Re: [OSS] why building a Free and Open Source community is important

Dear David, All,

I'd be very interested in learning about the status of OSS in Vietnam,
especially about what OSS is produced inside Vietnam (i.e. not by Viet
Kieu) by volunteers (i.e. not paid for with company or project money).

Regarding the application of OSS:
I do not think, that there is a lack of information. But why should any
school, or any public office for that matter, turn to OSS? First they would
face the resistance inside: pupils, teachers, workers know MS Windows, why
should they learn again to use something different? The one who would make
the decision would find it hard to ensure technical support, thus running a
high risk for being blamed for a wrong decision, a failure. Finally, and
not the least, if there is a "project", i.e. the school (or the office)
paying for licenses to use their SW, then there is money flowing. And you
know, that everybody in Vietnam loves, if money is flowing, since money
flows rarely only in the designed channels, but there is always some
spill-over. Since there is no money flowing, if you use OSS, there is
little incentive.....

Bottom line:
IMHO the Vietnamese "system" (societal behaviour patterns, etc.) is as of
now (and most probably not for the next decades) not compatible with the
fundamentals of OSS i.e. OSS has here more disadvantages than advantages
over proprietary SW.

Cheers,
Stefan

At 04:08 21.03.07 +0000, you wrote:
-------------------------
>Hi all,
>
>Free and Open Source software is not a market made of producers
>competing with each others for passive consumers but a mix of following :

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

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