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Linux in the Developing World 129

Posted by michael from the next-wave dept.
Norsemann writes "Peter Spotts of the Christian Science Monitor has some very interesting things to say about the latest wave of Linux adoptions throughout Asia and beyond. He hits on some important points about not only China's role in Open Source but the 'global' role in Open Source... Perhaps the best is still yet to come." The BBC also has a nice story about Brazil using Linux in cybercafes.
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Linux in the Developing World More

Linux in the Developing World

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  • Linux's best quality? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by i_want_you_to_throw_ ( 559379 ) * on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:00AM (#7638019) Journal
    It is OSS. When you run your entire operation on MS you're having your data infrastructure being controlled by a foreign government.

    OSS is the best thing in the world for those governments who might be a little suspect of U.S. commercial interests.

    The other advantage is that OSS helps to close the gap between the haves and the have nots. There are those people that romanticize the developing world and think that bringing technology to them is a bad idea. Well obviously these people have never been to the developing world and the lack of technology in these places helps to keep them in the third world.

    Ironically a tremendous number of people in Nepal have email access and the guesthouse I stay in in Kathmandu runs everything on Linux.

    • I am in Indonesia at the moment (Score:5, Interesting)

      by einhverfr ( 238914 ) <chris@travers.gmail@com> on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:11AM (#7638086) Homepage Journal
      And there is a MAJOR push for Linux on the desktop here at the moment. Here is why:

      Previously businesses and individuals bought their software via low-cost vendors of pirated software. This kept their cost down.

      More recently, the Indonesian gov't has been crackind down on said vendors (a good thing IMO). THis is causing people to choose between paying full price for Windows or getting Linux at little or now charge. When you consider that the average worker here makes less than 20% what a worker makes in the US, the equasion is not very ballanced.

      So, here comes Linux on the desktop at least here. Unfortunately, I have been less than impressed with the skill of the IT workforce here (at least one network admin I met didn't know what localhost referred to :P) but this is what you get without an affordable public education system...

      Anyway, I think that the third world WILL drive Linux on the desktop adoption for some time to come.

      • Re:I am in Indonesia at the moment (Score:5, Insightful)

        by GigsVT ( 208848 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:21AM (#7638155) Journal
        didn't know what localhost referred to :P) but this is what you get without an affordable public education system...

        That's a serious non sequitor. In my 12 years of "free" public education, I never took a class that taught anything about TCP/IP.

        Most computer knowledge isn't taught, it's learned.

        • That's a serious non sequitor. In my 12 years of "free" public education, I never took a class that taught anything about TCP/IP.

          Most computer knowledge isn't taught, it's learned.

          I have always believed that the most important thing you can learn from school (especially higher education) is the ability to learn.

          Also, I am not looking at a single person, but rather a trend that I have seen.

          Also bear in mind that when an ISP decides to upgrade a piece of hardware around here, sometimes we lose connectiv

        • Re:I am in Indonesia at the moment (Score:5, Insightful)

          by varjag ( 415848 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @10:28AM (#7638762)
          That's a serious non sequitor. In my 12 years of "free" public education, I never took a class that taught anything about TCP/IP.

          It taught you at least to read, write and some math, which is a prerequisite for learning any technology, but you seem to be taking it for granted.

      • So, here comes Linux on the desktop at least here. Unfortunately, I have been less than impressed with the skill of the IT workforce here (at least one network admin I met didn't know what localhost referred to :P) but this is what you get without an affordable public education system...

        It probably has as much to do with English not being their first language as anything, we English speakers don't realise just how biased towards our language and cultures the computer world is.

        For instance fred@foo.ba

        • maybe a 1-1 mappings of the keywords for different human languages, and a veiwer/editor that autoconverts it for your prefered locale, hmmm

          According to a professor of mine, they've tried things like this in the past, with poor results. Although I don't know about Far Eastern nations with non-latin based languages, translating the computer languages simply hindered German and French programmers. He made the point that most musical terminology is based off of Italian words and that we haven't bothered to
      • Unfortunately, I have been less than impressed with the skill of the IT workforce here (at least one network admin I met didn't know what localhost referred to :P)

        You are very unfortunate indeed, to meet such a network admin like that. But in my experience, there are plenty capable network admins here in Indonesia, especially in Bandung, Jakarta, and most big cities in Java.

