Fishing for Open Source Software in Africa

William Tucker, Marshini Chetty, Gary Marsden, and Gary Olson

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 2 /11

The Plot

• Giving away code for free doesn’t create a situation where Africa can make OSS work

• Why? We don’t yet have the luxury of idle educated time to create/maintain OSS.

• So how do we empower communities to be able to participate? We lose our religion and get pragmatic And we teach them how to fish!

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 3 /11

Give a them a fish . . . .

• Handouts are not the answer - they don’t encourage initiative

• Handing out OSS isn’t necessarily the answer, either, it doesn’t mean they’ll participate in OSS development

• Rather give out the ability to reason about OSS vs proprietary

• Empower people to make up their own minds about what is best for their situation

• Teach them how to fish . . .

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 4 /11

Realities

• OSS exists because $$$ has been dumped into it people with the luxury of time/education Or people being paid to develop OSS

• OSS is mostly written by programmers for programmers

• OSS confused with free beer• OSS has in many cases become a religious issue• People only have morals if they can afford them

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 5 /11

Is Africa ready for OSS?

• Not enough idle capacity, creative class• Not really many experienced Linux/open source

users in Africa• Our application needs not met - who’s gonna pay

people to write these apps?• Still have to pay for manuals, support,

maintenance• Linux not ready for desktop• Little or no awareness (poor education) - this is

changing• Poor bandwidth and connectivity

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 6 /11

Definition of OSSwww.opensource.org

• Free distribution Who’s got WWW here? Not many. CDs ain’t free- have to charge

• Source code availability How many can take advantage of the source?

• Derived works (allow modifications) How many can really change it?

• Integrity of authors source code To guard against “unofficial” changes Difficult to enforce (could be good! - no control)

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 7 /11

OSI Definition continued

• No discrimination against persons or groups Most OSS in English Many efforts to port to local languages However, most people want to learn English For non-local content, local languages could be a Red

Herring• consider text vs visual literacy.

• If they’re going to learn how to use a GUI, language really isn’t the issue

• No discrimination against fields of endeavour This opens up commercial use

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 8 /11

OSI Definition continued

• Distribution of licence • Licence must not be specific to a product• Licence must not restrict other software

License enforcement mechanisms are weak in Africa Automated mechanisms like passport won’t work

because of lack of WWW access

• Licence must be technology neutral Wide interpretation means multiple platforms, too Should not be a religious issue Should be pragmatic

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 9 /11

Sliding scale of OSS

• Moving the boundaries of Open Source• Moving slider on the open source scale• There is a moving border of where OSS

meets underlying sealed code• You can still distribute the OSS part, even

though you may need proprietary code to make it work

• You can even develop code “closed style” and distribute it as OSS

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 10 /11

Pragmatic Reality

• Not so much “get things right” as “get things done”

• When there is hardware out there, it’s 99% windows. That’s just the way it is.

• If you need to start developing applications on Windows to get people started, do it!

• When people are educated, they can chose other platforms, proprietary vs. OSS, it’s up to THEM, not up to YOU!

Jan 14, 2004 Idlelo - Bill Tucker 11 /11

Summary of the Plot

• Choose practical options for software development in Africa Shades of grey Maybe it ain’t pure OSS, but as much OSS as

possible and get the job done

• The main task is education & empowerment Not just “selling” OSS Understanding the various models, how they are

different and how they apply in different situations Get people connected This is how you teach people to fish for OSS