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Open Source's Battle In Africa

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the soak-em-for-all-they-are-worth dept.

eldavojohn writes "The BBC has more details about something we last discussed in 2008 — the showdown of open source versus proprietary software in Africa. When discussing the issue of cost, the piece quotes Microsoft's chairman on the scene, Dr. Cheikh Modibo Diarra, who alludes that open source continually costs you money by saying 'You buy Microsoft software, and you buy it once and for all, the cost that we tell you is the total cost for ownership.' On the other end of the story is Ken Banks from Kiwanja.net who has spent 15 years developing open source applications in Africa. His logic is that 'Today we're seeing growing open-source programmer, developer communities in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries. Clearly, if you have this informal programming sector coming up, access to source code is almost critical if they are going to be able to take advantage of these new tools that are emerging.' Well, the battle rages on, hopefully the emerging African developers and users pick the tool(s) that suit their needs the best."

7 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Developers in Africa? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Come on, everybody knows that there are no developers in Africa. It must be Nigerian scam!

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Sure! by GMFTatsujin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "'You buy Microsoft software, and you buy it once and for all, the cost that we tell you is the total cost for ownership.'"

    And then Microsoft stops supporting the product, changes the formats the products uses, and makes prior formats erratic or impossible to implement. It's a good thing you'll enjoy your purchase of brand new software, because you'll be doing it again and again and again.

    Or, you can go the Open Source route, which is continually and freely developed, usually for free-as-in-beer, and respects its own history. And if development stops, it's usually because some better Open Source project forked off or replaced it.

    Better as in "it performs a better job," not better as in "we'd better release a new version to keep our market share."

    1. Re:Sure! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As somebody who currently keeps the paychecks coming by being there when the software that my employer "bought once and for all" breaks in various horrible ways; I can tell you that "the cost that we tell you" is very much not the "total cost of ownership".

    2. Re:Sure! by digsbo · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Also consider the cost of test systems! Oh, how I bemoan the lack of test systems when license fees prevent me from having a production-like system.

      I never anticipated the death-by-a-thousand-papercuts mode of inoperation I would experience when moving from a linux to an MS shop. Really, you can't even legally run the OS on a VM without appropriate licensing. When you run commercial/proprietary, you run costly.

  3. You buy it once? by bryan1945 · · Score: 5, Informative

    "'You buy Microsoft software, and you buy it once and for all, the cost that we tell you is the total cost for ownership.' "

    Yeah, like phasing out support for older OS's. And putting in new formats for the next Office iteration. I had to buy the new Office for home because those who upgraded never remember to downgrade. Not to mention that if you don't have a service contract you pay $X (I forget the number) per service call. I'm sure there are more instances of how "buy once, this is TCO" is wrong, but I'm not up to date on MS's current procedures.

    What's the cost of OSS? Learning curve? Like Office 2007 didn't cause most people fits when it was released? I don't use Linux, so I'm no fanboy, but that statement was just ridiculous.

    (Oh, and I graduate with my MIS degree tonight! Sorry, just happy.)

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  4. Hey, be nice to Dr. Cheikh Modibo Diarra by e9th · · Score: 5, Funny

    He was kind enough to set me up, via email, with a very lucrative business deal where I stand to make huge profits.
    Of course, my upfront costs keep mounting, but he assured me when he asked for my account numbers that the funds will shortly be directly deposited to my bank.

  5. I deal with Microsoft in Africa by WML+MUNSON · · Score: 5, Informative

    LOLOLOLOLOL

    I'm a manager at a /major/ East-African health-care organization based in Uganda.

    Years ago (before I arrived) someone had a highly customized Microsoft Navision system put in for our HMS/ERP system.

    If we want to modify anything more in-depth than what color a button is we have to call up a Microsoft Licensed Consultant who has a key-file on a USB stick that allows them access to the inner-workings of the system -- and pay them hourly.

    This system is the beating fucking heart of our organization and we can't even make something a required field or modify the validation of an entry without calling these circus clowns up.

    The default license allows access by 36 simultaneous users. Guess how much Microsoft Nairobi forces us to pay per-user when we want to add more? try EIGHT HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS PER SEAT -- AFTER DISCOUNT.

    Want to store more information than we currently do? BUY MORE DATABASE TABLES.

    Dr. Cheikh Modibo Diarra either has no idea what he's talking about or is an outright fucking liar, because Microsoft has nothing anywhere near a business model that works for Africa.

    We can't wait to get off their system.