Asia-Pacific Argues in Favour of Free and Open Source Software

Subject: [bytesforall_readers] Asia-Pacific Argues in Favour of Free and Open Source Software
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 16:13:55 +0530
From: Sunil Abraham <sunil@mahiti.org>
Reply-To: bytesforall_readers@yahoogroups.com
To: bytesforall_readers@yahoogroups.com

Siem Reap (Cambodia), Sept 3 -- Twenty countries joined a three-day Asia Pacific consultation on
Free and Open Source Software, which ended Saturday evening on an optimistic note which saw
non-proprietorial software playing an increasingly important role in this talent-rich, resource-poor
region.

In a historic region, home to 12th century temple structures at a town called Siem Reap, Free and
Open Source Software (FOSS) campaigners, supporters, funders and officials from across Asia debated
the pros and cons of FOSS versus proprietory software. The focus was on development paradigms of
FOSS, open content, e-governance, capacity building, localisation, and more. Participants included
techies, government officials, educators, professionals using and supporting FOSS, and others.

Free software can be used, copied, studied, modified and distributed. It was built by hackers
collaborating across cyberspace, starting in the 'eighties, and today is being seen as a boon for
the countries of the Asia-Pacific, in view of the otherwise high and unaffordable global prices of
software.

Cambodian deputy prime minister Sok An, in a speech delivered on his behalf, argued that Free and
Open Source Software could help Cambodia to have a "lot of savings in license fees", make software
readily available locally and reduce usage costs drastically, eliminate software piracy, and enable
Cambodian students to closely study the software code and "understand its behaviour".

This event was sponsored by UNDP's Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme, and co-sponsored
by the US-headquartered Intel Corporation. Local hosts were Cambodia's National ICT Development
Authority (NiDA) and the Open Forum of Cambodia.

Shahid Akhtar, the Pakistani-born Canada-educated head of the Bangkok-based UNDP Asia-Pacific
Development Information Programme (APDIP), made a short but pointed presentation at the launch of
this event.

Many developing countries are caught up in a vicious circle of poverty and piracy, said APDIP
coordinator Shahid Akhtar, during the conference. "They are too poor to buy proprietory software,
resulting in 'piracy' levels of 90% or more in some countries (of the Asia-Pacific region)," he
argued. Then, countries cannot clean their act on 'piracy' because they are poor.

"Free and Open Source Software provides a way out of this vicious cycle. It also increases the
user's control. It also provides a framework for
promoting intellectual capital, and achieving the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals
(MDGs), which were accepted by countries across the globe", Akhtar commented.

Richard Stallman, the founder of the two-decades-old Free Software Foundation, said at the end of
the conference: "People here represent a broad spectrum in beliefs and their goals. There are people
from both the Free Software and Open Source movements. It looks like we can work together and make
programs that ensure users can be in control of the software they use. I've seen a lot of useful
things come up here."

Building software capacities was also seen as important in a world where this form of FOSS software
-- which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed -- is trying to make its dent in
schools, universities, IT education, government policies and strategies of global agencies.

Localisation -- or translating software into local languages -- was another issue strongly
discussed. There were interesting issues that came up about localisation of software into the Khmer
language.

One of the suggestions to come up was that FOSS needed its "global ambassador" to promote its case.

To facilitate co-ordination regarding the introduction of OSS SW in Vietnam

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