It is true that most African cities are very developed. For you guys from the west, they are just different from what you are used to... or is London the same as New York or New York the same as Los Angeles? Think of it this way. The poor do not hide the fact that they are not monied and live right next door to the guy with his 6 bedroomed mansion, 2-4 servants, the latest SUV's, satelite television, mobile phones, playstations and internet connections.
Once most westerners get used to this then they realise that the cities are developed but in another way not like the western cities. To understand this, I recommend spending some time in an african rural area, then going back to one of this cities...believe me you will understand!
I think most people on this forum is looking at it from a wrong perspective. This has nothing to do with accessibility, content or language. The main point Jean-Noel Jeanneney had when he first wrote about this issue on Le Monde is IDENTITY. National libraries are the guardians of knowledge and the cultural identity of a country. What google is doing is unknowingly (I hope so) spreading american culture, since we would be reading about other cultures from an american perspective, not the citizens of the country perspective. We could argue that the american libraries contain french literature, but this is also subject to an american librarian selecting the content to be archived, which is definately not the same as that from a french librarian working in a french library.
I am sure we would not be hearing anything if google had included, not the biggest libraries, but libraries from coutries around the globe with old cultures like; japanese, chinese, greek, egyptian,french, german, british, italian, spanish (although spain never had a library till this century)etc libraries . I personally would like to see the vatican library open for all since i am sure they have alot of information lost during the dark ages.
So forget the language and digitilisation notion...its cultural preservation thats the main bone of contention.
"American imperialists are very arrogant, they are very unreasonable whenever they can get away with it, if they became a little bit reasonable, it was because they had no other choice."
This reminds me of GWB who is such a "decisive leader" that he wont accept constructive critism to his policies. I think it was a mistake to accuse North Korea, Iran, and Iraq of being the "axis of evil" -- and impling that he might take military action to preempt the threat from their weapons of mass destruction...and then actually invading Iraq which didnt have a WMD programme but the other two do. this has effectively pushed North korea and Iran against the wall. They are next!
From the three, I rate North Korea as the most dangerous. They are still technically at war with the UN with a truce that could end anytime. Dear Leader Kim is unpredictable that even the Chinese do not trust him. This is the person the US should have taken out first and not Saddam.
Iranians are nationalists. Any form of outside political influence will be resisted from the moderates and hardliners alike. I personally do not see them as a threat since the government does not threaten its neighbours militarily directly but through proxies, the same methods empoyed by the CIA for decades. Setting up the Shah by the US and Britain taught them a lesson they are not ready to forget.
Iraq was the weakest of them all and definately not a threat. Saddam was powerfull during the Iran-Iraq war but was firmly under the control of western powers. Incidentally, this is when he commited most of the crimes he is now being charged with like the gasing of the Kurds. The 8 year war against Iran had drained its resouces and he disastarously invaded Kuwait. Kuwait was actually formed in 1961 by Britain, though Iraq had already gained independence in 1932. A look at the map and you see why Saddam really wanted Kuwait. His actions were followed by a devastating war and 10 years of sanctions. No wonder he was easy prey for GWB and co.
Iraq is not safe or else the UN, Red Cross even Médecins Sans Frontières would be in the 80% area. My friend worked in Basra setting up an internet connection and he left Iraq to be based in Jordan. I asked him why he left and he said Basra is not safe! We only get media reports from Iraq when there are casualties. The daily armed gang robberies and kidnappings among Iraqis that occur do not get reported. This insecurity is what the Iraqis are pissed about.
I have seen this argument before. Let me give you two scenarios to choose from. If someone gave you the choice of:
1. Living with a dictator who depending on his mood could get you and your family killed if you said anything against him, or
2. Living in an environment where bombs regularly blow up in crowded places, you could get shot while walking down the streets, or kidnapped for ransom
Which one would you take?
This is a perception issue, for the Iraqis the number of dead people killed then and now do not matter, but the present situation does. Since most people in the US have never experienced a dictatorship they just do not understand what the fuss is all about. Let me try to explain. What were the chances that Abdul the fruit seller in the market would get killed by Saddam? Very low if none. All Abdul had to do was keep his mouth shut and make sure that he did not associate with guys who Saddam did not like. This is something every Iraqi ( or anyone who has lived under a dictatorship ) grew up with.
