Free and Open Source Software ; challenges and opportunities in telecentres

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 30, 2009 at 4:05am

Let's try to delve on focus questions about Free and Open Source Software at:

FOSS Forward
http://telecentrecommunity.ning.com/forum/topics/foss-forward?xg_so...

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 31, 2009 at 4:39am

It would be helpful for all our members here to have a compilation of answers to these focus questions on FOSS.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Nassali on January 5, 2010 at 1:34am

Hello Wandila, good discussion going on here. In East Africa, we have the East African Centre for Open Source Soft Wares based in Uganda.

The project is the outcome of a research conducted in 2003 by IICD focusing on the status of Open Source in Africa. The main conclusion of the conducted research was: Africa is in need for more certified Open Source System developers and system administrators. For instance in Uganda the server environment of most Ministries and ISP’s are running on Linux. However: Support personnel have to be flown in from abroad (expensive consultants from Europe and USA).

Supported by IICD a joint venture was set up between Martyrs University and Linux Solutions Ltd which led to the establishment of a non-governmental organization called the East Africa Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS). The goals are to raise awareness about the benefits of OSS and to train system and network administrators throughout the East African region through a Training Centre and Resource Centre. Although training activities at EACOSS got off to a slow start, by June 2005 a break-even point had been reached. Internet café activities got underway and the www.eocoss.org website has been revamped (offering Linux distributions etc..).

More information can be got @; http://www.iicd.org/projects/uganda-eacoss

Advantages of open source software
Motivations for using and developing open source software are mixed, ranging from philosophical and ethical reasons to pure practical issues.

Usually, the first perceived advantage of open source models is the fact that open source software is made available gratis or at a low cost. But this characteristic is not exclusive to open source software, and several proprietary software products are made available in similar ways.

The availability of the source code and the right to modify it is very important. It enables the unlimited tuning and improvement of a software product. It also makes it possible to port the code to new hardware, to adapt it to changing conditions, and to reach a detailed understanding of how the system works.

The right to redistribute modifications and improvements to the code, and to reuse other open source code, permits all the advantages due to the modifiability of the software to be shared by large communities. This is usually the point that differentiates open source software licences from ``nearly free'' ones. In substance, the fact that redistribution rights cannot be revoked, and that they are universal, is what attracts a substantial crowd of developers to work around open source software projects.

However, there are some disadvantages associated with these software some of which include;
There is no guarantee that development will happen. In other words: it is not possible to know if a project will ever reach a usable stage, and even if it reaches it, it may die later if there is not enough interest. Of course, this is also a problem with proprietary software, but it is more evident in the case of open source.

Projects can die. Just as with commercial applications, some Open Source projects stall and die - programmers just lose interest with being involved or they become fraught with infighting; arresting further development. You may be left using an application that is full of security bugs, with no-one to fix them; or if you can get them fixed, it will usually require paying someone to do it.

Considering the above mentioned, it is extremely important to `see' through the various interpretations of the advantages and disadvantages of open source, and if possible try to analyze with quantitative methods if open source can be helpful in a given situation, or for a given user or company.

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Wandila Simon on January 14, 2010 at 2:07am

Hello Sandra,

It is really a wonderful and precise explanation you have given . You have too cited a practical example of what has been done inEast Africa . I have noted two important issues ,that is, deployment and development of open source software. The initiative that was used in East Africa to form EACOSS I suggest should be replicated in other regions as well .Because once local people (nationals ) are trained and equipped with skills to deploy and develop OSS , the opportunities of adoption and adaptation of OSS will be increased and challenges will be decreased. From my experience and observation , OSS can help make the Telecentres sustainable and more useful and make it easy for particular users to find it easy to deploy and develop OSS will be of great benefit .

What are your views in terms of replication of the EACOSS initiative in other regions?

Please share with the community.

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Permalink Reply by Francis Mwathi on January 5, 2010 at 1:39am

Happy new year to all.

It is true as many of you have stressed already that the availability of the source code and the right to modify it is very important. It enables the unlimited tuning and improvement of a software product. It also makes it possible to port the code to new hardware, to adapt it to changing conditions--Telecentre environment, and to reach a detailed understanding of how the system works. This is why many experts are reaching the conclusion that to really extend the lifetime of an application, it must be available in source form. In fact, no application more than 10 years old now survives in unmodified form, while several open source software systems from the 1980s are still in widespread use (although in many cases conveniently adapted to new environments). Source code availability also makes it much easier to isolate bugs, and (for a programmer) to fix them.

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Permalink Reply by Francis Mwathi on January 5, 2010 at 1:39am

Happy new year to all.

It is true as many of you have stressed already that the availability of the source code and the right to modify it is very important. It enables the unlimited tuning and improvement of a software product. It also makes it possible to port the code to new hardware, to adapt it to changing conditions--Telecentre environment, and to reach a detailed understanding of how the system works. This is why many experts are reaching the conclusion that to really extend the lifetime of an application, it must be available in source form. In fact, no application more than 10 years old now survives in unmodified form, while several open source software systems from the 1980s are still in widespread use (although in many cases conveniently adapted to new environments). Source code availability also makes it much easier to isolate bugs, and (for a programmer) to fix them.

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Permalink Reply by Erika Silva Urbano on January 8, 2010 at 12:10pm

In Chile we are instalating 200 telecentres with open source. To us that is sustentable technology :-)

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Permalink Reply by Seuwandi Yapa on March 1, 2010 at 6:57am

Hi,
I would like to share the following link with you all.
http://directory.fsf.org/
This is a link to a "Free software Directory"
check it out :) Hope it will be useful to those who are interested on the free softwares.
Best,
Seuwandi

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Permalink Reply by Dean Mulozi on March 1, 2010 at 9:20am

Dear Simon,
This posting has been very useful to the telecenter community. We will definitely take advantage of the resources.

Dean Mulozi

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Permalink Reply by Wandila Simon on March 2, 2010 at 4:19am

Thankyou Seuwandi for this great link.Its so useful. And Dean I agree with you that we should definitely take advantage of the resources provided in this discussion.

Well Iam impressed with the manner in which the telecentre community members have participated in this discussion . It gives a clear indication of how important it is to consider Open source and free software and its overwhelming benefits. However a challenge of utilising the availability of this software still remains unattented to .Moreso, this point has been highlighted in this discussion.

The question therefore remains. How do we ensure we utilise FOSS and enjoy its benefits?

Lets pick it from here .
Simon

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