Hello all, I am new on the list and really enjoy your discussions, we do have one in Uganda too called I-Network. The subject of Open Source is indeed a very interesting one for me especially, I am currently running the centre in Uganda "The East African Center for Open Source Software" and have learned lots of lessons, just off my head; I have learned that the applications are more popular at server level and specialized solutions like websites, management systems and others of that kind. When it comes to office (including email, word processing, spreadsheets and presentations as well as media applications), we note that Microsoft has quite a strong hold apple & Linux still run far behind. It is however my belief that for learning institutions, innovation and control it may be wiser to take the open source route and hence this may be the way for Africans since the source code is available for the learners, innovators and controllers to work with. Otherwise the issue of usability is just a mind set one. In Uganda Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop and Ubuntu are fast becoming mans daily bread. Lets see what evolves as many start to provide office applications including the likes of google. Kind regards Richard On Wed, 2010-06-02 at 05:34 -0700, Sam Aguyo wrote:
Hello Mr Ikua,
Indeed this is a paradox in a sense. The bottom line would be to ask why do we do it Kenya does it mean that there is more in the open source that people are not comfortable with. There are for sure underlying issues that needs to be investigated.
Regards,
Sam
______________________________________________________________________ From: "ikua@lpakenya.org" <ikua@lpakenya.org> To: saguyo@yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Mon, May 31, 2010 5:20:37 PM Subject: [kictanet] Lessons from Idlelo4
Dear Listers, I have always wondered why it is that it is mainly the rich and developed/developing nations that see the value of adopting open source in their governments. I was reminded of this in the just concluded Idlelo4 conference in Accra, where we were shown a study conducted by the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS.org). The poor nations are still paying the price of proprietary software.
Read more on my blog here: http://www.ict-innovation.fossfa.net/blog/ikua
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: saguyo@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/saguyo% 40yahoo.com
_______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
This message was sent to: okuti@asili.co.ug Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/okuti%40asili.co.ug
-- Asili Marketing & ICT - “Website & e-Solutions, Marketing Communications and Graduate Placement" Tel +256 312 294857/1 and Mobile +256 772 725252 (Uganda)