I've recently been told that the Indonesian President has issued an "Instruction" encouraging the use of Indonesian-language computer software in Indonesia. This goes along with various other instructions that attempt to establish programs to make cheap hardware available for the common people; it's a serious attempt to allow ordinary Indonesian people to have real access to the benefits of information technology. I gather the program will involve training and installation around the country, but I don't really know the details. I hope this does actually happen in practice. If you've never been to a developing country, it's probably hard for you to visualise what it's like. Put it this way, those Nike factory workers that everyone keeps getting concerned about are actually reasonably well off earning their USD20 per month or whatever it is. A lot of Indonesians would like to have that opportunity. But try to imagine those people purchasing a licence for MS Office... Or even Windows, for that matter. For people like me, and, I guess, most readers of this mailing list, the prospect of free software is mainly convenience. It's convenient to not have to use crappy software and not be able to fix it. It's convenient to avoid the rent-seeking activities of the folks in Redmond WA. It's convenient to be able to learn good programming techniques by looking at the work of others. But it's not about necessity. If I really needed software, and free software wasn't available, I'd just buy what was on offer from Redmond, or Cupertino, or whoever, as many people do anyway who can afford it. However, most of the world can't afford it; free software is no luxury, it's the only option. I'm told that the existence of AbiWord, which is 1) functional, 2) free and 3) localised to Indonesian was one of the arguments that persuaded the president to invest his own (rather precarious, currently) prestige in the hope of software that ordinary Indonesians can access. I hope you all have a warm inner glow of satisfaction, because you _are_ making the world a better place. Tim -- ----------------------------------------------- Tim Allen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Proximity Pty Ltd http://www.proximity.com.au/ http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/rita_tim/
