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[school-discuss] Re: [IIEP] Fw: [GKD] Pre-WSIS eDevelopment Briefing: FOSS and Development
Hi Jacqueline, I was a bit curious to know the reason for adjective "surprising". My argument below too is that, at the very best, academia has generally been extremely slow to appreciate the potential of FLOSS, and some have taken strong positions on the issue.
In India, proprietorial software is overactive in pumping in huge resources, or offering unprecedented 'discounts' in places where FLOSS appears to be getting a toehold. A young engineering student was talking about the 'Stallman effect' -- proprietorial software racing across to colleges where Richard Stallman has spoken, and trying to lure them back to the prooprietorial camp. There are many dimensions to this issue.
Sometimes, there is a closed-mind over FLOSS just because of the lack of comfort levels in using it.
Permit me to copy my earlier response to BytesForAll, which, I think, was one of the first list Dr Heeks posted his comments to. Might be wrong on this though... but check out the other discussion on this topic at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers FN
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COMMENT ADDED BY FN:
[A rather dismissive paper of Free/Libre and Open Source Software in
the so-called 'developing countries'. Needless to say the "interest in
the 'e-development' community" is often out of touch with reality, and
what developers are doing at the grassroots. It's often based on hype.
But that doesn't mean FLOSS is ineffective!
The "5% of computer systems" overlooks the role played by FLOSS in
servers, in keeping the Internet running, in giving unprecedented
access to developers of the Third World to take part in a global
movement, and more.
By saying "proprietorial software is free" for the bulk of the
'developing' world, the study is guilty of both tolerating/encouraging
the illegally copying of software ('piracy' is a loaded term,
unfortunately accepted by academia too) and missing the essence of what
Free Software is all about (offering the freedom to be used, copied,
studied, modified and redistributed). We are not fighting just for the
right to remain 'pirates'...
By focussing on Africa, the report probably overlooks the benefits
flowing to other 'developing' countries from FLOSS. Including countries
like India, China, Brazil, South Africa and a whole lot of other
nations located in an intermediate stage of 'development'.
Whatever the latest fashion among the development network, FLOSS will
probably just continue to make its impact. Significantly, it's growth
till now went largely unnoticed by academia, and researchers, till the
media-blitz post 1998. --FN]
PS: A more detailed and realistic, in my view, study can be found at
http://www.maailma.kaapeli.fi/FLOSSReport1.0.html (this poster had a
role to play in part of the Maailma report).]
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http://www.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/dig/briefings.htm
eDevelopment Briefing No. 1
Development Informatics Group, University of Manchester
Free and Open Source Software:
A Blind Alley for Developing Countries?
There is considerable interest in the "e-development" community about
FOSS: free and open source software. It is argued to be cheaper and more
customisable than proprietary software; it is argued to be a potential
kick-starter for the local IT industry; it merits a mention in the WSIS
Plan of Action. So what is its likely trajectory?
We can turn first to historical evidence because we have been here
before. In the 1980s, "shareware" ? FOSS' forerunner ? was a temporary
source of excitement for exactly the same reasons; even attracting the
attention of the World Bank. Yet the developmental equation for
shareware was "Impact = Zero".
What of the evidence today? A recent survey on our eGovernment for
Development Information Exchange plus survey data from Africai suggest
at most 5% of computer systems in developing countries have any open
source software running on them, and that is almost entirely represented
by Linux. Even in Cuba, where the US embargo should make conditions
highly propitious, proprietary software dominatesii.
Because of piracy and the limited size of initial purchase price within
total cost of software ownership, there is no clear, general evidence of
FOSS delivering cost savings. Because, by and large, FOSS means Linux,
the benefits of customisation and IT industry kick-start are also
nebulous.
The lack of strong evidence of FOSS benefits helps explain its lack of
success vis-a-vis proprietary products. In particular, proprietary
software may not be open source but it is certainly free for the great
majority of developing country users, thanks to piracy. Other key
factors uncovered include:
* Lack of awareness of FOSS: the African evidence suggests most IT
managers simply don't know about it.
