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 By Frederick Noronha
fred@bytesforall.org
KUALA LUMPUR: Policy
planners, IT experts and plain computer users across
the Third World have a way out. No more do they have
to choose between being
labelled 'pirates' or
foregoing the use of potent software that enhances
their productivity manifold.
GNU/Linux, the alternative 'free'
operating system and the tonnes of useful
software
that comes along with it, is clearly attracting interest
from a
range of quarters. From Pakistan to the UNDP,
from Africa to Malaysia, and
even in the Philippines
or Thailand and Nepal, GNU/Linux is
being closely
watched, studied and adopted in a
range of interesting experiments.
Created and
propagated largely by volunteers, most of GNU/Linux's growth
simply isn't based
on giant billion-dollar spinning corporations that have
the resources to promote its cause. So, such success
stories from the Third
World could largely go
unnoticed.
In large parts of the world where the
average per capita income is often
less than the
cost of a computer, the current phenomenal price of
software
turns millions into 'pirates'. In these
parts of the globe, words like
'free' or 'low cost'
are not necessarily associated with low-quality, but on
the other hand offers to include millions who
otherwise would be simply left
out in the cold.
Because GNU/Linux is
'free' -- in the sense that its code is freely
available to anyone who wishes to work on it
further, or adapt it, or just
reproduce it -- there
are no mountains of secrecy blocking the
easy-replicability of such software.
This
means, prices of the same fall to a point which is
dramatically low
compared to 'proprietorial'
software... and thus suddenly become affordable
to
the millions.
For instance, a couple of hundred
thousand copies of GNU/Linux
have been
distributed across a country like India,
through local popular computer
magazines, at a price
of just around $2. That includes both the cost of a
slick magazine, and CD. This software can, of
course, be legally copied
across as many computers
as needed.
This being the case, is it surprising
that there are interesting stories
coming from
varied corners of the Third World?
FROM
PAKISTAN, LOW-COST COMPUTERS
---------------------------------
Pakistan
Ministry of Science and Technology advisor Salman Ansari
says that
some 50,000 low cost computers are to be
installed in schools and colleges
all over Pakistan.
These will be PII computers, each being sourced for less
than $100 a piece, he says.
Proprietary
software for these PCs would cost a small fortune.
Surely more
than what the computers cost! But, using
GNU/Linux as the OS would ensure
that
the overall prices are kept low. Pakistan is seriously
considering the
use of Star
Office, an Open
Source productivity tool that does the same work
as proprietary software costing thousands of rupees.
"Don't be surprised if we become the first
country in the world to say that
all
(government-run) services are going to be GNU/Linux based," Ansari says
enthusiastically. It's to be seen if these dreams
can be accomplished.
"I've set up several
networks. When I started setting them up six years ago,
the only thing I could run them with, without
breaking the law, was Linux.
At that time, Windows NT was very flaky. So I've
developed a very healthy
respect for Linux and Open
Source. Though I'm a typical Pakistani, I still
feel a bit uncomfortable in buying pirated software,
and paying 90 cents for
a software priced US$500,"
he says with a smile.
(Others at a recent UNDP
meet held in Kuala Lumpur too raise question about
the prices for proprietorial software. More so, in
the Third World, where
the price of a single
software could cost more than the average citizen's
per capita income! Some suggest that software should
be priced at
differential levels, keeping the
dollar-earning power of different
countries'
citizens in mind. Just as books originally published in
the US,
for instance, are re-published and priced at
as little as one-sixth the cost
when reprinted in
South Asia.)
Ansari says Pakistan has been
speaking to some big vendors of proprietorial
prices. "We told them we would like to do business
with them, but for that
the pricing would have to be
realistic first," says he.
If current software
prices are taken into account, to go 'legal' Pakistan
would have to pay something like US$400 for
converting each of its PCs to
proprietorial
software.
"The Business Software Alliance (the
network promoting proprietorial
software) has been
going all out for it. But they have to come in at a
price
which equates to the economics of the
country," argues Ansari.
Ansari points to the
growing belief which says that if professionals wanting
to enter the software development field need to get
into Open
Source. "You
will be then able to create
products, and not just projects," says he.
It
makes sense from the regional language solutions front
too. "Urdu (the
national language of Pakistan)
language software is easier (to use) if it
resides
at the OS level," he adds.
Ansari says that as
chairman of the peer review committee of all IT
projects, he has been keen to turn down any project
that uses pirated
software. "But what this ends up
doing is that it bloats the cost of the
software,"
he complains, suggesting the Open
Source could be a way out.
