I’m sure that everyone who reads this knows of Peru’s letter back to Microsoft. It happened through a visionary leader and put developing countries on the software map of the world. What’s more, Dr. Edgar Villanueva did something nobody else had been able to do – he took on the largest proprietary software manufacturer in the world, and addressed each issue point by point in a manner that left little (if anything) open to discussion. And yet, there is more to this than a simple victory to be written of in Linux journals in developed countries. There’s a market out here, on the outskirts of what some term ‘developed’. However, the market is notably different.

What was a simple article became somewhat entangled when I got a reply by email from Richard Stallman, who advised me that he doesn’t deal with Open Source – instead dealing with Free software. Instead of getting tangled in the ‘Great Non-Proprietary debate’, I have used the term “Open And Free”. This shortens to OAF software, which seems workable. Of course, I expect some flames for this, but – I think OAF encompasses the ideology. Open as in the source, Free as in the ability to change – and passing this along with the license. Semantics mean nothing once the spirit is followed, and the author proceeds with a clear conscience and asbestos underwear.

Key Differences

In what most people consider developed countries, there’s a computer in almost every household, and Internet access is available at a relatively low cost to everyone. Broadband is a consumable just as much as expensive running shoes. In developing countries, this is not the case. Computers cost about the same, but the average income of an individual, when compared to the average income of an individual in a developed country, is lower. The cost of a computer appears to be almost constant. This in itself means that less people in developing countries have computers.

Proprietary software is also the same price – with some added taxations along the way, usually. So, the cost of owning, operating and maintaining a computer is relatively high, once you consider that the relative income is lower. Consequently, software piracy runs rampant where proprietary software is concerned; it’s a simple matter of economics and keeping up with the latest technologies.

If one were to add in the matter of generations – imagine children growing up without a computer in the home. At a national level, a developing country falls behind – they have fallen behind. Of course, the governments can close their eyes to piracy of proprietary software, and the decreased cost of owning and maintaining a computer may be a way to try to catch up with the developed countries. However, it’s illegal and doesn’t really help the countries catch up to the technology of the developed countries. In effect, it actually increases the technological divide between the developed and developing countries.

Because of these differences, there’s a lower education level regarding computers. A local newspaper here in Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad Guardian, dated the 29th of July, 2002. Link no longer available) wrote an article comparing PCs to Macintoshes – yet never thought that the comparison should extend beyond the Macintosh and Microsoft’s Windows. Why is this? Does this indicate a divide between educational levels? That couldn’t be possible. After all, some of the interviewees were certified by Microsoft, and therefore were educated people when it comes to Microsoft products. The investigative reporter, the editor and the public didn’t seem to notice.

Because of this divide, many well educated IT professionals (with Bachelor’s degrees and above, or just certifications) leave developing countries to go earn a living in a developed country. It’s simple economics – the country where they were born and raised could not support them, since businesses had no need of their services – or so they thought. These migrant IT professionals – developers, network administrators, computer engineers and computer scientists – have left to find their market, because their market does not exist within their own countries. This creates a greater divide. The trained professionals leave a void. Commercial, off the shelf packages of proprietary software fill these voids – and marketing and generous donations certainly help.

The impact of the educational divide can be seen in developed countries in underdeveloped areas, but it’s seen more in developing nations. Windows becomes synonymous with PC with sleight of hand marketing (watch closely as my hand never leaves my arm). The Macintosh, where PCs are costly, is a luxury item. And Open Source, until recently, has not been uttered. That is, until this year.

The Benefits

Those of us in the know are familiar with what the ‘Free’ in Free Software symbolizes – it means freedom to change, freedom to innovate, freedom from a monopoly that extends beyond the borders of the United States (though litigation apparently thinks it ends there). It doesn’t necessarily mean free as far as the cost, but it usually equates to cheaper than proprietary software. This means that more people will be able to afford and maintain a computer. More people, therefore, will become computer literate.

Having the source available also does something phenomenal. It creates employment where there was none for developers – therefore retaining the IQ that would have left the nation like so much flotsam (jetsam would apply to people who can afford it). This in turn decreases the educational divide while keeping money that would be used to import software. The economy improves. The education level improves. And overall, things get better in developing countries.

What’s more, the governmental agencies don’t have to worry about whether the proprietary manufacturer is going to require them to update their software next year. They don’t need to keep throwing hardware at software upgrades – which in itself is a big cost reduction. They don’t have to worry that a bug in their software will corrupt or expose critical data, and that they will have to await a patch from a proprietary body that they cannot influence. Increased reliability – completely up to the governments of developing nations with OAF software – decreases the cost. Conversely, if they don’t address these issues, they have increased cost.

A lower governmental cost positively impacts the government budget, which in turn should positively impact the economy, and therefore the people.

Who knows? Maybe some of these countries will suddenly start exporting software, as India does presently. Maybe the next killer application will come from a place that you’ve never heard of before – and the source is available, so someone somewhere else can take it and refine it. Now that constitutes freedom. Therefore, it constitutes OAF on a level that most people in developed countries cannot quantify. It constitutes OAF on a level that most people in developing countries cannot qualify.

The Problems

There are problems associated with Open Source, and these are as complex as the benefits – the sword cuts both ways, and it has no master. The main problem that Open Source software has when it comes to developing countries is that it is unattainable at a different level – educationally speaking, it’s not as intuitive as Windows is for the average person beginning to learn how to use a computer. We who like prompts easily forget that not everyone can (or wants to) grasp the prompt – people want GUIs. On Linux, there are many GUIs available, and they’re improving even while this article is written. However, they aren’t as usable to completely new users as Microsoft’s Windows is. This is being addressed in many shapes and forms, but it’s not quite there yet. And for many new users, the choices of GUIs are confusing.

The average Linux user has to know more than the average Microsoft Windows user at this time, and this creates a larger divide for the developing countries, where there is less of a base of users familiar with either operating system. Furthermore, there are many different distributions of Linux, and this further complicates the choice for new users.

At the same time, marketing campaigns are coming into play that, frankly, are impressive when looked at objectively – from the perspective of a new user. When people buy their first computer, they don’t want to explore it – they want to explore the Internet. The adults want to do work with it immediately – and around every corner nowadays, there seems to be someone willing to train people in how to use Microsoft products. There’s support for Linux in the form of many discussion boards, and new users need to be educated about these things.

The kids want to play games. Games! Probably the most overlooked of all the software done under the GPL, and it’s variants. Kids play games – even big kids. It’s amazing the hoops that children will leap through on a computer to play games – and these games themselves add to the computer literacy of a country, and a generation. When new games come out, they are advertised for Windows mostly, though there are many games on Linux – and the numbers are climbing. Unfortunately, they aren’t as publicized as they should be. Often one hears, “I want Windows XP so I can play games.”, but the author has never heard “I want a computer with Linux so I can play Doom!”.