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Free software a boon for developing nations: report
Monday, 02 June 2003, 19:30 IST
BANGALORE: From creating new software distributions to giving a nudge to education, from offering solutions to industry to helping young techies pick up skills they never would have access to, free software is attaining this and much more in Asia.
So claims a study conducted by Niranjan Rajani for Finland's ministry of foreign affairs on the significance of free and open source software for developing countries.
"There is no magic bullet. But Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) can work wonders in terms of saving costs (on software), promoting education and building a solid base for developing countries to go ahead," lead researcher Rajani told IANS in an interview.
Rajani, originally from Sindh in Pakistan, is currently based in the Finnish capital of Helsinki.
Free software, or open source, allows its users to freely run, copy, distribute, modify and improve its source code. Unlike proprietorial software it can be copied by anyone without payment for each computer it is installed on.
"It's extremely relevant (to developing countries). In terms of computer education, FLOSS has no match," Rajani told IANS.
"You're free to tinker with the code. Not only that, you can get in touch with the people who wrote the code and ask why this or that was done in a particular piece of code. It offers low entry barriers."
Rajani says countries like India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Taiwan, South Korea, and Israel are among those leading in the use of free and open source software, among the developing world.
Looking at the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, this report suggests that Asians are beginning to contribute to GNU/Linux in an increasingly significant manner.
It maintains that "in the next few years, the contribution of Asians to GNU/Linux is going to become increasingly apparent".
It says that in India, "it is no coincidence" that a number of low-cost PCs hitting the market are now opting for free software-based solutions. China has already worked out national distributions of GNU/Linux that are in the local language and also meet national concerns in terms of security.
Pakistan has seen government initiatives to boost the role of FLOSS, so as to become less dependent on proprietorial software, and counter allegations of high software piracy rates.
Thailand is finding GNU/Linux a useful solution in its school-net programme, and more recently to expand computer access by offering GNU/Linux-based low-cost notebooks.
Even India has a couple of distributions (combinations of this software), including the Hyderabad-based Elx Linux that has gained notice in pockets across the globe for its user-friendly interface.
Source: IANS
Source: IANS