"There are two
interesting initiatives now. We're launching a major
e-governance programme, and the government must have
legal software. We're
also planning to put in
computers in rural schools. Both are going to be
high profile projects. We want to make sure they
don't use pirated software,
even while we work on
cleaning out other PCs..."
Ansari says this has
'thrown open the debate' in Pakistan. For instance, the
Technology Resource Mobilisation Unit has a task
force on Linux.
The
government has also agreed to put in Rs 200
million to fund R&D and software
product
development, which the government would then own and
distribute for
free -- cutting into the very logic
of proprietorial software.
On the client-side,
efforts are on to build a GUI interface for Linux, by
working at the OS level
for projects which relate to text-to-speech,
language translation and language-related software.
"But at the same time, we're not stopping anyone
(in government) from buying
branded products. So
long as they can justify it and negotiate a good price
(the justification for which has to be very valid),"
says the US-returned
engineer. "In a government
contract, if you're going to bid for computers
which
has a legal OS and office suite, guess who's going to
win," he says.
Three aspects take priority on
this front, says Ansari.
Firstly, encouraging
legal software. Secondly, enabling a 'complete industry
growth' for product development based on Linux. And, thirdly, making people
"very, very aware" of this powerful tool. GNU/Linux is something which
"almost
everybody has adopted, whether it's Sun, Oracle or IBM". This
would
reduce the cost of computing for the people,
even while we would like to use
non-pirated
software, says Ansari.
He finds it ludicrous to
believe the BSA's estimation that India uses 63%
pirated software, while Pakistan's figure is
something like 83%. "Their
current paradigm is
simply to count the number of computers shipped, and
multiply this by five, on the assumption that each
computer needs five
pieces of software. This is a
ludicrous way of estimating things," says he.
Says he: "Sure, piracy is far high. If everybody
somehow started using
Linux,
we'd fall below the US piracy levels, and maybe have 2%
piracy. We
want to be ahead of these guys before
they start their next 'war on
terrorism' (using the
issue of 'intellectual property'). But we also want
the likes of Microsoft to come out with prices that
are reasonable. We want
companies like those to also
come and invest in the country, where software
or
drivers could be written here. Under those
circumstances, even Microsoft
would start looking very
different," he argues.
IN AFRICA TOO...
----------------
In Africa too, GNU/Linux is making its impact felt. Dakar
(Senegal)-based
Pierre Dandjinou is ICT-D Policy
Advisor for Africa. Says Dandjinou: "At one
point,
we got an idea to set up an Open
Source Foundation for Africa. We are
working on
it."
He points to discussion list to discuss Open Source. South Africa's network
is perhaps the most popular among the continent.
Dandjinou, as ISOC
(Internet Society) chairman for
Benin, was able to organise a conference on
this
subject. UNDP has been experimenting with such
technologies way back
from 1994, virtually the
babyhood days for this new and young operating
system, that was launched in the early 'nineties.
"Can African citizens be paying for all the
proprietorial software stuff?"
he asks.
Besides, SNDP, the Sustainable Network
Development Programme which is a
network promoted by
the UN, itself uses Linux in
some 47 countries
worldwide.
But Dandjinou
says: "I don't feel the cost (alone) is an issue. Of
course,
if you compare (the price of Open Source or Free Software products)
with
what we've been paying by using proprietorial
software packages, we have
been paying really a lot
of dollars. But more than price, what matters is
the
application development. The idea of the openness should
be kept there.
Openness and sharing... these are
great values in themselves."
M. Thierry
Hyacinthe Amoussougbo, the coordinator for the Cisco
regional
academy in Benin, says that enthusiasm
about GNU/Linux is
high, even if
there are still practical problems in
implementation.
Part of the problems are due to
lack of enough technical skills to spread
GNU/Linux sufficiently. Besides, the
widespread predominance of 'pirated'
versions of
proprietorial operating systems makes the need for
innovation
and study of options a low-priority.
"Everybody says let's go over to Open
Source. But on
the ground, it takes time to get started. It is being
used by
some, but is yet to be widely used,"
Amoussougbo admits.
"Linux is
used for many servers. We too want to promote it and
establish
more Linux-based servers. But what moves on
the ground level is still
Microsoft... maybe without respect to
copyright though," says Amoussougbo.
SPAT IN
MALAYSIA
----------------
In Malaysia, in
end-March, the Kuala Lumpur newspapers reported a verbal
spat between the global software giant Microsoft and the
fledging-but-influential Open
Source movement in that country.