In the present situation with the suicide bombers and the kidnappers, Abdul can get killed anytime and anywhere even for selling fruits to Foreigners. The only safe place is the green zone but you can also get killed while lining up to enter. So is life better for Abdul? I dont think so, and exactly this is what is pissing off the Iraqis
On WMDs there is a nice article in Newsweek
quoting Bush attacking Kerry on not being a "better commander in chief" by asking the following question: Bush: "Knowing what we know now, would [Kerry] have supported going into Iraq?"
The answer to the "Iraq Al-Qaeda claim" is buried deep in a story carried by Slashdot Inside Al-Qaeda's Hard Drive . Alan Cullison covered the events in Afghanistan for Wall Street Journal and he managed to get his hands on a hard drive containing Al-Qaedas messages Al-Qaeda's members were not pleased with Osama's move to Afganistan from the Sudan. Afganistan just did not have the infrastructure - no roads, decent telephones or even showers so they wanted to move base to another country and they approached Iraqi officials and discussed the matter, but most of Al-Qaeda's members were not up to the move because of Saddam Hussein not being a proper muslim.
In my opinion, the bad guys have always been Pakistan, but the US has always been batting its eyelids and looking away. They are the ones peddling WMD secrets to other "rouge" states. Richard Clarke was right in not letting the U-2 flights fly over sitting security concerns with Pakistan. Pakistan has always supported the Taliban who in turn supported Al-Qaeda. Pakistan could do nothing against Al-Qaeda because it would damage their relationship with the Taliban. The tide only changed when Al-Qaeda tried to assasinate Pakistans President Pervez Musharraf. That is when Al-Qaeda memebrs started being arrested left right and centre and most of them located in the big Pakistani cities.
Using the Al-Qaeda connection to attack Iraq was just plain wrong and it has now played into the hands of Al-Qaeda by providing them the base they much wanted in the first place but couldnt get,IRAQ.
Their first major attacks against the US were those bombings in E Africa, killing around 270 of whom around 10% (?) were Americans.
What were the other 90%? Primitive black savages who did not count in the larger scheme of things?
Read the 911 Comissions finding on terrorism and find out more about the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings. From the 270 people who died only 7 (2,5%) were Americans. You have no right to call the non-americans who died primitive just because they were not the "main" target? Your view matches the main complaint from the Kenyans then, that the Americans were more interested in getting their nationals out of the danger zone and did not care about the locals. The Israelis are the ones who helped. Even the french were more helpful than the americans!
The US embassy in Nairobi was located right in the city centre opposite the central station. It was flanked on three sides by 4 laned roads, on the other by two bank buildings one about 6 floors and the other 20 floors high.
The terrorist knew that they would inflict alot of civilian casualties because the embassy personel had been warned that some arab guys had been spotted filming the embassy but no action was taken. The practice then at the US embassy was to have people line up infront of the building to get their visas. The lines were so long that they would go round the building right up to the bank. The spying warning just served to stop the terrorist from getting right up next to the embassy. The local guards (no americans in sight) stopped them from getting right up to the embassy forcing the terrorists to detonate a grenade. The explosion drew people to the windows and that is when they detonated the main bomb. It was around 10 oclock with alot of commuters on the road. The car packed with explosives was right infront of the bank - since they could not get right up to the embassy. The full brunt of the explosion hit the smaller 6 floor house (which housed a secretary/computer school - to help change your "primitive black savages"!) and it collapsed. The 20 floor high rise building lost all of its glass fassade. Bin Laden accepted the civilian casualties and only recougnised the 7 dead americans.
Talk to the muslims/arabs and you will find out that most of the people sympathise with Al Qaeda's view on America but many do not like him. America has a double standard when it comes to its foreign policy and does not champion democracy as it trumpets so loudly. Allowing democracy to develop in the Arab countries would mean letting islamic fundamentalists winning the elections sometimes. When they win free and fair elections, then let the results stand and not renounce them the way it was done in Algeria or block them like in Egypt as they were gathering momentum. Are fundamentalist states dangerous? Yes, but even they will realise that they do not live in a bubble. The Afganistan Taliban state was dying for international recougnition and went to the extent of blowing up the budha statue to attract attention. The Saud family came to power using an Al Qaeda style movement but shed the fundamentalist part once they came to power so as to operate internationally.
