You're not the only one.. > Hi Francis, > > A very interesting post. I think its been obvious over the last week > that even the majority of this LUG do not "get" the concepts behind > software freedom and that is very depressing. > > The importance of Free software to a country like Uganda is not that > it is a source of cheap - or even zero cost - software. If Uganda > keeps importing software, be it Free or proprietary then it will never > be able to build a successful software industry of its own. > > Imagine a scenario where the government actively promotes Free > software by only buying Free software from local suppliers, and not > spending money on proprietary American products. Imagine (sorry I'm > starting to sound like John Lennon here) if they deployed this > throughout all the government offices, and government controlled > organisations. If all the schools were mandated to use Free software, > so that those leaving school/university were educated in the use of > Free software, then business would soon see that it was better for > them to use Free software than spend money on expensive American > imports that their staff hadn't been trained to use. The companies > that innovated the most and gave most back to the Free software > community would naturally be the one who won the most contracts, > encouraging healthy competition and innovation, leading to better > quality software engineers. > > I can already hear people saying that this is far fetched and will > never happen. Before you start to attack me again do some research > into what is happening in Brazil, a country that really "gets" Free > software, right from the top down. They have created a thriving local > software industry that is having a knock on effect throughout the rest > of their booming economy. > > However if even the local LUG is against the principles of software > freedom, where people say "I just use whatever the best tool is even > if it's proprietary" "apple products are super cool" "Google has made > Linux closed-source" etc etc then what hope have we of ever convincing > the powers that be to adopt Free software? How many millions of > dollars does Uganda spend on imported American software per year? > Wouldn't it be better if that was spent on a local software industry? > You may say I'm a dreamer but............... :-) > > Thanks > Tim > > > On 8 August 2011 06:07, Francis Musinguzi <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > 1. Despite successes, FLOSS still misunderstood, villianized (Is it possible > > to make some money?) http://goo.gl/9ZhmY > > 2. Katherine Noyes "One of the great things about open source software is > > that it doesn't just bring a wealth of benefits to businesses. Rather, by > > making low-cost, high-quality software widely available to everyone, it also > > has the potential to change lives around the world." http://goo.gl/IPrZJ > > Francis, > > Coordinator, SimuSync > > GridWorX Ltd. > > Blog: blog.simusync.com | E-Mail: [email protected] | Facebook > > ID: SimuSync | FanPage ID: SimuSync1 | Quora ID: Simu-Sync | Twitter > > ID: @SimuSync | Website: www.simusync.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > > The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug > > > > Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] > > Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > > To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug > > > > The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: > > http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > > attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in > > any way. > > > > > > -- > WebERP Africa Ltd > +447710427049 > +256752963327 > +255758554413 > www.weberpafrica.com > _______________________________________________ > The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug > > Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] > Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug > To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug > > The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way. > -- rgds,
Reinier Battenberg Director Mountbatten Ltd. +256 758 801 749 www.mountbatten.net http://twitter.com/batje http://twitter.com/mapuganda _______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