Tabloid
daily 'The Star' reported in its issue of March 26 that
Microsoft
(Malaysia) Sdn Bhd had
"fired its first salvo against the Open Source
movement in Malaysia"
with an article sent out through its electronic
newsletter and posted on its website.
This
article, 'Not quite an open and shut case'
(www.microsoft.com/malaysia/business/articles/linkpage3866.htm)
was signed
by Microsoft Malaysia managing director
Butt Wai Choon. It argued that Open
Source Software
was "a threat to the commercial software industry". The
Star, a popular Malaysian daily, noted however that
the article "sounded
familiar to a speech given by
Jim Allchin to US lawmakers in Washington just
a bit
more than a year ago".
The Star also noted that
in the last few months, both the Malaysian National
Computer Confederation (MNCC) and the Association of
the Computer and
Multimedia Industry of Malaysia
(Pikom) have formed "special interest
groups"
devoted to the Open
Source movement. MNCC is the national body of
computer professionals, while Pikom is the industry
trade association.
"Both bodies have announced
or are considering initiatives to create greater
awareness amongst business and government, of the
benefits of using and
adopting Open Source solutions," reported The
Star in an article by A.
Asohan.
Unnamed
industry sources were also quoted saying that one or two
Malaysian
government or semi-government bodies are
studying the feasibility of
developing Linux -- the Unix-based operating
system that many consider the
flagship of the OSS
charge -- into a "national operating system" like what's
being undertaken with China's Red Flag project.
MNCC's member and security consultant Dinesh
Nair was quoted saying: "In my
opinion it (the
article) indicates a growing concern that Open source may be
a threat to
them locally." Nair also leads the technical sub-group
of the
MNCC's Open
Source Special Interest Group.
"Only Mr Butt
can answer for certain (about the article's) timing...
but it
is true that at this moment in Malaysia,
there is substantial interest in
Open Source in both the private and
public sectors," another MNCC-OSSIG
member Dr Nah
Soo Hoe, told the newspaper.
"Open source can be a threat to the
commercial software model *as practised
currently*
by companies like Microsoft. Obviously, if you cannot
charge a
lot for your software, or hold users to
ransom for upgrades and repeated
purchases, you will
tend to lose a lot of money if your business model is
based on just this," he added.
But he went
on to point out that it was possible to have a changed
model
which does not "rely so much on the actual
purchase of software, but rather
on the services
needed to achieve the functionality the software offers,
then whether you charge for the software or not is
"not so important
anymore", Dr Nah noted.
He
said his fellow MNCC-OSSIG members believe that the Open Source model can
in fact be a
*critical element* towards making projects like
Malaysia's
ambitious Multimedia Super Corridor a
success. The MSC is an ambitious
ICT (Information
& Communications Technology) initiative planned by
the
Malaysian government, to attract leading global
companies to locate their
multimedia industries
alongside Kuala Lumpur). This dedicated corridor
stretches 15 km wide and 50 km long, between the
giant Petronas Twin Towers
and the hi-tech Kuala
Lumpur International Airport.
Open Source software, they argue, is
even more important for a developing
country like
Malaysia.
"Access to source code will encourage
and promote local capacities for
software
modification and re-distribution," Dr Nah was quoted as
telling The
Star in its special in.tech supplement
(star-techcentral.com)
"It promotes an
environment for technical and systems development, as
well
as the ability to learn, innovate and invent,
while stimulating the local
software industry. (More
importantly) it promotes independence from foreign
software companies and reduces an outflow of funds
from the country," he
added.
Speaking to
visiting participants of an UNDP/APDIP-organised
Africa-Asia
Workshop on ICT for Development, Ng Wan
Peng a senior manager at the
Multimedia Superior
Corridor at Cyberjaya, the new township being built
alongside Kuala Lumpur, says the Malaysian
government is "very open" on Open
Source.
"We're considering using Open
Source. What really matters is the total cost
of
ownership, including the other costs that come along
with it. Wherever
possible, we would like to use
it," says Peng.
In other ways too, Malaysia is
giving Open
Source and Free Software a close
look. Take the
case of MIMOS (www.mimos.my), the Malaysian Institute of
Micro Electronic Systems, which is intended to grow
into a premier R&D
powerhouse in this South-East
Asian country.
"Mimos has a programme on Open Source. Lots of our programmes
are running on
Open
Source," says Dr Raslan Bin Ahmad of MIMOS Berhad.
MIMOS is one of the
key pillars in taking this
country towards becoming a K-society and
K-economy
(based on knowledge) and turn into a 'developed country'
by the
year 2020. .