Its unfortunate that the US only thinks in short term success spans (capture or kill the terrorists) but not in long term success span (change the actual foreign policy problem)!
Actually MS Office is the better package to donate in this situation. The kids are more likely to get a job by saying they know MS Office than Open Office. Microsoft products are the norm in most countries in Africa and everyone expects you to know them.
I agree. I used to live in a middle class surrounding but to get to my high school, I had to cross a poor run down area. Taking the bus to school would take me 45min but a walk through the area would get me to school in 15-20min depending on which way I took to school. Being lazy as I am and not wanting to wake up the 30minutes earlier I ended up walking to school most of the time. I obviously got into trouble walking through the area. I have been threatened with knives three times and been acousted by gangs ranging from 4-6 guys quite a number of times. One thing I learned through my experience is to keep my cool. I always looked focused and walked briskly...no lingering or sight seeing. Mind your own business, even if you stumble on guys beating up someone, just walk by as if it doesnt concern you. When spoken to by a gang member, answer truthfully and NEVER show any form of fear and do not stop unless asked to... do not run away either.
The tactic that I found most effective is to get to "know" the Tony Soprano of the area but not be his subject. If he knows you (greets you by name and shakes your hand in front of a few witnesses) no one will dare lay a hand on you. I was lucky that I won a round trip to Italy while in school so the Tony Soprano in the area got to know me including most of the big bullies and muggers. But that didnt stop me getting beaten up and robbed but it did reduce them. This was an area where you loose your shoes, glasses, hat, jacket, watch and of course your wallet. You would be lucky if they left you your underwear!
Most important is to look like you have no money on you but not too broke or the guys would use you like sport, for practice and to get the wanabees a chance to try out some new tricks on you. If possible leave your valuables at home and when you have them, carry them as inconspicuously as possible keeping your eyes open but do not look shifty and nervous. Try not to flash them around.
Alaa is the Arabic equivalent for "what?" more like an expression of surprise and astonishment with a heavy lean to accusations of are you crazy/silly? It has nothing to do with Allah. Maybe I should say "Duh!" for our American friends.
I found the reading quite informative!/., bring more interviews like this one!
I had posted a comment on another site as a contribution as to why I think Microsofts products will be the leading choice in Africa for at least another 5-10 years if not longer. Here are some points why I think this will be so. To create Open Source products some things have to be in place.
1.Broadband internet connection. Anything else is too cumbersome and time consuming if not expensive. In Africa broadband still has a long way to go. If its there its terribly expensive. The use of wireless connections could help bridge this gap but it is still not as fast as DSL. Although of late 100MB wireless cards have been introduced to the market and have to be adapted in Africa.
2. Knowledge. With this I mean that there are very few people in Africa who have a true inner working knowledge of Open Source products like Linux. There are quite a number of Linux users (mostly ISPs and maybe a few Universities) but few real hackers who mess with the source code. In short Africa needs guys with good knowledge in C and Cplusplus.
3.Education. If you check most computer colleges and schools in Africa, they all offer lessons on Microsoft products but none in Open Source products. There are hardly any computer books to be bought in Africa and when you get them they are terriblly shallow, outdated and expensive. There are some efforts to donate books where corruption and government policy comes in creating difficulties so that in the end there is no real solution, the price has to be paid! Open Source development depends on many people who educate themselves, which means they pick up books and learn the tricks themselves and through mentors over the internet.
4. Brands. Most Africans are brand conscious! This will surprise alot of people but that is the fact when it comes to IT issues. People go for known names like IBM, DELL, HP and such and naturally Microsoft for most software solutions. Its not easy to get people to migrate to Open Office even though its free for example.
This are the real hurdles that I think Africa is facing in the adaptation of Open Source products.
That's one small step for
on
Weapons in Space
·
· Score: 0, Troll
the United States of America, in its quest to isolate itself from the rest of the world.
