->>> SA Government Goes Open Source>>>>>> Sumayya Ismail and Sapa | Johannesburg, South Africa>>> 27 February 2007 09:32>>>
>>> South Africa is joining countries such as Brazil, India and Uganda in
>>> implementing open-source software in all government departments -- and
>>> getting rid of widely used Microsoft Windows desktop programmes that
>>> come with expensive licences.
>>>
>>> Open-source software can be shared by many users without a need for
>>> licences. The actual code can be accessed by anyone to make changes and
>>> adapt it to different situations.
>>>
>>> A Cabinet-approved policy and strategy to implement such software will
>>> lower administration costs and enhance local IT skills, Themba Maseko,
>>> head of the Government Communication and Information System, said last
>>> week.
>>>
>>> "All new software developed for or by the government will be based on
>>> open
>>> standards, and government will itself migrate current software to Foss
>>> [free and open-source software]," he told a media briefing at
>>> Parliament.
>>>
>>> By April, a project office will be set up by the Department of Science
>>> and
>>> Technology, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the
>>> State Information Technology Agency to ensure the smooth implementation
>>> of
>>> the new strategy.
>>>
>>> Karl Fischer, the government's open-source project manager, says some
>>> government departments have already been using open-source software for
>>> "back-end" processes such as mail servers.
>>>
>>> He said the new strategy will place open-source software in all areas of
>>> government. From mail servers to desktop applications such as word
>>> processors, there will be a move towards Linux-operated open-source
>>> software.
>>>
>>> Petition
>>> Last year, Sangonet and other NGOs petitioned the government and
>>> Minister
>>> of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi to adopt
>>> an
>>> open-source software policy following a declaration signed at the 2005
>>> Go
>>> Open Source conference at the Sandton Convention Centre.
>>>
>>> The petition was endorsed by the Centre for Policy Studies, the Freedom
>>> of
>>> Expression Institute and the Institute for Security Studies, among
>>> others.
>>>
>>> It urged the government "to take a stronger, direct leadership role to
>>> the
>>> benefit of all". The government accounts for more than 50% of the
>>> country's ICT use and should set a precedent that favours open source
>>> and
>>> its underlying principles, it added.
>>>
>>> "As a developing country, South Africa, along with all the countries on
>>> the African continent, needs you and our government to act as agents of
>>> positive change in our society and trigger shifts in the ICT market
>>> dynamics, in order to favour the supply of local ICT content, support,
>>> skills and service providers, and to reduce our long-standing dependence
>>> on imports and the negative effects created by this dependence," the
>>> petition stated.
>>>
>>> It further held that in the spirit of broad-based black economic
>>> empowerment, the government had a responsibility to implement
>>> open-source
>>> software and make it easier for other, smaller ICT users to access the
>>> hardware and technical skills needed to sustain it.
>>>
>>> David Barnard, director of Sangonet, says it is possible the petition
>>> prompted the government to implement open-source software. However, the
>>> decision had been "brewing within government" for a while, he said.
>>>
>>> Fischer confirms that it was an internal government decision to
>>> implement
>>> open-source software fully. But, he added: "Obviously we do listen to
>>> what
>>> [civil society] have to say."
>>>
>>> Benefits
>>> Government personnel will be trained to use the new software at the
>>> Meraka
>>> Institute's training centres throughout the country. Open-source
>>> training
>>> materials are also freely available, making them more affordable and
>>> accessible to users.
>>>
>>> Despite these training requirements and other initial costs, Fischer
>>> says
>>> open-source software will be more affordable in the long term. "Our
>>> hardware won't need upgrading
but it would have needed upgrading if
>>> we
>>> switched to Windows Vista. Linux will work out cheaper."
>>>
>>> The cost of Linux is significantly less than that of the Microsoft
>>> licences the government has been paying, he says, although he declined
>>> to
>>> give the actual cost of the new operating system, as it will only be
>>> implemented fully by December this year.
>>>
>>> "Because the whole open-source community is backing us, we can harness
>>> the
>>> whole community to help us," Fischer says. "People are very keen to help
>>> out where they can
and where they can't, we will have to get the
>>> necessary skills, and we have the funds for it."
>>>
>>> Pfungwa Serima, MD of Microsoft South Africa, says the software giant
>>> fully supports the standards on which open-source software is based, as
>>> it
>>> is "in line with our software development strategy in enabling
>>> interoperability between software from multiple vendors, thus allowing
>>> customers to choose the application for their specific requirements".
>>>
>>> Judgement reserved
>>> Though "on-the ground" institutions and training centres are already set
>>> up, Sangonet's Barnard says he will reserve judgement until he sees the
>>> initial roll-out plans. "This is a huge opportunity for South Africa to
>>> make it work
but it may be one of those decisions that were
>>> undertaken,
>>> but the follow-through is just not there."
>>>
>>> Fischer says that along with a cut in costs, the open-source strategy
>>> will
>>> also foster inter-community development, transparency and sharing, and
>>> build local skills to enhance and support the new software. "And,
>>> instead
>>> of giving money away to multinationals, we are keeping it and putting it
>>> to use internally."
>>>
>>> However, Barnard says a major challenge is the lack of public
>>> understanding of the principles of open-source software.
>>>
>>> "The important thing is for people to understand the economic, social
>>> and
>>> other values we could derive from it
and in the bigger mindset is the
>>> creation of an information society in the country. [We need] proper
>>> understanding
the capacity, expertise and political will to do
>>> something
>>> to implement it."
>>>
>>> However, the strategy does "look good on paper", he adds, and its
>>> implementation will "say to the world that South Africa is -- in a
>>> national, political and strategic way -- committed to open source".
>>>
>>> SAPA.
>>> --
>>>
>>>
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