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UN Supports OSS/Free Software In Developing World
headisdead writes "This BBC report has details of the IOSN's (International Open Source Network) role in yesterday's Software Freedom Day. As the article rightly points out, the economic potential of these new markets for large tech corporations like MS makes this a real battle in the making. Question is, can Free Software really stem the tide when other sustainal development projects are struggling so much?"
This all comes down to money.
How can you compete against free, when the customers have little or no money.
A school in an underdeveloped country buys 100 old PCs.
Would you use 100 licenced copies of XP, or just download a linux iso for free?
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
Here is their official website since the article
fails to mention it anywhere
fifteen jugglers, five believers
Some organisations are already using open source software in their work. Look at FAIR (http://www.fair.no/english/home.htm), a norwegain project that are bringing ICT-equipment to development countries. They are aming to use Skolelinux (http://www.skolelinux.org/) in their projects.
I hope this will increase the use of free standards like Ogg Vorbis, XViD, PNG etc and it is only healthy to have many different operating systems.
Who is John Galt?
I apologise to our Danish friends for Slashdotting their server, but I just had to share this gallery from the Copenhagen event (It was a world-wide day, not just Asia). Check the penguin and devil suits :)
They write in the SFD wiki:
Update: Our Local event was a huge success!
We handed out 300 CD's in little less than an hour.... We also had 500 balloons promoting the day, and we gave out balloons to every stroller, child and adult who wanted one - in fact people came over to our booth asking for free balloons....
The balloons were red with white text, saying Software Freedom Day 2004 on the front and having penguin footprints on the back.
We had help from about 25 volunteers, a large Tux, a little Tux and a daemon
All the volunteers were wearing red t-shirts with white text, saying Software Freedom Day 2004 on the front and "Free Software er foran" at the back. The text in Danish has two meanings, first "Free Software is at the frontier" (we are ahead), second - you could get your free copy of the CDs, at the front of the person wearing the t-shirt....
It was very fun - and its not the last time we are willing to do this!
The Boston team handed out 450 CD packs in the park, in Goa, India 200 people got together to celebrate, etc. (reports are still coming in)
They want to make sure that more people are ingrained with the "need" for Windows, so that they will keep using it. Almost like a drug addiction. So they came out with Windows XP Starter Edition, in an effort to target the low end markets. However, as a Google News Search shows, XP Starter Edition is a bust... Sure, they are selling it "cheap", but honestly, according to reviews of features, it's worse than crippled shareware that is given away for free.
;)
Overall, I'm happy that people in those countries will not be starting life addicted to the drug Microsoft sells, and start with a clean slate. And when 2 billion users in China are using Linux, maybe we'll get more games that run under it.
@Whee
what is the relation between recommending FOSS and promoting capitalism?
UN should help nations, especially developing ones.
Clearly communication and computers are important parts of development process. What is wrong with suggesting a cheap way?
"Love it or hate it, any idiot can use Windows."
*Sigh*
No, he can't. Look at the millions of infected PCs, just work one day at a help desk for normal users and you will know that most people are not able to use Windows.
P.S.: Just because a lot of idiots use Windows doesn't mean any idiot can use it. Btw., I know a lot of idiots using Linux, what does that tell us?
This story has just been getting way out of hand. The UN has alsmost nothing to do with this, appart from being a regular supporter of one of the over 60 teams world-wide.
Last I checked IBM, SUN, Oracle, HP, etc were all US companies, so what exactly is your point here?
We had a nice time promoting the localized GNU/Linux (site not upto date with the work) on the Free Software Day. The response was phenominal, and we can see more and more people and commercial organizations are coming forward to help us take the message across.
And we make it clear that FOSS is better not because of the cost, but because of the flexibility, freedom and control that comes with it, and the mindset change from dependence to independence.
Isn't empowering people one of the main ideas of free software? So giving people that until now had no means to use modern information systems the opportunity to finally participate is great and somehow at the heart of the free software movement.
Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that Linux (or rather GNU/Linux) is making inroads in corporate environments and has a lot of backing from big business like IBM, HP, etc., but I sometimes got the impression that the most important idea behind free software, giving the people means to make more of their lives, somehow slipped into the background recently.
So in this sense this is really going back to the roots of free software and that's a good thing.
I'm not sure how the UN was dragged into this. I'm pretty sure you aren't going to ask whether the UN is supporting specific pharmaceutical companies or mainstream medicine over alternative cures when it goes on a vaccination drive in Africa. Mind you, I'm pretty sure they did have arguments over producing generic HIV drugs in developing countries.
I'm sorry if I haven't offended anyone
As an impartial Global organisation they help with knowledge and training.
A lot of developing nations see the UN as a valuable aide on their way to a better future.