Everytime the topic of Africa crops up I always realise how many people are ignorant of Africa. To borrow a line from this site which I would recommend for anyone who wants to know something about africa to read first,
"By concentrating on Africa, we hope to correct the predominant image of a uniform, monolithic landmass wholly lacking in perspectives. We want to help break down prejudices and to show the positive developments in Africa. At the same time, however, we do not intend to remain silent about the problems facing the continent."
So please guys, Africa is NOT a country but a continent!
There are conflicts at the moment I only know of 3 actual ones being covered by the media: Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast. The interesting fact is that you can travel to the capital cities of this countries (for example Khartoum in Sudan) with the same risk involved as travelling to Tel Aviv in Israel.
There are other places with a history of ongoing conflict mostly natural resources propagated or land and border disputes and at the moment are enjoying some sought of peace: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ethiopia-Eritrea and the Central African Republic, Angola, Mauritania and Algeria. Then there is the politically motivated violence here at the moment only Zimbabwe is experiencing this. Then there is the lawless Somali. All this countries add up to 11... Africa has 50 countries and a little math leaves 39 countries WITHOUT conflict. Are we now to say that this countries are not safe to visit or invest in?
There are 300 million Swahili speakers in the world. That is far more than the German speakers. Swahili qualifies as an International language. It makes sense to create Swahili software translations.
Instead of shouting about the conflicts, famines and drought we should be looking at Africa the Indian way. India has an ongoing conflicts; border disputes and religious tensions, has a huge poor population, but is able to send satelites to space and create software solutions that are recougnised worldwide. This is so because no one keeps on rubbing their noses and holding huge placards infront of their faces with the conflicts and poverty problems everytime they want to try developing technical solutions!
There are different dialects in Kiswahili. the pronounciation differs from region to region for example the Kenyan pronounciation differs from an East DR Congo (Zaire) resident or Tanzanian pronounciation. If everyone wrote what they spoke... "l"s and "r"s are mostly interchanged... reading such documents is time consuming for the different parties involved. I think the next best step would be too introduce regional versions of the dictionary.
Slashdot Mirror
I know everyone is fixed on the hardware issues, but has anyone noticed the amount of space Aperture takes when fully installed? 5GB! Why so much?
It is true that most African cities are very developed. For you guys from the west, they are just different from what you are used to... or is London the same as New York or New York the same as Los Angeles? Think of it this way. The poor do not hide the fact that they are not monied and live right next door to the guy with his 6 bedroomed mansion, 2-4 servants, the latest SUV's, satelite television, mobile phones, playstations and internet connections. Once most westerners get used to this then they realise that the cities are developed but in another way not like the western cities. To understand this, I recommend spending some time in an african rural area, then going back to one of this cities...believe me you will understand!
I am sure we would not be hearing anything if google had included, not the biggest libraries, but libraries from coutries around the globe with old cultures like; japanese, chinese, greek, egyptian,french, german, british, italian, spanish (although spain never had a library till this century)etc libraries . I personally would like to see the vatican library open for all since i am sure they have alot of information lost during the dark ages.
So forget the language and digitilisation notion...its cultural preservation thats the main bone of contention.
"American imperialists are very arrogant, they are very unreasonable whenever they can get away with it, if they became a little bit reasonable, it was because they had no other choice."
This reminds me of GWB who is such a "decisive leader" that he wont accept constructive critism to his policies. I think it was a mistake to accuse North Korea, Iran, and Iraq of being the "axis of evil" -- and impling that he might take military action to preempt the threat from their weapons of mass destruction...and then actually invading Iraq which didnt have a WMD programme but the other two do. this has effectively pushed North korea and Iran against the wall. They are next!
From the three, I rate North Korea as the most dangerous. They are still technically at war with the UN with a truce that could end anytime. Dear Leader Kim is unpredictable that even the Chinese do not trust him. This is the person the US should have taken out first and not Saddam.
Iranians are nationalists. Any form of outside political influence will be resisted from the moderates and hardliners alike. I personally do not see them as a threat since the government does not threaten its neighbours militarily directly but through proxies, the same methods empoyed by the CIA for decades. Setting up the Shah by the US and Britain taught them a lesson they are not ready to forget.