        Please don't make generalization from a single fact.

      • Anyway, I think that the third world WILL drive Linux on the desktop adoption for some time to come.

        Only provided that the government officials are enlightened enough to see the benefits / not corrupt (example: at the moment many of them are selling public companies to various western companies :( / it happen to suit their agenda.

        But several Indonesian government initiatives that I've witnessed so far still utilise Microsoft's solutions. So I think it's safe to say that Indonesia will continue to stick t

    • Re:Linux's best quality? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SgtChaireBourne ( 457691 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:25AM (#7638173) Homepage
      The Brazilian government [news.com.au] is up and going, too. There may be little or no correlationl, but stock took off [yahoo.com] there, but has been dragging everywhere else. I'd think less of it, but two of the larger European OSS nations, Germany and France, are showing better optimism [zdnet.co.uk] than the UK which has been hamstrung by MS on a few occasions in the last 5 years. It's still possible to drop MS and restore the lead in IT that the UK used to enjoy.

      The same economic benefits apply to rich nations as well as developing ones. However, I'd expect several orders of magnitude greater benefit.

    • The other advantage is that OSS helps to close the gap between the haves and the have nots.

      Good point, but you didn't exactly qualify which side was doing the most movement toward which direction. "Bringing technology" to someone in itself is not necessarily a good thing - nuclear and chemical weapons are technologies but I don't think many people would support that bringing these technologies to everyone is a good idea.
  • The same type of people who built our digital past..

    here's a hint, it wasn't megacorp!

    megacorps just figure out how to make it for the masses...

    • Re:Who will build our digital future? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Junks Jerzey ( 54586 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:10AM (#7638081)
      The same type of people who built our digital past..

      here's a hint, it wasn't megacorp!

      No offense, but have you ever heard of IBM? Or DEC? Or Intel? Or Texas Instruments?
      • But IBM only made the IBM PC because two guys called Steve had started raking in a fortune from the production of a computer put together in a garage.
        • ut IBM only made the IBM PC because two guys called Steve had started raking in a fortune from the production of a computer put together in a garage.

          Wow, you're not up on your computing history. Hint: IBM played a bit of a role in computing prior to the IBM PC.
          • "IBM played a bit of a role in computing prior to the IBM PC"

            I'm aware of that, but the proliferation of the personal computer was a pretty major turning point in our digital past. Hint: Mortals were finally allowed near them.

      • No offense, but have you ever heard of IBM? Or DEC? Or Intel? Or Texas Instruments?

        I think the word he was looking for was "Microsoft".

      • The same type of people who built our digital past..

        here's a hint, it wasn't megacorp!

        No offense, but have you ever heard of IBM? Or DEC? Or Intel? Or Texas Instruments?

        Ummm I think his point is that the Universities the DOD (in the states) and various research organisations had far more to do with creating our modern computer/internet world than all the mega corps put together: and of course he's right.

        I know thats hard for the corporate mind set to swallow, but it's true. Thats one of those thin

      • While I can't provide adequate research to justify it, the parent-parent poster seems to be making the point that without the software, the hardware companies would be up a certain creek. IBM, DEC, Intel, TI, et al, of course, provided a wonderful foundation for the computing industry we have today. Without the hardware aspect, there would be no such industry, and these technologies would be nowhere near as ubiquitous as they are today. However, all these companies would have to admit that, with no softw
    • Hmm. Not a megacorp and catering for a small market... Surely you don't mean SCO? I rather thought they were trying to take our digital future away from us so that we call all join them back in the digital past.
    • "...here's a hint, it wasn't megacorp!"

      I disagree. Megacorp reasearch departments and some great geeks they employed invented many of the things that make up our digital present. Of course, many came from great geeks at university labs too. But the large scale, affordable digital present could not have been achieved without the megacorps.

      "The same type of people who built our digital past.."

      Here I agree. The hobbyist geeks, university geeks, and megacorp geeks will continue to be the source of coo

  • Hmmm... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mirko ( 198274 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:02AM (#7638035) Journal
    I have not RTFA but I would imagine this is about the ever-increasing market share of GNU/Linux.

    Now, I am not actually sure we'll see the day when everybody and their mothers will run Linux as we know it.

    I somehow think that, in the end, Linux will indeed be everywhere but hidden below some proprietary interfaces... Kinda like BSD-under-Aqua = OSX.

