FLOSS Portal

Outside the techie community, open source software still isn’t very well known. But don’t let that put you off. Open source is used extensively in ‘back-end’ server systems; for example, more than 60 percent of all websites on the Internet run on Apache, an open source web server application. There is an open source alternative for almost all the software available in the proprietary world.

Here are some reasons why it’s worth giving FLOSS a try.

• You are not locked in to using software from only one software company – One of the pillars on which FLOSS is based is a commitment to the use of open standards. Put simply, what this means is that if you type a document in a word processing package, for example, it will be saved in format that can be opened using any other word processing package. Some proprietary software saves data in a proprietary format, such as Microsoft Word documents (.doc), that can only be opened by people using that same software. This locks you into using that software, because if you were to change you would not necessarily be able to open your old documents (they may lose some of the formatting, for example). An open standard format such as ‘open document format’ (.odf) can be opened by a range of different applications.

• Developing countries can save on foreign imports – Virtually all proprietary software in developing countries has to be imported and most of the licence fees are paid to offshore multinationals

• It’s easier for people to learn computer skills - The free access to open source software means anyone can learn about computers, gain IT literacy skills and potentially earn a living in the IT trade. FLOSS as an excellent system to learn on because the source code is accessible and there is a global FLOSS development network that has archives of technical information and interactive discussion tools.

• It can be localised and translated into local languages – Because the source code is open, users can translate software into their own languages. Being able to learn to use a computer in a mother tongue is crucial to widening the use of computers in Africa. Projects like Translate.org.za have translated open source software programmes into many African languages. For example, OpenOffice.org has been translated into all 11 of South Africa’s official languages.

• It is stable – It is constantly being tried and tested by an open source community comprising millions of people and companies around the world who give their time and resources to ensure that FLOSS applications are of the highest standards.

• It has a better security record and is free from viruses – The accessibility of the source code makes it easier for developers and users to find and fix problems, often before a weakness can be exploited. Also, open source operating systems have a strong security and permissions structure because they were designed to work in situations where many users shared a single server. You will not have to buy separate software to protect you from viruses.

• It will run on older computers – There are many FLOSS applications that work on older-model PCs perfectly well because they do not require enormous amounts of memory to run.

• Community access to computers becomes affordable – The lower costs and the fact that people are encouraged to copy and share FLOSS software makes it easier to roll out community access points to computers.

• You can experiment with FLOSS without actually installing it on your computer – Many Linux Live CDs, such as Ubuntu, make it simple to test drive Linux because it runs directly from the CD without installing to the hard drive. If you don’t like it, you simply eject the CD.

• It can run on Windows – There are open source web browsers (Firefox), office productivity suites (OpenOffice.org and ABIWord) and graphics packages (Gimp and Inkscape) that run on the Windows operating system. There are also business tools, such as accounting applications, science tools, databases and technical drawing packages.

• It’s free to share - FLOSS is normally free or at least much cheaper than proprietary software because you don’t have to pay licence fees, and you are allowed – in fact, encouraged – to copy and distribute it, so you save on the massive costs you can incur by using proprietary software. Most open source software can be downloaded from the Internet at no cost, but if bandwidth is limited, then it can be obtained on a CD-Rom for a small cost.

• There is plenty of support – There are a number of companies in Africa that provide support and services for open source software. There are also Internet mailing lists, bulletin boards or forums that let the entire global open source community see your questions and offer an endless supply of support. Linux User Groups (LUGs), for example, are volunteer mailing lists where anyone can ask questions or even help others with their questions. A significant portion of the support many new users of open source software receive is through their local user group. The major groups in South Africa are the Gauteng Linux Users’ Group, the Cape Linux Users’ Group and the East Rand Linux Users’ Group. It is worth finding a Linux User Group (LUG) in your area (see Tectonic.co.za for a comprehensive list of African LUGs)

• Sources:

1. Open Source, Open Ear, Go Open Source Campaign, www.go-opensource.org

2. Free/Open Source Software. A general introduction. By Kenneth Wong and Phet Sayo, UNDP-APDIP 2004

available from the International Open Source Network website at:

http://www.iosn.net/downloads/foss_primer_current.pdf