Iraq was the weakest of them all and definately not a threat. Saddam was powerfull during the Iran-Iraq war but was firmly under the control of western powers. Incidentally, this is when he commited most of the crimes he is now being charged with like the gasing of the Kurds. The 8 year war against Iran had drained its resouces and he disastarously invaded Kuwait. Kuwait was actually formed in 1961 by Britain, though Iraq had already gained independence in 1932. A look at the map and you see why Saddam really wanted Kuwait. His actions were followed by a devastating war and 10 years of sanctions. No wonder he was easy prey for GWB and co.
U-238...U-235 they all sound to me like the insignias of those German U-Boots (submarines).
Iraq is not safe or else the UN, Red Cross even Médecins Sans Frontières would be in the 80% area. My friend worked in Basra setting up an internet connection and he left Iraq to be based in Jordan. I asked him why he left and he said Basra is not safe! We only get media reports from Iraq when there are casualties. The daily armed gang robberies and kidnappings among Iraqis that occur do not get reported. This insecurity is what the Iraqis are pissed about.
I have seen this argument before. Let me give you two scenarios to choose from. If someone gave you the choice of:
1. Living with a dictator who depending on his mood could get you and your family killed if you said anything against him, or
2. Living in an environment where bombs regularly blow up in crowded places, you could get shot while walking down the streets, or kidnapped for ransom
Which one would you take?
This is a perception issue, for the Iraqis the number of dead people killed then and now do not matter, but the present situation does. Since most people in the US have never experienced a dictatorship they just do not understand what the fuss is all about. Let me try to explain. What were the chances that Abdul the fruit seller in the market would get killed by Saddam? Very low if none. All Abdul had to do was keep his mouth shut and make sure that he did not associate with guys who Saddam did not like. This is something every Iraqi ( or anyone who has lived under a dictatorship ) grew up with.
In the present situation with the suicide bombers and the kidnappers, Abdul can get killed anytime and anywhere even for selling fruits to Foreigners. The only safe place is the green zone but you can also get killed while lining up to enter. So is life better for Abdul? I dont think so, and exactly this is what is pissing off the Iraqis
On WMDs there is a nice article in Newsweek quoting Bush attacking Kerry on not being a "better commander in chief" by asking the following question: Bush: "Knowing what we know now, would [Kerry] have supported going into Iraq?"
The answer to the "Iraq Al-Qaeda claim" is buried deep in a story carried by Slashdot Inside Al-Qaeda's Hard Drive . Alan Cullison covered the events in Afghanistan for Wall Street Journal and he managed to get his hands on a hard drive containing Al-Qaedas messages Al-Qaeda's members were not pleased with Osama's move to Afganistan from the Sudan. Afganistan just did not have the infrastructure - no roads, decent telephones or even showers so they wanted to move base to another country and they approached Iraqi officials and discussed the matter, but most of Al-Qaeda's members were not up to the move because of Saddam Hussein not being a proper muslim.
In my opinion, the bad guys have always been Pakistan, but the US has always been batting its eyelids and looking away. They are the ones peddling WMD secrets to other "rouge" states. Richard Clarke was right in not letting the U-2 flights fly over sitting security concerns with Pakistan. Pakistan has always supported the Taliban who in turn supported Al-Qaeda. Pakistan could do nothing against Al-Qaeda because it would damage their relationship with the Taliban. The tide only changed when Al-Qaeda tried to assasinate Pakistans President Pervez Musharraf. That is when Al-Qaeda memebrs started being arrested left right and centre and most of them located in the big Pakistani cities.
Using the Al-Qaeda connection to attack Iraq was just plain wrong and it has now played into the hands of Al-Qaeda by providing them the base they much wanted in the first place but couldnt get,IRAQ.
Their first major attacks against the US were those bombings in E Africa, killing around 270 of whom around 10% (?) were Americans.
What were the other 90%? Primitive black savages who did not count in the larger scheme of things?
