After a close look at the ICT Board program for training their "Pasha"
operators especially on the technology to use, I noticed that they are
planning to train them on the ICDL curriculum, which is based on
Microsoft.
What this means is that they are expected to get their Ksh 100,000
loan and then decide whether to buy software or to buy computers, not
to mention pay rent and all other startup costs.
As you can expect, MS will wait in the wings for them to use
unlicensed copies of their software and then pounce on them,
confiscating their computers till they pay up.
Then as happened with the cyber cafes, they will start looking for
Linux installers to migrate them. This will take them back to square 1
to start learning how to use Linux.
My suggestion therefore to the ICT Board is to seriously consider
starting off these guys on Linux and the OpenICDL curriculum, which
will mean that they don't have to buy software they can hardly afford,
or use illegal copies and keep looking behind their backs.
Not to do this will be to encourage use of illegal software and vendor
lock-in. It will also mean that they are setting the stage for mass
failure of the whole project.
That is my humble opinion.
--
Evans Ikua
Chairman
Linux Professional Association of Kenya
Hi Evans,
Perhaps you need to find out from the ICT board what plans they have regarding the software that will be used. It could be possible they have an agreement with M$ to support the project.
In the absence of such an agreement, then I do agree with you that the ICT board consider putting Open Source software (Unix or Unix-like OSes (not necessarily Linux) and the accompanying applications) on top of their agenda as this is definately going to lower the costs of the startups.
However, one issue will come up: Who is going to provide the training based on Open Source software? Are there recognized institutions that offer training based on OpenICDL program in Kenya?
Besides that, let us all not lose sight of the fact that for computer newbies, using M$ would be a lot easier than the Open Source equivalents, especially when it comes to productivity applications. If the entrepreneurs are a creative lot, then they will like Open Source but again it depends on whether they are being given the choice. At the moment, even if that choice was there, it doesn't hold much sway: Microsoft junk is there, seen and tested. Open Source Software is "what they hear about" but haven't seen!
Anyway, depending on what the objectives are, the ICT board should come out clear on what software they prefer and why.
If I was asked, I'd volunteer to train on FOSS, but I'd have to also give the entrepreneurs the benefit of comparison by setting up Windows versus Unix, and demonstrate bit by bit why I believe one is better than the other. At the end of the day, it will all boil down to cost vs creativity, but I wonder whether "creativity" is one of the ingredients the ICT board is out to promote, or worse still, whether software cost is an issue that they have taken into consideration.