Developing+Countries+Opting+for+Linux

Worldwide Technology
=Developing Countries Opting for Linux=

May 27, 2005 4:23PM
Countries that have a socialistic background are far more likely to use Linux, or want to switch, because they see software development as community building and a way keep money in the country.

The Cuban government's announcement it is switching from Microsoft's Windows to Linux reflects an ongoing trend of more developing countries and local governments making the change.

Brazil, India, South Africa, China, Russia and South Korea are only some of the countries already broadly using various forms of Linux on a government level. This growth is going to continue, as governments choose Linux not only because people think it is cheaper, but also for political reasons, said Scott Testa of Mindbridge in Norristown, Pa., a company that sets up intranets for companies.

"With Cuba, there's resentment toward other countries and part of that shows when they don't want to use Microsoft products that are based out of the United States," Testa told United Press International.

Many companies look at having their own operating system to prevent their money from going to an American business, he said.

"It's the equivalent of the space race. It's a source of national pride that they are not dependent on any other country or company," Testa said. "China is saying we're an up-and-coming country and developed countries control their own infrastructure."

Developing countries are less afraid to take chances on Linux, because they do not have information to lose or have to retrain people, he said.

"If you haven't trained a workforce of people on one system it really opens up the possibilities," Testa said. "It's like what we had in the U.S. in the late 1970s through the mid '80s when there were people on every system imaginable."

Marcel den Hartog, an architect at the Computer Associates' Linux Technology Group in the Netherlands, thinks the political motivation to separate from the United States and U.S. companies is what is driving the move to Linux.

"At Eastern European conferences, they talk about not wanting to make Bill Gates richer, they see themselves as liberators," Hartog told UPI. "But the Bill Gates Foundation gives more donations to third world countries. It's more anti-capitalism, anti-globalization."

Countries that have a socialistic background are far more likely to use Linux, or want to switch, because they see software development as community building and a way keep money in the country, he said.

"The more socialist background a government has the stronger they will feel about open source," Hartog said. "They say, 'We pay money for all the software in our schools and all of it goes over to America.' What they forget is that in every country there is a big Microsoft office that is employing people and generating revenue."

Political views on which software to use can lead to bad decisions, he continued. Microsoft is not always the enemy and it offers something that Linux often cannot -- support.

"What's appearing on the horizon is that everyone thought open source was going to be free, so they would save money," Hartog said, "but that's not entirely true, because the software is only a small part of the cost if you have to retrain people and that cost is huge. Slowly you see people realizing that nothing is free."

Because Linux is often developed by groups of volunteers, there is no support offered after the group disbands, he said. If a country wants to run Linux, they need to create their own support system that could cost more than Microsoft did in the end.

"Yes, (Linux) will be stable," Hartog said, "but you do not have a guarantee for support for the rest of its life. Groups are only good for a current project or the next one. Once they disband, that's it. When a system goes down, I don't want to be the one blamed. Everyone wants to point the finger at someone else, and that's the people who support a system. They're not there with Linux."

Without that support, people just have to keep recreating the program in order to understand it, he said, adding this was a frequent problem he encountered on the local level in the Netherlands when he worked for the government.

"Now, in the Netherlands, we have a dog tax -- if you own a dog you pay tax. There are more than 120 different software programs for dog tax in local governments," Hartog said. "The whole idea was that if we build one good product, we'll all use it and get rich -- which is a brilliant thought. Well, no one wanted to support the dog tax program. So you're in a municipality and want to understand the program and you try to call the creator, who is gone. Eventually you can't reach him, so you create your own and you support it, you customize it. This is why there are 120 dog-tax programs."

He said he also is concerned about the nationalism of some of these programs where if the government is running the operating system they could spy on citizens.

"It would scare me if my government could look at and change my operating system. Who would stop them from forcing me to update my computer with software to spy on me," Hartog said. "Linux users argue that everyone could just check their own system, but not many people will ever really do that."

Laurent Gharda, the chief operating officer of Open Country, which offers Linux support worldwide, disagreed. He said he thinks that in many of these countries, private companies are starting to meet support and developing infrastructure needs.

"They're also realizing they need companies to give support -- consulting and implementation groups," Gharda told UPI. "That's where their IT sector is growing."

These companies are more popular locally because they can offer support in their own language and be in the area for on-call help, he said.

"Having a local company, in their area code, in their time zone to offer support will be much more attractive than Microsoft or Novell, who offer excellent support, but aren't really there," Gharda said.

He pointed to Asianux -- an Asian Linux support consortium -- as an example to how separate Japanese, Chinese and South Korean Linux groups have worked together to form an accessible version of Linux, despite political differences, to offer support for it at a lower cost than if they had worked separately.

Gharda and Hartog agreed that for developing countries, Linux often is a better solution, because many of the computers they are using are much older.

"When you have 3-year-old computers they can't run Windows XP, but they can run Linux," Hartog said.

They also make good workstations both in schools, at libraries and for call centers when people do not need to have full-computer use, he said.

"In one project they have installed Linux operating systems on computers in all public libraries," Hartog said. "Everyone gets a public ID and use it to sign up for a certain amount of time and even lessons. The line is out the door at 6 a.m. for the computers. It's been so successful that the Bill Gates Foundation gave them an award for their humanitarian effort."

Gharda said he sees Linux at work in India all the time as it becomes a center for technical support call stations.

"In India there are all these call centers where what they want is a workstation. It doesn't need a browser or Microsoft word and that's where Linux can really come in handy," he said. "It's the advanced office that we have trouble breaking into."

As governments and businesses start using Linux, people will start to use it at home too, Gharda said.

"If someone is using Microsoft in the office than they'll probably spend the extra few hundred dollars to get it at home, but if it isn't there they will pick the cheaper alternative for home where you just really need to word process, surf the Web and maybe make a poster," Gharda said. "That's what is going to appeal to the middle class of 2 (million) to 3 million people in China alone. They have the equivalent spending abilities as the middle class in America and Europe and they are a very hungry population, which is why you see them buying more higher end products."

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