Read the 911 Comissions finding on terrorism and find out more about the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings. From the 270 people who died only 7 (2,5%) were Americans. You have no right to call the non-americans who died primitive just because they were not the "main" target? Your view matches the main complaint from the Kenyans then, that the Americans were more interested in getting their nationals out of the danger zone and did not care about the locals. The Israelis are the ones who helped. Even the french were more helpful than the americans!
The US embassy in Nairobi was located right in the city centre opposite the central station. It was flanked on three sides by 4 laned roads, on the other by two bank buildings one about 6 floors and the other 20 floors high.
The terrorist knew that they would inflict alot of civilian casualties because the embassy personel had been warned that some arab guys had been spotted filming the embassy but no action was taken. The practice then at the US embassy was to have people line up infront of the building to get their visas. The lines were so long that they would go round the building right up to the bank. The spying warning just served to stop the terrorist from getting right up next to the embassy. The local guards (no americans in sight) stopped them from getting right up to the embassy forcing the terrorists to detonate a grenade. The explosion drew people to the windows and that is when they detonated the main bomb. It was around 10 oclock with alot of commuters on the road. The car packed with explosives was right infront of the bank - since they could not get right up to the embassy. The full brunt of the explosion hit the smaller 6 floor house (which housed a secretary/computer school - to help change your "primitive black savages"!) and it collapsed. The 20 floor high rise building lost all of its glass fassade. Bin Laden accepted the civilian casualties and only recougnised the 7 dead americans.
Talk to the muslims/arabs and you will find out that most of the people sympathise with Al Qaeda's view on America but many do not like him. America has a double standard when it comes to its foreign policy and does not champion democracy as it trumpets so loudly. Allowing democracy to develop in the Arab countries would mean letting islamic fundamentalists winning the elections sometimes. When they win free and fair elections, then let the results stand and not renounce them the way it was done in Algeria or block them like in Egypt as they were gathering momentum. Are fundamentalist states dangerous? Yes, but even they will realise that they do not live in a bubble. The Afganistan Taliban state was dying for international recougnition and went to the extent of blowing up the budha statue to attract attention. The Saud family came to power using an Al Qaeda style movement but shed the fundamentalist part once they came to power so as to operate internationally.
Its unfortunate that the US only thinks in short term success spans (capture or kill the terrorists) but not in long term success span (change the actual foreign policy problem)!
Actually MS Office is the better package to donate in this situation. The kids are more likely to get a job by saying they know MS Office than Open Office. Microsoft products are the norm in most countries in Africa and everyone expects you to know them.
I agree. I used to live in a middle class surrounding but to get to my high school, I had to cross a poor run down area. Taking the bus to school would take me 45min but a walk through the area would get me to school in 15-20min depending on which way I took to school. Being lazy as I am and not wanting to wake up the 30minutes earlier I ended up walking to school most of the time. I obviously got into trouble walking through the area. I have been threatened with knives three times and been acousted by gangs ranging from 4-6 guys quite a number of times. One thing I learned through my experience is to keep my cool. I always looked focused and walked briskly...no lingering or sight seeing. Mind your own business, even if you stumble on guys beating up someone, just walk by as if it doesnt concern you. When spoken to by a gang member, answer truthfully and NEVER show any form of fear and do not stop unless asked to... do not run away either.
The tactic that I found most effective is to get to "know" the Tony Soprano of the area but not be his subject. If he knows you (greets you by name and shakes your hand in front of a few witnesses) no one will dare lay a hand on you. I was lucky that I won a round trip to Italy while in school so the Tony Soprano in the area got to know me including most of the big bullies and muggers. But that didnt stop me getting beaten up and robbed but it did reduce them. This was an area where you loose your shoes, glasses, hat, jacket, watch and of course your wallet. You would be lucky if they left you your underwear!
Most important is to look like you have no money on you but not too broke or the guys would use you like sport, for practice and to get the wanabees a chance to try out some new tricks on you. If possible leave your valuables at home and when you have them, carry them as inconspicuously as possible keeping your eyes open but do not look shifty and nervous. Try not to flash them around.
