Liberation Technology

The recent Finnish study on the
significance of FLOSS (free/libre and open-source software) in
developing countries labels itself version 1.0 and ushers in a new
concept--not free as in beer or speech, but free as in education.
This report, the latest in a series of studies on the impact of
free and open-source software worldwide, focuses on the third
world. It has been sponsored by Finland, home of the Linux kernel.
"This is the beginning. We will put out our findings on the Net and
hope to get ideas on improvements (to the study)", says lead
researcher Niranjan Rajani, originally from Pakistan and currently
based in Helsinki. "This has become a project that most probably
will not have an end. You could consider this report [to be]
version 1.0...this is just a starting point", stressed Juha Rekola
of KEPA, a Finnish network of non-governmental and campaign
organisations involved in the study.Rajani, a philosopher who took to computing to earn a living,
looks at the impact of FLOSS in specific countries, and he also
views the implications of what it means for a cash-strapped
economy. He has few doubts about the usefulness of FLOSS, which he
believes would be "extremely relevant" in any of the poorer parts
of the globe. He says, "Take the example of education. In terms of
computer education, FLOSS has no match. Nothing else provides [as]
much value to learners as FLOSS does. 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."[FLOSS] offers low entry barriers. That's how it should be
described. It reduces the barriers for anyone wanting to enter this
field by making everything open. So much so, that many people fail
to appreciate that fact. Besides, there's the element of cost. Most
of the studies show that, in terms of cost, free and open-source
software is unmatched. Some studies have been made which tend to
show that, in certain cases, FLOSS may have more immediate costs.
But I doubt the seriousness and validity of these studies on the
ground that these studies do not take into account what would be
happening if there was no FLOSS. Where would the cost structure of
the current software be?"Recently, while unveiling the report in downtown Helsinki,
Rajani agreed that "there is no magic bullet or magic wand, and
neither FLOSS nor computers (by themselves) can provide a great
leap into development". Development, he argued, comes about by
humans determined to make changes in the direction they are moving.
"But FLOSS can do wonders in terms of savings (on software),
educating and building a solid base needed for going ahead", said
the 45-year-old Karachi and philosopher-techie.Rajani argues the ideas of free software are spreading to
other fields, as seen in terms of open law, open-source biology,
MIT's opencourseware, e-books put on-line through volunteers under
Project Gutenberg, free dictionaries, the open music movement and
the like. Rajani contends the freedom offered by FLOSS is of
"paramount importance in more than one way" in the third world.
Yet, he says, the price aspect is also "very important, without
which developing nations would not be able to significantly meet
the challenges of the computing age". So, rather than arguing
whether free and open-source software is free beer or free speech,
it ought to be thought of as "free education...in terms of both
freedom [and] price."Taking a broad overview, the study suggests "the situation in
Asia and even Africa can be contrasted to Latin America, where the
contribution of code to FLOSS started much earlier and is duly
noticed and recognised". But Niranjan goes along with the view that
the output of free software and open-source code from Asia "in
coming years (could see) more contributions, and some will excel so
much that they will get attention"."Going through the 20+ countries mentioned in the Asia
report, the highest overall FLOSS-related activity seems to be
taking place in countries like India, China and Taiwan (excluding
Japan, which is not the subject of this study) followed by South
Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, etc.", summarises Rajani. In
Latin America, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina top the FLOSS-related
activity scores, both in terms of usage and code-contribution.
They're followed by Colombia, Venezuela and Peru."Latin American programmers have made significant
contributions to the overall FLOSS projects around the globe",
Rajani confirms. For instance, this Finnish study notes that GNOME,
one of the two competing GUIs available for Linux, was started by
the Mexican developer Miguel de Icaza while he was working at the
Institute of Nuclear Sciences (UNAM-Universidad Autonoma de
Mexico).Latin America also can boast of projects such as Brazil's
CodigoLivre at UNIVATES and the Rede Escolar Livre RS, plus UTUTU,
BioLinux and Via Libre Foundation in Argentina, PHP-Nuke from
Venezuela and INFOMED from Cuba, among others.In Africa, the spotlight turns to the Translate.org
initiative of South Africa, a translation effort to make Linux
available in South Africa's 11 official languages; OpenLab, in
South Africa and Nigeria; SchoolTool; and LinuxLab, among others.
There's also the radio e-mail project in Guinea and the use of
Linux wireless routers to bring in subscribers for an ISP in Ghana.
In February 2003, the Free and Open Source Software Foundation
Africa was launched in Geneva.Interestingly, Rajani points to a recent trend that has seen
South Asians at the helm of a number of important studies on free
software and open source. First it was Rishab Aiyer-Ghosh, in the
Netherlands, who undertook the prestigious study on free/libre and
open-source software for the European Union. In addition, Seema
Arora at Stanford is part of the team looking at what makes
programmers gift their critical code without hoping to earn
millions in return. Now comes Rajani's work.This latest report was funded by Finland's Ministry for
Foreign Affairs and undertaken by OneWorld Finland and KEPA. The
latter two are organisations working in development, a field in
which software--particularly free software--is being looked at as a
tool with considerable promise. Also of note, Peruvian Congressman
Dr. Edgar Villanueva Nunez, well known for his stand on free
software and his legislative initiatives there, was present at the
unveiling of the report.Copies of the report are available at
www.itfirms.co.za/research.html
and
fi.oneworld.net/article/view/56261.
An English language version can be found at
www.kepa.fi/english.Frederick Noronha is a
freelance journalist living in Goa, India.

email: fred@bytesforall.org