    I wish I were wrong but it would still be a nice thing to see both systems coexist this way.
    • You have to see it in their eyes, they have a choice of Linux for free or Windows which probably costs a years money for a poor person.

      Linux might be trickier to use but if it is configured properly and installed in a Cyber cafe it will be pretty simple to use. These people haven't used a computer much, if ever and so they are not used to the Windows way of doing things.

  • Open Source in developing countries (Score:5, Interesting)

    by xeno_gearz ( 533872 ) * on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:07AM (#7638059) Journal
    This is certainly interesting to see that Open Source is being more widely accepted in the developing world. It bring to question, in what manner developers of programs that are not open source will attempt to combat this. Microsoft's recent pricing of Windows OS for only $40 in Thailand [com.com] is an example of these attempts. Will this attempt by Microsoft really have an impact in Thailand, or is this simply an act of desperation? I wonder what the current impact is of computers running Linux in Thailand?

    • Re:Open Source in developing countries (Score:4, Insightful)

      by neiffer ( 698776 ) * on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:14AM (#7638110) Homepage
      I think you are missing the point. Sure, $40 is a bargain to the Western pocketbook, but I assure you it is a hefty price for our brothers and sisters in Thailand. $40 may be several months salary.

      • Re:Open Source in developing countries (Score:5, Insightful)

        by rbp ( 10897 ) <rbp@@@isnomore...net> on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:45AM (#7638336) Homepage
        Microsoft has been engaged in an some agressive pricing tactics here in Brazil for a while now, including in our major universities. They even give their software for free (you know, the first one is always free...), if they think it'll pay off in the future.

        It is therefore important to make the decision people (including the government) realize that price is not the reason why free software is better, specially in schools and government-related projects. Hey, it's not even an important reason, in many cases.

        They have to understand that free software is better because its quality is superior; because we get to see what's inside, so we learn more; we don't have to take anyone's word on its keeping our private data, well, private; we don't depend on a single vendor; we can even start developing our own version, based on what's available, if we want to, thus having complete control and developing our own technology.

        It's just a better idea, pricing aside. If "they" believe price is the only advantage, we're on very thin ice...
        • They have to understand that free software is better because its quality is superior

          This does not hold. I can write a program that I claim to be "all that and a bag of chips" but it simply SEGVs and then GPL it and put it out for people to download. No one uses it because it's just a SEGV maker and no one cares to fix it because it really doesn't do anything. So, we have some "free" software that is junk now.

          Because it is "free software", does not imply that it is superior quality to anything.
      • Point taken, but I don't think I am missing the point. I stated that these are "attempts" by Microsoft. And I still legitimately question as to how much of a penetration of Linux there is in Thailand.

        It does give one pause, however, when you do mention how this is indeed a high price for a person in Thailand. My cousin has been putting together spare computers together from old parts and sending them over to Thailand. Perhaps I should talk about this more with him. It is interesting as to how many of the

      • I was in Thailand not too long ago. Happy to report I found Mandrake Linux running in a few CyberCafe's in Chaing Mai.

        Oh.. and $40 is not equivalent to several months pay to any Thai with a computer. A good meal in a half decent restaurant only costs about $5 sure...

        And most people really can afford to eat.. Especially if they are considering what OS to run.

        over.

        r.

    • Re:Open Source in developing countries (Score:5, Interesting)

      by antiMStroll ( 664213 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @11:17AM (#7639175)
      Microsoft's foreign price reductions will bite them in the ass. American companies and individuals will start asking why they're forced to pay $100 + per seat while those outside Microsoft's native land get away with less than half that. They'll likely be forced to reduce domestic pricing too and it's a question whether their business model can support that. A friend who works in Redmond recently told me the company is become increasingly tight-fisted internally, to the point where this $50 billion in the bank corp no longer buys donuts once a week for developers and that it cheaper for employees to buy some MS product retail than through their employee discounts.

      • Open Source in developing countries-RIAA (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        "Microsoft's foreign price reductions will bite them in the ass. American companies and individuals will start asking why they're forced to pay $100 + per seat while those outside Microsoft's native land get away with less than half that. "

        So when's this argument going to work against the RIAA/MPAA? I'm still waiting.