He did get an oscar for his "fictional comedy" under the documentary categorie:
Best documentary feature "Bowling for Columbine" 2002
Alaa is the Arabic equivalent for "what?" more like an expression of surprise and astonishment with a heavy lean to accusations of are you crazy/silly? It has nothing to do with Allah. Maybe I should say "Duh!" for our American friends.
/., bring more interviews like this one!
I found the reading quite informative!
I had posted a comment on another site as a contribution as to why I think Microsofts products will be the leading choice in Africa for at least another 5-10 years if not longer. Here are some points why I think this will be so. To create Open Source products some things have to be in place.
1.Broadband internet connection. Anything else is too cumbersome and time consuming if not expensive. In Africa broadband still has a long way to go. If its there its terribly expensive. The use of wireless connections could help bridge this gap but it is still not as fast as DSL. Although of late 100MB wireless cards have been introduced to the market and have to be adapted in Africa.
2. Knowledge. With this I mean that there are very few people in Africa who have a true inner working knowledge of Open Source products like Linux. There are quite a number of Linux users (mostly ISPs and maybe a few Universities) but few real hackers who mess with the source code. In short Africa needs guys with good knowledge in C and Cplusplus.
3.Education. If you check most computer colleges and schools in Africa, they all offer lessons on Microsoft products but none in Open Source products. There are hardly any computer books to be bought in Africa and when you get them they are terriblly shallow, outdated and expensive. There are some efforts to donate books where corruption and government policy comes in creating difficulties so that in the end there is no real solution, the price has to be paid! Open Source development depends on many people who educate themselves, which means they pick up books and learn the tricks themselves and through mentors over the internet.
4. Brands. Most Africans are brand conscious! This will surprise alot of people but that is the fact when it comes to IT issues. People go for known names like IBM, DELL, HP and such and naturally Microsoft for most software solutions. Its not easy to get people to migrate to Open Office even though its free for example.
This are the real hurdles that I think Africa is facing in the adaptation of Open Source products.
the United States of America, in its quest to isolate itself from the rest of the world.
The french are flying somewhere else all right considering the treatment of air france foreign born cabincrew members
Everytime the topic of Africa crops up I always realise how many people are ignorant of Africa. To borrow a line from this site which I would recommend for anyone who wants to know something about africa to read first,
"By concentrating on Africa, we hope to correct the predominant image of a uniform, monolithic landmass wholly lacking in perspectives. We want to help break down prejudices and to show the positive developments in Africa. At the same time, however, we do not intend to remain silent about the problems facing the continent."So please guys, Africa is NOT a country but a continent!
There are conflicts at the moment I only know of 3 actual ones being covered by the media: Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast. The interesting fact is that you can travel to the capital cities of this countries (for example Khartoum in Sudan) with the same risk involved as travelling to Tel Aviv in Israel.
There are other places with a history of ongoing conflict mostly natural resources propagated or land and border disputes and at the moment are enjoying some sought of peace: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ethiopia-Eritrea and the Central African Republic, Angola, Mauritania and Algeria. Then there is the politically motivated violence here at the moment only Zimbabwe is experiencing this. Then there is the lawless Somali. All this countries add up to 11... Africa has 50 countries and a little math leaves 39 countries WITHOUT conflict. Are we now to say that this countries are not safe to visit or invest in?
There are 300 million Swahili speakers in the world. That is far more than the German speakers. Swahili qualifies as an International language. It makes sense to create Swahili software translations.
Instead of shouting about the conflicts, famines and drought we should be looking at Africa the Indian way. India has an ongoing conflicts; border disputes and religious tensions, has a huge poor population, but is able to send satelites to space and create software solutions that are recougnised worldwide. This is so because no one keeps on rubbing their noses and holding huge placards infront of their faces with the conflicts and poverty problems everytime they want to try developing technical solutions!
There are different dialects in Kiswahili. the pronounciation differs from region to region for example the Kenyan pronounciation differs from an East DR Congo (Zaire) resident or Tanzanian pronounciation. If everyone wrote what they spoke... "l"s and "r"s are mostly interchanged... reading such documents is time consuming for the different parties involved. I think the next best step would be too introduce regional versions of the dictionary.
IBM has been giving out SUSE cds to anyone in germany who buys a laptop with a preinstalled copy of windows.