Bet you didn't know the Dove was a secret geek, did you? Well, only a dilletante geek. The Dove doesn't actually use Linux, but she likes the idea: open source software, available free to anyone who can get online to download it. Now Software Freedom Day - Aug. 28, 2004 aims to make Linux operating systems and allied software available around the world to people who can't afford to buy Microsoft products.
Here's Linux Egypt, and Linux Israel.
Dan Gilmor wrote "Open Source Helps Education Effort in the Third World" in the San Jose Mercury News last year. He says:
"In Africa, in Asia, in much of the world -- especially in the developing nations -- open source is looking like the best way to usher in the information age. Money, flexibility and plain old independence from a monopolist's clutches are a powerful combination."Around the globe, educators, companies and governments are getting tired of paying the Microsoft tax, which tends to rise inexorably, and sending the money to America. They don't like the upgrade cycle, especially when older computers run Linux just fine. They want to inspire more software innovation at home, and suspect Linux may be the best platform in a world where Microsoft also takes most of the profits in Windows application software."
The Linux site reports:
"In large parts of the world where the average per capita income is often less than the cost of a computer, the current phenomenal price of software turns millions into "pirates". In these parts of the globe, words such as free or low cost are not necessarily associated with low-quality, but offer to include millions who otherwise would be simply left out in the cold. ... "For instance, a couple of hundred thousand copies of GNU/Linux have been distributed across India, through local popular computer magazines, at a price of just around $2. That includes both the cost of a slick magazine and CD. This software can, of course, be legally copied across as many computers as needed. ... "Pakistan Ministry of Science and Technology advisor Salman Ansari says that some 50,000 low cost computers are to be installed in schools and colleges all over Pakistan. These will be PII computers, each being sourced for less than $100 a piece, he says.
The Dove's old Windows NT hand-me-down clunks along, its "borrowed" software sprouting bugs like barnacles. An unused PC running Red Hat Linux hides in the attic, from a phase when hubbie was practicing his Linux skills. I now consider making the switch.
Why are there no other Arab countries besides Egypt participating in software freedom day? Brunei is Muslim, not Arab; Macedonia, India and Nigeria are represented. Are my Arab high-tech brothers (and some sisters) so swayed by the brand Microsoft that they don't consider Linux? Don't Arabs need to wean themselves from American technological hegemony? Just because something is lower priced doesn't mean it's inferior. The technology on a $21,000 Toyota Prius is quite superior to that of a much more expensive Cadillac Escalade.
Catch the wave of the future, folks.
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