  • What's the win here? This is not because it's OSS (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Osrin ( 599427 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:07AM (#7638065) Homepage
    We're seeing usage and adoption here because it's free. On the face of it adoptions like this look good but there are no long term plans to educate or update the software that is being used in many of these scenarios... the reality is that vast chunks of the developing world will be dumped in 2003 with little or no sustainable technology future.

  • Isn't this simple logic? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by neiffer ( 698776 ) * on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:10AM (#7638085) Homepage
    OpenSource makes tons of sense in the "developing" and "cybercafe" world for several reasons. The flexibility in licensing and the diminished need for patching over the dialup lines (speaking of remote locations, of course...some of the best public access to the Internet I've seen is outside the traditional developing world) is a great asset to those on tight budgets. However, it goes further than that. As the non-Western economies tend to have a different standard of living, even inexpensive licenses (compared to our costs) could be cost prohibitive. I have a close relationship with some teachers from Belarus and the piracy there is rampid not because people are necessarily out to steal from "the man," but rather a $50 or $75 dollar copy of Windows XP Pro (and come on, other than NFR copies or those that get on reseller deals...it's never that cheap here) would put the software out of reach for all but the elite. That being said, if you want to following licensing (like in a school), the alternative is clear.

  • Open Source is a good thing! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by kbsingh ( 138659 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:16AM (#7638124) Homepage
    About 6 years back I developed and setup a Cyber Cafe management system that ran 100% off Linux and Open Source tools.

    For developing countries like India one of the major advantages of Open Source is the Cost factor and the general commuinity based support avilable for most Open Source platforms. Added to that the fact that things work the way they are supposed to, and you have systems running for well over 60 - 80 days without the need for a reboot / support of any nature. The end result is a winning combination all the way.

    The other major advantage of investing in Open Source is that the younger generation ( who are'nt into the commercial aspects of computing as yet ) grow up and learn within a framework that encourages choice and alternatives rather than constricting you into a predesignated thought process.

    In things as they stand today, we need this kind of liberty of thought and process.

    • Re:Open Source is a good thing! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 05, 2003 @10:13AM (#7638606)
      I have just returned from 5 weeks in India (honeymoon!) and after visiting cyber cafes in just about every place I visited I am not convinced that Linux is making any headway there. I did not see a single install! And every cafe operator I spoke to had only heard of Linux but never seen it. The bottom line for them was why bother using anything other than windoze when it costs circa Rs100 (a little over $2AUD) for a pirated copy and when there is next to no enforcement of licensing.

      Sure this is merely anecdotal and YES, I was kicking myself that I did not extend my trip to get to Linux 2003 Bangalore (not real kosher on a honeymoon...) but nevertheless...

      Similarly in KL (Malaysia). Every s/w package you could imagine for PC and Mac for a mere 10 Ringit ($4AUD) per burnt disc. All sold completely in the open. In fact the tourist brochure on KL that we picked up even mentioned the Plaza (Imbi) that is renowned for selling pirated s/w, dvds et al!
      • One of the major motivating factors for people in the developing countries is price. But there is also the legal issue. With Linux everything is above board. With Windoze, not so sure.

        A lot of cybercafe's that i have been to run Linux at the server end / gateway end. (if ur going to hang around the ones with 3 computers on a single dialup line... then it will be a diff story. )

        On the terminal side, if you look around delhi and chandigarh, you will find that a fair number of the larger ( 15 computer + type
      • This is because in India the govt. is not taking strong measures to curtail s/w piracy. <P>
        All the generations from 1993 onward have been raised on pirated copies of Win 3.x right upto XP. So the inertia in adopting linux is because windows is available for free.<P>
        Once indian govt. starts to come down on piracy just as US govt. , you will see a lot of adaptation of linux. This has already started to happen in schools and colleges where in past pirated s/w was the defacto standard. Now faced wit
    • Great points. I have one to add regarding the younger generation. OSS promotes learning about how a computer actually works. This is diametrically opposed to what the MegaCorps want.

      Just my $0.02, but keep in mind; I am an MCSE yet I have learned more about computers in the last five years that I have used Linux than the ~12 years using DOS and Windoze.

      • OSS promotes learning about how a computer actually works. This is diametrically opposed to what the MegaCorps want.

        It isn't necessarily about "what the MegaCorps want". Are you sure that everyone must know how a computer works in order to use one? Are you sure that they even care how the thing works? Why do PlayStations and such outsell PCs historically by orders of magnitude?