MS and the likes have their own sales teams all over the place, the Peoples Alternatives, eg. FOSS, are often not known with the decision makers but do deserve consideration where money is tight.
The nature of FOSS development is an other reason why 3rd. world nations might want to concider it, it can realy be a grass roots sytem where local needs can be met by local developpers.
Does the UN make no distinction between promoting democracy and promoting capitalism?
Weird question, one does not exclude the other!
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
I would say Bill Gates doesn't mind. In fact, he might even give away a special edition of Window just so he "indoctrinate" the youth and thus lead that generation to the life of Microsoft. Think about it. Once your a Windows user, most people stay that way. But if you started off using Mac, then that will be your religious..err..I mean..user friendly path in life.
Life is not for the lazy.
Argh. This is a dupe (though not Timothy's fault). The BBC picked up on and added to the original article by David Lugard, that Slashdot previously linked to here. The IOSN guys contacted them, requested a correction and in the process supplied BBC with additional information about what was done. However, the article, like all those based on the original IDG/Infoworld article, is misleading. The IOSN was merely publicizing the event and if you clicked through the link, you would see that. (Assuming it's not /.'ed. It was down the whole of last week due to two consecutive postings onto Slashdot.)
Software Freedom Day's true website is at www.softwarefreedomday.org and credit should go to the great guys there who did so much to organize and publicize it, including the OpenCD people (Henrik) and others.
``It certainly won't be easy for free software in these developing countries, especially considering how inexperienced with computers many of the users will be. Love it or hate it, any idiot can use Windows.''
Dude, take of your blinders! Icons are just as easy to click in X11 as they are in Explorer. A system that just keeps working is easier than one that crashes and gets infected. And don't forget the benefit of a real command line (typing is more intuitive than moving a pointer with a mouse in a different plane).
Windows is only easier to use if you're more used to it, so especially for people inexperienced with computers, Linux is at least as easy.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
The delegate from the government of Mongolia who attended the Free and Open Source Software Asia Pacific (FOSSAP) consultation in February had an interesting tale to relate.
In order to expand the reach of their ICT in schools program some years ago, they put FOSS on 20% of the PCs they installed in the schools there. Microsoft had refused to give them a discount, so to have full reach, they had to resort to this.
Their findings? No surprised to anyone who's used FOSS for a while - kids adapted equally quickly to both FOSS and proprietary software (Windows). For ICT education purposes, there was no drawback with using FOSS.
Other countries, such as Thailand with their successful Schoolnet program, have had the same results.
You can find references to Mongolia's report in the FOSSAP final report.
I think that the developing countries in this area have a real advantage: Since the dependency of IT in the public sector is far behind the industrial countries, they have not been locked in! They have the full freedom to choose without having to consider huge migration costs.
Microsoft is aware of this, I guess that's why they have made light versions available in some asian countries and are planning to sell this product in more countries. Also, they will probably benefit from the lockin due to software piracy.
Even if pirate copies are available, or Microsoft offers software for free, there are numerous examples of developing countries taking a step in direction of OSS. They have seen the long term consequences of M$ lockin.
Question is, can Free Software really stem the tide when other sustainal development projects are struggling so much?"
Yes, it can. OSS development models can also solve problems where traditional development can't. Such as: localized software for non-latin languages.
Another great potential use of free software could happen in the field of maschine translation.
Yep. The IOSN team has spent the better part of last week contacting reporters, correcting news stories and still, this story won't die. They contacted over 60 news agencies last week. BBC's original version was the standard mistake: "UN organizes software freedom day". Fortunately, BBC is responsive and by the time Slashdot got to it, it's the corrected version. Still, the UN angle is too strong for any of the news agencies to resist.
Sorry Henrik. They're doing the best they can but it's crazy how this story keeps spreading.
The funny thing is how little money we need in order to have huge lobbying impact. On the international level the lobbying of Brazil really makes a difference. Hope the world summint on the Information society II in Tunesia will be another great show of FOSS adoption.
A friend's daughter (13 years old) was at our house this weekend, and wanted to "play on the computer", which is loaded with straight-up Debian.
She watched me click on the menus to pull up a couple of games, and then she was good to go. She played and had a good time all afternoon, exploring the selection of games (Frozen Bubbles and Defenguin were her favorites).
Her comment at the end of the day was "you sure have a cool computer to play on". I think inexperience actually -helps-, as there is nothing to unlearn. Clicking on icons is clicking on icons, I have watched a lot of people sit down on my Deb system and just start "doing stuff". I have noticed that the hard-core Windows users have the hardest time, but the casual users really have no problem.
A house divided against itself cannot stand.
c|net interview 2 jul 1998
Key phrase: "As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
My sibling posts say the same thing I'm going to: the true advantage of Free Software is freedom. But let me explain why.
