cuba cracking down on internet access, make sure you bring a few copies of various Linux distros inside your "music" CD holder when you visit.

Slashdot needs more articles like this

[fiannaFailMan]

The last time the IT business in Africa was mentioned, this place was bombarded by ignorant and short-sighted comments about how sustenance was a more pressing priority and that the west should concentrate on sending food aid rather than stimulating growth in industries like this. A bit like the clueless anti-globalisation protestors:

Members of Jubilee 2000 burned a laptop computer on a beach here in Okinawa to show their disappointment with G8's failure to fulfill last year's promise to cancel up to $100 billion in Third World debt. So far, just nine countries have qualified for debt relief of up to $15 billion. Jubilee 2000 says debt relief is the first step to ending the cycle of poverty, since poor countries are spend- ing more money to pay back debt than on basic needs. "You can't eat a laptop," said Barrett. "It's a crisis, it's an emergency, and it's something that they've failed to deal with this weekend."

Don't get me wrong, canceling debt can be a good thing, but it's good that African economies can develop intellectual property for export if natural resources are not abundant.

Re:Slashdot needs more articles like this

[Anonymous Coward]

The last time the IT business in Africa was mentioned, this place was bombarded by ignorant and short-sighted comments about how sustenance was a more pressing priority and that the west should concentrate on sending food aid rather than stimulating growth in industries like this.

I'm a bit surprised this wasn't modded as flamebait. Although focusing only on short term issues like food is not in fact a good idea, I don't see any argument here for why promoting the IT business is so great either.

Perhaps you mean that investments which might help promote jobs and support other services (e.g. hospitals), such as reliable electricity and reliable telephone service, might be more helpful to the peoples' survival in the long run?

I'm not sure where globalization or debt-cancelling comes into play in this argument. Globalization is arguably great for people in poorer countries -- they get jobs. They might also get lots of pollution and human rights abuses too, of course. As for debt cancellation, obviously that's good for the countries which are having their debts cancelled. Some people have argued that the IMF makes loans with terms which make payback practically impossible, so arguably it's the lender's fault, which is why those debts should be cancelled. Nothing wrong with all that, but I don't see how it's relevant.

Re:Slashdot needs more articles like this

[X_Bones]

Thanks for an extremely informative and well thought-out reply. But wouldn't drastically reducing foreign aid like you suggest lead to a greater percentage of any remaining resources being embezzled by whoever is in charge? If government officials are as corrupt as you've wrote, I'm assuming they won't care about breaking contracts and won't pay attention to international sanctions.

In addition, won't what you suggest only help countries which already have the basic facilities to support foreign investment? IT requires quite a large infrastructure behind it, and I had assumed that the discussion here was supposed to discuss only the poorest of African countries. For example, the only country mentioned in the article (Uganda) qualified for Highly Indebted Poor Countries relief; South Africa and Nigeria (the only African countries I can think of off the top of my head with a sizable telecom base, sorry) are not in nearly as bad a shape. Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about African socioeconomics, but wouldn't basic necessities take precedence over things like Internet presence?

I hate the acronym FOSS

[h00pla]

I'm sorry, but I just had to say it. I often wonder why everything needs to be converted into an acronym. FOSS is one of the most annoying ones.

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

Re:Zimbabwe/Uganda

[Anonymous Coward]

That is also true for Uganda, but in its case, the ISP over there dedicated a special number to use in connecting to the Internet at a special low rate. When I was there, I setup a wireless Internet service for some government organization with a Red Hat box acting as a gateway/mail server. To my surprise, the service provider charged US$275 (yes, two hundred seventy-five US dollars) for a dedicated 4K bandwidth! His reasoning was that he has to sign an agreement with a provider from whom he buys the bandwidth, that he has to purchase a certain amount no matter what conditions the market dictates. Here in Canada, I pay US$32 for a 1Mb which sometimes could shoot up to 3Mb/s. Africans are being screwed. I must admit though, that most of the leaders I met did not even understand what the Internet can do for them. One official who had been attacked by a virus told me "Officer, my computer now does not have Microsoft!". It took me long to understand what he meant. Do not get me wrong....the technology is there but it's very expensive for most individuals. As an example, a tea girl at that organization was being paid a salary of US$80 per month and the System Admin's salary was US$420.

Cb..

Re:Whoa

[illusion_2K]

It's so true.

Back when I was working in Zambia on a development project with a government agency, the internet access was awful. I'd say that they're probably about ten years behind north america in terms of bandwidth availibility down there.

As for two days spent downloading Debian - that sounds very reasonable. At the place I was working, we had a microwave link with a local ISP who were OK. DSL links were about $1000USD/Month - way out of the budget of most organizations there. As to buying in pieces, I never really had to deal with that. All the computers that were bought where I was working were done with aid money so they all came together. Still, issues with the power system and so on did undermine the full potential of IT.

Re:Whoa

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, no one is banned from bringing software to Cuba.

It is your government that blocks business and technology transfer with Cuba.

People use Linux in Cuba, They teach it at university, use it work and for research.

Do you think more people in Haiti use Linux? Dominican Republic? No.

Cuba has the highest literacy of any of those countries. If you can't even read you definitely can't use Linux.

You need to stop your silly anti-communist sterotypes.

Actually they are having Stallman give a speech on free software via videoconference to a symposium on free software next week. I'm sure Stallman would have gone in person if his government hadn't restricted his freedom of travel.

The best thing - You don't have to start from zero

[DescData]

I would think the best thing about FOSS is that each project doesn't have to start from zero.

It sounds like most of their projects are marginal as far a revenue. Having something close from to start from would be big plus.

Second point. Do the developers realy need a go between to connect them with users? Maybe they need tech fairs for getting the geeks and the non-geeks togeather.

Third point. If there is little money for anything in thier market, all the more reason for promoting respect for IP. The way to stay alive may not be fat contracts but decent residuals.