        The "common" person just wants the thing to work. The thing is magic to them as far as they are concerned. Do they know how
        • Not sure how my comment got modded down as a troll and yours did not.....

          Anyway, I would agree with you under normal circumstances. Joe Consumer has no interest in what goes on underneath the hood (car, computer, whatever). However, the article (you did RTFA, right?) is about how OSS can help developing countries. My comment was derived directly from the parent posters comment - "The other major advantage of investing in Open Source is that the younger generation ( who are'nt into the commercial aspects of
          • In the past(5+ years ago, I would say), console games sold well compared to personal computers (to home users). This definitely isn't the case anymore as the popularity of the web has caused more computers to be sold to home users. So, the tables have turned in the past 5 years or so I think. Five years ago, how many families do you know who had PlayStations or some form of Nintendo compared with those who had PCs?

            Anyway, just from recent years showing the PCs winning over the consoles, a quick web sear
            • I would agree with you about the 5+ years thing. I guess to be accurate, one would also have to decide whether the Commodore/TI/Tandy etc computers were computers or video games. I had a Commodore 64 back in the day that I used to program BASIC programs. The rest of the family just plugged in the cartridges and joysticks. Also, to be honest, I never considered the Gameboys and such, but if you include them can you include cell-phones, pagers, etc that have games built in as console games, or are they comput

    • About 6 years back I developed and setup a Cyber Cafe management system that ran 100% off Linux and Open Source tools.

      I'd like to see that. Is it available on the web?
      • About 6 years back I developed and setup a Cyber Cafe management system that ran 100% off Linux and Open Source tools.

        Yep, I'd like to see that too. [ I was kinda disappointed that no link was provided, you seem'd to be gearing up to provide one, but...]

      • hey!

        Most of it was perl scripts thrown together on a redhat machine and then replicated across to 24 other 'nodes'. The code was all too site specific to really put online for anyone else.

        The Cybercafe itself was called the Login CyberCafe, at Chandigarh. The guys who ran the place shut it down a few years back and moved onto green'er pastures - they now run a call center for American companies!
  • That's the world that many Asian IT companies and deparments live in.

    Just think about that for a minute, and imagine how it would turn your world upside down: People are cheap - servers are expensive.

    In this environment, stuff like Linux makes even more sense than it does in "the west".

    People like TurboLinux [turbolinux.com] and Red Flag Linux [redflag-linux.com] are all over this opportunity here in China and elsewhere in the region.

    • Re:Imagine a world where the big expense is hardwa (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:40AM (#7638278)
      Think about it further....

      I have a large number of NCD terminals I bought for my side business. 20 of these run off ONE dual P-III server. now you dont have to use ncd terminals, old Pentium 100 computers work great for this.

      now I can have one server act as 20 workstations AND a server. no extra cvosts per workstation, and cince I can use throw away hardware for workstations my costs are even lower. (I got the NCD terminals, a pallet of 144 of them for $20.00 at an auction.) if a terminal fails I throw it away, replace it with another and boot.. nothing to restore or set up again.

      this is only possible with linux+OSS. as with windows the same thing would cost many thousands as I would need 2 more servers and 2 licenses per workstation for the OS and apps to do the same thing with the same performance.

      I am selling Open source solutions based on "terminals" and linux to businesses here that the windows people can't even compete with. One Machine shop owner absolutely loves the fact that if a PC dies (rare now) nothing has to be done other than swap the workstation and the user continues to work... no call to me for a service call and having that user down for 2-3 hours. I maintain their system in a contract basis, many things I do over ssh from my home.

      not only asian companies see this as a benefit, but American businesses are seeing that it's just plain stupid to use microsoft products anymore... It's just too expensive.

      • I have a large number of NCD terminals I bought for my side business. 20 of these run off ONE dual P-III server. now you dont have to use ncd terminals, old Pentium 100 computers work great for this.

        now I can have one server act as 20 workstations AND a server. no extra cvosts per workstation, and cince I can use throw away hardware for workstations my costs are even lower. [...]

        this is only possible with linux+OSS.