Microsoft is seen worldwide as a very successful American corporation. This is not surprising, because, well, it is. Many countries (China in particular) are nervous about allowing an American corporation to control their IT infrastructure with so many little black boxes.
The Chinese government did not choose to move towards OSS because it likes Linux's interface more, or because it costs less than MS. It's moving in that direction because Linux, and all free software, is trustworthy. Cost doesn't factor in. With Linux, they have an enterprise level operating system that scales to absurd numbers of processors that can be audited and modified. A starting point, if you will. They know there are no backdoors because they can take a look.
Microsoft and Sun and most of the big guys offer "Shared Source" like systems that seem to offer the same deal, but it isn't the same at all. Because while you're welcome to take a look at the source, you're not free to change it. And with a vendor comes vendor lock-in; for example, suppose the Chinese government buys MS's bit and goes for Windows instead of Linux, using MS's shared source initiative as a means to "look through" the code. They do this, and build their entire infrastructure on MS solutions. Write their documents in Word. Etc. After a few years of this, MS could just stop offering the Shared Source initiative. Stop allowing their code to be audited. And by then, the Chinese gov't is screwed, big time. They know they should dump MS, but they can't; their whole country runs on the stuff, depends on its proprietary formats, etc.
But Linux will always be free. There is no evil American corporation controlling it, possibly putting backdoors into its software to steal your most precious secrets. Because its source is open and documented, there can be no format lock-in.
For foreign governments with no reason to trust the US or anything that comes out of it, the fact that Linux is free as in freedom, rather than free as in cost, is the true selling point.
As an aside, your point about Linux requiring sysadmins, support (and thus actually costing money and not being truly for-free) etc is a non-starter. This is trivially true of all software. Microsoft/Sun/etc software also have maintenance and support costs. Unless you're saying that the cost of obtaining MS/Sun/etc software PLUS the cost of maintaining it over a long period of time is lower than just the cost of maintaining a free system, you have no point. If you are saying that, it's just MS's "lower TCO" argument in disguise, which has been dissected here a million times and which not many of us believe, so I won't bother ripping into it.
Salve, ;)
Open Source for the (developing) world would be good. One idee of mine is to broadcast a distribution via the Air (www.drm.org) or Satellite. Digital Radio Mondal allows to stream 16-24 kBit/s and Reciever should get RS232 or IrDA interfaces to receive Data like Programm infos, weather maps or vocabulary for languages.
-IMHO it would be nice to broadcaste once a year a selection of Debian all over the world, and security updates from time to time.
-A free DVB-S broadcast is IMHO realy no problem (e.g. every Sundy mornig 3:00h to 7:00h a.m.) Encrypted confing files and data could refinanciate such a broadcast.
-A sw drm broadcast would be more expensive and would take more time, some weeks/month to broadcast the Debian selection - but it could be an alternative beside burning CDs and sending them with snail-mail all over the world.
-Such a broadcastsystem would it make possible to install new software on manless wetherstations, "surface marker buoys" - scientists would have only to pay for ther config-files and own scripts and programs.
-Beside open source Software the Broacast should include documentations, tutorials, important webpages, mailing-lists, newsgroups and even radio shows about open software
What do you think about this?
rob
Bill Gates has donated perhaps $1G but his organization's attempts to lock in countries is worth much more.. and possibly his donations support that. Developing countries have 2 needs - they need to satisfy potentially destructive political realities, and once they've gotten beyond that they need to best leverage their assets to develop their future. If a country is being given official aid, so long as there is a viable free alternative (or lower cost when tco calculated), commercial interests have no business selling to them. Even giving it away for free is bad if it is done by a known rapacious monopoly, and risky even if done by other companies with lock-in tactics, for what is then really going on is a bargaining away of that country's potential, either by hapless individuals or far more likely, someone who intends to make a profit. Of course if Gates wants to invest a cool billion in cash altruistically that is another story. Perhaps a story we'd like to hear.. how do organizations in fact organize that level of giving and make sure it goes to good use? How can we believe Gates is altruistic when his company is the corporate equivalent of a gang-backed serial killer?
Two of my kids are in the same age group. Each has computer in their room. I installed Mandrake (first 9.1, then 10.0) on it about 9 months ago. They use it for homework, Neopets, games, playing MP3, and chatting with friends (using GAIM). I even introduced them to FreeCiv the other day and they played it for a while (and understood what a server and a client is, ...etc).
Homework and important stuff is stored on a server and directories are shared via NFS.
They complain every now and then that such and such site does not work (Shockwave or MS specific ActiveX perhaps), but they can do most of the Windows stuff on it.
The computers are second hand Pentium II bought on the cheap.
I don't have to deal with spyware, viruses, or spend big money on games, software, ...etc.
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