Re: [GKD] FOSS: A Blind Alley for Developing Countries?

[Taran Rampersad]

Hehe... in the developing world, it's only the resellers and businesses
that *might* get audited that care about licenses. And as long as
'pirated' software exists, no amount of lower costing licensing will
help.

It would help if Microsoft actually enforced it's licenses, of course.
But it appears it cannot.


On 11/21/05, Patrick O'Beirne wrote:

> Here are cheaper ways to get MS software:
>
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39236502,00.htm
>
> UK firm sells second-hand Microsoft licences
> Karen Gomm
> ZDNet UK
> November 10, 2005, 16:00 GMT
>
> Microsoft's authorised resellers are shocked to learn that a trade in
> used Microsoft licences is legal. Could this be the start of a new
> business model?


-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.easylum.net
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran

Coming on January 1st, 2006: http://www.OpenDepth.com

"Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo





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Re: [GKD] FOSS: A Blind Alley for Developing Countries?

[Patrick O'Beirne]

Here are cheaper ways to get MS software:

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/business/0,39020645,39236502,00.htm

UK firm sells second-hand Microsoft licences
Karen Gomm
ZDNet UK
November 10, 2005, 16:00 GMT

Microsoft's authorised resellers are shocked to learn that a trade in
used Microsoft licences is legal. Could this be the start of a new
business model?

--
Patrick O'Beirne FICS, Systems Modelling Ltd.
http://www.sysmod.com/ Tel:+353 55 22294
Spreadsheet Auditing Methodology course
Dublin Nov 21, London Dec 1 http://sysmod.buy.ie
   
   
   


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Re: [GKD] FOSS: A Blind Alley for Developing Countries?

[Cornelio Hopmann]

Dear Colleagues,

What we have here are two different views of the same point, yet
separated by a sharp line: potentialities vs. realities.

Let me first express that I can support by evidence in Nicaragua the
situations described by Richard Heeks, i.e. there is - except for
larger, mainly public organizations suited to be sued by BSA - zero
economic incentive to use FOSS as a means to reduce costs.

One might even argue that Microsoft follows a quite 'soft' strategy of
licence enforcement at the borders, backed up by Walmart prices for
educational institutions, precisely to increase the TCO for FOSS, as
FOSS on one side may avoid licence fees but mostly implies extraordinary
additional costs in maintenance, support and training, as you can not
rely on a prepared environment. A perhaps not very 'ethical' but quite
effective strategy of Bill Gates & Company -- with no way to counter it.

Having said that, I would like to turn to the other argument: "Open
Source". Originally, I was a Software Engineer (now some 30 years ago).
Hence I dare to say that those who praise "Open Source" as accessible
for changes by every and anyone -- simply have not the slightest idea
what they are talking about.

I used to give in my advanced Programming Classes the following
challenge: "Here you've got 80 or 120 thousand lines of code in some
High Level Programming Language, split into a couple of hundreds of
modules, thousands of classes and objects etc. Additionally, here is the
outline of a User Manual and some fragments of Design Documents. Please
prepare a documentation by the end of the semester that says which part
of the source code corresponds to which part of the User Manual, and
have ready a short description for each module and each class about its
purpose and function." Groups of 20 to 30 students normally produced
something by the end of the semester, but never something sufficiently
solid to start changing the Source Code. Normally I used to use
FOSS-examples, as the above is the precise description of the status and
quality of 99% of FOSS.

Corollary: Exploiting "Open Source" requires a tremendous learning curve
and a substantial initial investment, only to manage one single system
or environment; so tremendous that whole "for profit" Business-Models
like IBM, JBOSS and others are based on it. They sell you what you need
to manage their FOSS-Software and are making huge profits.

Hence - if taken seriously - it's again a matter of economy, which
model, FOSS or Proprietary - results in a more efficient and effective
system and not a question of ideology whether to prefer IBM over
Microsoft or vice versa.

Maybe the only thing making FOSS a more 'economical' solution is that by
today you've got already a mass of underemployed, badly paid
software-specialists in Developing Countries, who similarly like in the
maquila-industry - make it more affordable to go with FOSS. And maybe
that in doing so, we prepare people to compete in the out-sourcing
market with high level skills and low wages against those from the
North...

These the reasons why I'm using FOSS and Java instead of dot-net and
Visual Basic in our Country Gateway Portal.

Yours,

Cornelio
Executive Director 
eNicaragua




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