In its e-world section,
MIMOS showcases projects like its attempt to build a
low-cost PC that is "affordable to everybody". This
computer is based on
GNU/Linux and
and is expected to cost far less than what it costs to
buy a
PC in the market.
'infoniti'
("infinite" plus "information") is being built up as a
handy web
device "that makes accessing the web as
easy as using a TV or VCR". Both
inexpensive and
friendly to use, this device would, hopefully, "cross
the
digital divide separating computer phobics from
computer literates". Its
promoters say it aims to
help "all Malaysians" improve their quality of life
through the "power of information". ~
PHILIPPINES, THAILAND
---------------------
Says Emmanuel Lallana of the E-ASEAN Task Force
based in Manila: "It makes
sense to use open
standards and open
source. We don't want to get locked
into
proprietorial software. You can use Open Source also because it's
cheaper. Why pay for an operating system and office
suite, when you have
people giving it out for free?"
In Thailand, the ambitious SchoolNet experiment
-- an initiative that seeks
to provide universal
access to teachers and students in schools in that East
Asian country -- also taps into the power of GNU/Linux.
It has developed a Linux School Internet Server (Linux SIS) to be promoted
and
distributed to schools "as a cheaper alternative to
using an expensive
server software".
"Since
its introduction, Linux-SIS
has been very popular in Thailand due to
its
excellent documentation in the Thai language,
its simple-to-install
CD-ROM and web-based server
management without the need to know UNIX
commands,"
says Dr Thaweesak 'Hugh' Koanantakool, director of
Bangkok's
National Electronics and Computer
Technology Centre (NECTEC).
SIS training
courses are always in constant demand from schools
looking for
a reliable Internet server at the
"lowest cost", says he. (More info on the
Linux-SIS at www.nectec.or.th/linux-sis/ )
"Initially we
used Windows NT on a straightforward PC.
Then, we developed
the Linux
schools Internet server. We now have our own software,
running
GNU/Linux,
which is managed via the Web, using the Thai language.
That
means, to run it the user hardly need to know
anything of Unix. This runs on
just a PC. Compared
to it, we could not afford a Sun Microsystem box and
router for each school," says Koanantakool.
GNU/Linux and
a simple PC allows the schools to run an FTP server and
"virtually everything out of one box". Says he:
"It's far cheaper too. You
just get a modem, and put
on Linux. Even an old PC can replace a
router."
Currently, this project acts like a
free ISP of sorts... but open only to
schools. "We
started working first with the server side (using GNU/Linux)
since the desktop is more
difficult. One barrier was that almost nobody
knows
Unix commands (among school teachers in Thailand). So we
wrote out a
web-based simple admin system. This
means, any school can run this after a
very little
training. There's hardly any need to talk to the GNU/Linux
console (the terminal that
requires difficult and initially complex
commands).
But, using the web, one can delete files and carry out
other
commands routinely needed," he adds.
Koanantakool says the Thai language web-admin
tool became "some kind of a
breakthrough" that
helped teachers to run a school network at the lowest
cost. In addition, the Thai-language extension of
the project started last
year. Version 4.1 was
released in March 2002.
"When you boot the
machine, it comes to a point that makes it seem like
Windows. Many Thai computer companies
are eager to pre load the Version 4.1
onto their
computers, because they're afraid of anti-piracy
campaigns. Since
February, the Thai Language
Extension (which calls itself Thalay, meaning
'Ocean' in the Thai language) has been making it to
the headlines. "Almost
on a day to day basis," says
a proud Dr Koanantakool with a smile.
NEPALI
SCHOOLS
--------------
'Linux Journal', which calls itself the
"monthly magazine of the Linux
community" worldwide, reports in its March 2002
issue about various
GNU/Linux
initiatives in classrooms across the globe.
Of
particular interest are those coming up from the Third
World. Including
Ganesha's Project in Nepal, a plan
using donated machines and open-source
software like
Linux, in a move to cut the costs of
acquiring software
licences for "an already
impoverished school system".
These are all
significant ventures. Some are small; others are more
ambitious. But there are lessons for everyone, who
can emulate and adapt
some of these interesting
ventures... from across the Third World. (ENDS)
--
Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa *
India 832.409490 / 409783
BYTESFORALL
www.bytesforall.org * GNU-LINUX
http://linuxinindia.pitas.com
Email
fred@bytesforall.org * SMS 9822122436@attcell.net *
Saligao Goa India
Writing with a difference... on
what makes *the* difference |
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