        Wrong. This is absolutely nothing new. Time-shared servers have been around *long*, *lo

  • What if SCO wins? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by janneH ( 720747 )
    This article made me wonder what might happen IF an outcome of the SCO action is that the GPL invalidated or crippled in some fashion. Could some or most of the rest of the world continue to honor the GPL, while the US does not - that would lead to some real weirdness. Maybe a lawyer can comment.

    • Re:What if SCO wins? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ajs318 ( 655362 ) <sd_resp2@earthshod. c o . uk> on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:52AM (#7638403)
      Thanks to something called "sovereignty" {the international version of "an Englishman's home is his castle"}, if a person in country A does something in country A which is not against the laws of country A but would be against the laws of country B had that person done it on country B's soil, the authorities in country B cannot take any action against that person.

      So even if the GPL is found invalid in the USA {and it can't be - read it, it's airtight} then it still carries weight in the rest of the world. If SCO are to be believed, Linux is in the public domain anyway {and thus can never be copyrighted by anyone}. But it's quite likely that, if anything enters the public domain, it will be SCO UnixWare - either by court order, or by natural lapse of copyright what with the case having dragged on for so long.
    • that would mean that some very basic issues of copyright would need to be defined, and until that the whole usa would be pretty much in a limbo what comes to copyrights.

  • Linux in Venezuela (Score:5, Interesting)

    by armando_wall3 ( 728889 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:28AM (#7638201)

    Venezuela also adopted Open Source [linuxtoday.com] in its government offices like a year ago.

    I've been using Linux at home since 1995, and enjoyed every moment (even the learning, frustrating ones!); and whenever I can, I try to make my venezuelan friends become aware of GNU/Linux and Free (as in speech) Software.

    Back to work!

  • First oficial translation of the FSF (Score:5, Informative)

    by Pope Raymond Lama ( 57277 ) <gwidion@m p c . c o m.br> on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:29AM (#7638206) Homepage
    We were living a dilemma here in Brazil, as our law doesn't recognize a contract written in a language other than Portuguese. On the other hand, the FSF would not recognize any translation of the GPL as official.

    But now it does. As of yesterday, this article [creativecommons.org] at creative commons talks about the very first official translation of the GPL into a language
    other than English. (Full text of the CC-GPL in Brazillian Portuguese is here [creativecommons.org].)

    The news I've read about it also say that there are some modifications to make the license valid according to brazillian laws, but I had no checked this so far.

  • Let me spell it out for you:
    Just like with the oil companies, we will make sure that the third world will remain dependent upon Microsoft.

    Those companies who try to switch their governments over to OSS will find themselves on the wrong side of a communications breakdown--much the same way that the mexicans were left with barrels and barrels of oil they could not give away after nationalising their oil fields.

    Violently over-throwing the peaceful governments such as peru and installing our own stooges (the

  • reading level (Score:5, Funny)

    by thoolihan ( 611712 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:32AM (#7638226) Homepage
    ...software that runs network computers called "servers"

    Finally, an article that challenges me technically.
    -t

    • Re:reading level (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Finally, an article that challenges me technically

      Dude, the Christian Science Monitor is a general interest newspaper. What's more, it is of very high quality, and extremely cheap. Even though it is published by a church, the "Christian" part is negligible (and I'm not Christian). They have a fascinating history [csmonitor.com]. You will be enlightened reading CSMonitor instead of USA today or other tabloid mass market crap.
    • Linux news written for people with such a low level of technical knowledge is good news. Interest in Linux is expanding beyond the realm of geeks.

  • Is this really news? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 05, 2003 @09:35AM (#7638250)
    I'm currently stationed in Somalia in a physician exchange program. While they may not have the most advanced technlogy around, they offer dual-channel ISDN in the capital and dial-up access can be had in most towns.

    While piracy is rampant, most legitimate (i.e. with international connections) seem to prefer Linux due to the prohibitive costs of the MS licensing. Of course there may be some issues when exchanging documents, but these issues are minor.

    From speaking to some of the IT guys is their disbelief that we in North America still choose to spend so much money when there are low-cost options available. I guess it's why we drive SUVs and stuff our faces in all-you-can-eat buffets.

  • U.S. falling behind? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by freedog ( 635260 )
    This is an important development that doesn't get the attention it deserves. Meanwhile, U.S. schools are almost completely dominated by proprietary software -- could it be that in not too long a timespan ( 20 years?) the U.S. will start to become an intellectual ghetto? I mean, the ratio of engineers and CS majors is dropping in this country compared to MBAs/lawyers. Anyway -- here it comes: I for one welcome our new Brazilian street-urchin overlords!
  • Good article, but there was one mistake: "Linus Torvalds took a freely available, stripped-down version of UNIX software and modified it for a PC."