* Poor international links: to work effectively with open source
code you need to be part of an active, global community of
like-minded developers; links to such communities from
developing countries are weak.
Donors have moved in with interventions to support FOSS, as recently
seen in Tanzania with the development of Jambo Office. Yet such efforts
are found to make little impact. To date, they have been amateurish;
focusing on the techies who write the code, and failing to introduce a
business focus that would draw in needed market research, marketing,
distribution and support skills. As so often, too, donor FOSS projects
have been short-terms flares of interest rather than the required
sustained efforts. They are no match for proprietary firms who are in
for the long-haul, and who will use the carrot of low pricing and the
stick of anti-piracy actions to achieve their aims.
Even the potential "backfire" of anti-piracy actions, leading
organisations to abandon their pirated proprietary products and adopt
FOSS instead, seems exaggerated. Microsoft and the Indonesian police
recently launched a crackdown on cybercafesiii. As could be predicted,
many owners changed over to FOSS. However, users then stopped coming to
those cybercafes because of their unfamiliarity with the software. Soon
after, the pirated products were back in place.
FOSS' trajectory, then, is intimately bound up to proprietary software,
especially Microsoft products. At best, FOSS looks like a lever to
extract concessions from Microsoft and similar vendors. In its present
state, FOSS will remain a marginal activity that does not deliver on its
development promise and that is no match for the enduring power and
business acumen of major proprietary players.
Richard Heeks, October 2005
richard.heeks@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/is/index.htm
i Kamuzora, F. & Baruch, J. (2005) 'Contextualising the challenges of
free and open source software adoption in African countries', UK DSA
conference, Connecting People and Places, Open University, 7-9 Sept
ii Mitra, A., Garcia, A. & Somoza, A. (2005) 'Imperatives of free and
open source software in Cuban development', UK DSA conference,
Connecting People and Places, Open University, 7-9 Sept
iii Robinson, A. (2005) 'Square pegs for round holes?', UK DSA
conference, Connecting People and Places, Open University, 7-9 Sept
============================================================
From: Dubow Jacqueline <Jdubow@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 2005/10/14 Fri PM 07:42:48 GMT+05:30
To: ELEARN-OPENSOURCE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [IIEP] Fw: [GKD] Pre-WSIS eDevelopment Briefing: FOSS and Development
A surprising posting on GKD from one of the leading name in the ICT field.
Here is the link to the article.
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/publications/wp/di/#sp
----- Forwarded by Jacqueline J. Dubow/Person/World Bank on 10/14/2005 10:07 AM
-----
"Dr Richard
Heeks"
<Mzdid10@xxxxxx To
.man.ac.uk> gkd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent by: cc
owner-gkd@milho
use.edc.org Subject
Re: [GKD] Pre-WSIS eDevelopment Briefing:
FOSS and Development
10/13/2005
08:00 AM
Please respond
to
gkd@xxxxxxxxxxx
c.org
Dear Colleagues,
The enthusiasm of those working with FOSS is encouraging, though that
engagement doesn't per se make them any more able to make an informed
judgement than those researching FOSS; indeed, it may make them less
able to stand back and see the big picture.
FOSS has been an area plagued for too many years by talk of what it
could do or might achieve. Then, some real evidence - three surveys and
two cases drawn from three continents. This presents a very different
picture: one of marginality and with no sign, unless factors change,
that we are going to see the developmental potential of FOSS really
delivered.
You can read this message in two ways: either that FOSS will never
deliver; or that the FOSS community needs to rethink its strategies. Or,
of course, if you've devoted months or years to FOSS and don't like the
message, you'll try to denigrate the writer, deny the data, and so
forth.
As much as anyone, I'm working to see ICTs deliver for development. My
worry is that the FOSS community is not reality-checking itself. Too
much talking to other believers; not enough standing back to see what is
really being achieved.
Richard Heeks
Development Informatics Group
University of Manchester, UK
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