    The stripped-down version he referes to is Minix, a version of Unix written for teaching purposes. It was Minix' limitations, and the author's refusal to accept patches removing those limitations, that led to the creation of Linux. Linux had no Minix code in it.

  • Slashdot readers, I think this is an important article. The main press is starting to grok why open source matters. I urge you to read this article. If you agree with it, please send Mr. Spotts a thank you letter. The open source community, when they are covered at all, is often derided as anti-Microsoft zealots that sit in dorm rooms and turn out substandard code that results in 'free, as in puppy' software and tell all newbies to RTFM. Mr. Spotts reports otherwise. More importantly, he explains why o
  • maybe these things dont matter much in other countries.. i could be wrong though. the gaming industry boasted 17 Billion dollars(how many gamers(PC's?) is this?) this past year and will continue to grow. if linux could somehow get game makers to write for linux then that would be a huge step to the desktop environment. the next step would be to make sure when you buy the game, you pop it in, a window comes up and you click INSTALL and what folder and it installs it and the user doesnt have to do anything mo

  • its isnt necessarily the quality of open source.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by psycho_tinman ( 313601 ) on Friday December 05, 2003 @10:29AM (#7638767) Journal

    The situation in some Asian countries runs counter to this article, at least for the mass adoption of open source.

    Piracy is rampant and the cost of a Windows installation is only around 50c American. Bandwidth is expensive, so downloading a Linux ISO is also prohibitively expensive, definitely more so than buying a pirate CD off the streets.

    Linux distros are pre-pressed and available for sale. However, those distros are usually 3-5 disks (3 for Mandrake,5 for Suse). A Windows install, is the price of 2 disks at most. Everyone has "heard" of Windows, not many have heard of Linux. Therefore, you go with the software that you've heard of, rather than trying out new,esoteric OS and tools. That is why Linux is limited to some corporate servers and hobbyists only.

    Which one is wider used ? Windows, of course. Will that change anytime soon ? Only when there is a crackdown on pirated software.

    • I agree, but I don't agree 100%. For example, single CD's such as Knoppix are but one of many options for cheap distribution of CD's. Also, let's-not-take-a-chance-on-any-but-the-top-seller is a sort of manager-think that might not be so prevalent in places that are struggling to establish themselves technologically.

      But I agree with what you say about pirating in general and I'll take the point even further. Pirated proprietary cds "compete" quite aggressively with open source everywhere. And yes, I'm
  • I'm very sceptical about Linux Desktop (for non-corporate use), mainly because of the way linux people look at this - "I develop what I want and need, if you want something else, start coding" and "linux is on the desktop, it's easy, there are no problems, you're stupid and you're lying".

    But I'm extremely happy Linux is so eagerly adopted in the developing world.

    Looking at it from their position it's easy to see why.

    Having to cope with a bit of a learning curve is a small price to pay for being able to w
    • I'm very sceptical about Linux Desktop (for non-corporate use), mainly because of the way linux people look at this - "I develop what I want and need, if you want something else, start coding" and "linux is on the desktop, it's easy, there are no problems, you're stupid and you're lying".

      I think the non-corporate Linux desktop will follow the same trail DOS/Windows did: corporations will install and use them, and then employees will buy "compatible" machines for home. Even now, as the developer communit
  • The MS alternative -

    What are the plenalties for a country who enforces copyright/patents from it's own country but not from others?
  • but... uh... seems the commies like linux. That was a joke... go ahead, mod me down :)

  • MS' agenda is to dominate markets by locking customers into an asymmetric "tech providor vs tech consumer" relationship.

    In short, technological hegemony -- much like the hegemonistic agenda certain elements in the US military-industrial complex are often accused of.

    OSS' agenda, on the other hand, is to empower individuals, and individual nations, to make their own technological choices. So the UN advocates OSS in its WSIS, a move that is vigorously opposed by only one nation: the US.

    The pattern i

  • http://web.idrc.ca/en ev-41815-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

    This HAS to be the best. It doesn't mention in the article, but I am sure I read these were linux powered PCs!

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