VICTOR VAN REIJSWOUD

ARJAN DE JAGER

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exploring expectations,
achievements and the future

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VICTOR VAN REIJSWOUD
ARJAN DE JAGER

FREE AND
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exploring expectations,
achievements and
the future

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“The box said that I needed to have Windows 98 or better...
so I installed Linux.”
--- CARUS M. (221556)

There, I've said it. I'm out of the closet. So bring it on...
--- Linus Torvalds

Quotes on: http://www.ao.com/~regan/quotes/Linux.html

 9

LIST OF QUESTIONS

1. What is the role of technology for the Least Developed

Countries? .....................................................................................15
2. What is the digital divide? ........................................................16
3. How does access to information relate
to development? An example .........................................................20
4. What are the major challenges for organizations LDC's
implementing ICT4D?...................................................................23
5. What is the role of the donor community in promoting ICT4D? ....26
6. What is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)?.....................28
7. Advantages and disadvantages of FOSS ...................................33
8. Is donated software also free software? .....................................37
9. What softwares are well-known free
and open softwares – desktop? .....................................................39
10. What softwares are well-known free
and open softwares – server? ..........................................................43
11. Who are the main stakeholders in the FOSS arena? ................45
12. What licenses are used for FOSS? ..........................................48
10 List of Questions

13. What is the essence of the GPL? .............................................52

14. What is Open Content? ...........................................................53
15. What are the characteristics of Open Content licenses? ...........55
16. Is FOSS only for LDC's? ........................................................59
17. How can initiatives in FOSS be qualified? ..............................60
18. What are the key examples at a Macro level? ..........................62
19. What are the key examples at Meso level? .............................65
20. What are the key examples at Micro level? ............................67
21. What lessons can be learned from the examples? ....................70
22. What are the major hindrances for the introduction
of FOSS in LDC's? ......................................................................71
23. What does it take to start with FOSS? .....................................74
24. Considering migrating to FOSS? .............................................76
25. Is there hope for FOSS in LDC's? ..........................................78
26. What are the challenges for governments in LDC's?................79
27. What are the challenges for the donor community? ................82
28. What are the challenges for education? ..................................83
29. What can the software industry do?.........................................85
30. What is the research agenda for FOSS4D? ..............................86

Literature and selected readings.....................................................91

About the authors...........................................................................97
Notes .............................................................................................99
List of Keywords.........................................................................103
 11

INTRODUCTION

In 1991 Linus Torvalds used a new paradigm in software

development that is now maturing and has the potential to
change the world. Torvalds developed an operating systems
called Linux. Initially he was interested in developing a small
version of the UNIX operating systems. In order to improve
the software he decided to share the code with the software
community outside the University of Helsinki in Finland.
The software community based approach in the development
of Linux gave the real boost to the Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS1) philosophy, since it was proved that it was
able to produce software that was able to compete with
commercially produced softwares (www.linux.org). The
launch of the first Linux distribution (a combination of the
operating systems and supporting applications) by Torvalds
in 1994 has lead to an explosion new Linux based Open
Source operating systems and application software to run on
the Linux platform. At the moment of writing www.linux.org
lists 220 different (maintained) Linux distributions.2
The FOSS philosophy challenges the general accepted
software development paradigms that are used by companies
of today (Raymond, 1998). Traditional software development
paradigms are based on the idea that software has to be fully
12 Introduction

developed and tested before it is sold in the market. When

the software is put in the market, users can not change the
source code, and mistakes have to fixed by the software
company. This way of working makes the development of
new software a labor intensive and long process. With the
development of Open Source Software, a different route is
taken. The basic functionality is programmed by the
initiator(s) and then made available for others to test, use
and/or modify. Mistakes in the software are not considered
problematic, but are accepted. Since the source code is
distributed, every software engineer can change or extend the
original product. So, where propriety software is developed
in-house and then released, FOSS is under constant
development because anyone in the world can change the
code.3
An important aspect in pro-FOSS discussions is the price.
Not all FOSS is distributed free of charge, and some come
with a price tag, but in most cases it is cheaper to acquire
than proprietary software. The real price difference emerges
from the fact that there not a license fee structure. Where for
proprietary software all the users need to pay a fee, in the
FOSS approach someone buys the software, and becomes the
owner and can start to freely redistribute it to other users.
Especially in larger organizations this can make a huge
difference.
Although a lot has been written about the importance of
FOSS, its advantages and challenges, most is published in
the context of the developed countries: Europe and the North
America. Growing attention is noticed for the strong
developing economies in Latin America, like Brazil, the
Indian Subcontinent, India, and there is a strong promotion
by the Asian-Pacific Development Information Programme
(APDIP) for the use of FOSS in the countries in South East
Asia. On the contrary, surprisingly little has been published
Introduction 13

on the use of FOSS on the African continent. Donors have

promoted the use of FOSS since huge advantages are
expected, projects have been funded, but the actual impact
has not been well mapped.
This book is about FOSS for Development (FOSS4D).
We will focus on the Least Developed Countries (LDC's) and
primarily on the African context. Most of the LDC's are in
Africa. Both authors have worked in this context and
initiated and managed FOSS4D projects in several parts of
Africa. It is on these experiences that we will build and
expand. We are both convinced that FOSS can make a huge
difference for the lives of the people and can greatly expand
their access to information. FOSS will take away the
financial and legal barriers that limit the use of software in
schools, universities, civil society and at government levels.
The book will guide the reader to a better understanding
of the role of FOSS for the development of the LDC's
through a range of questions. The questions are related but
provide answers in themselves. The reader is encouraged to
read the questions in sequential order, but for readers that
understand the potential of FOSS, the individual answers will
help to make their position stronger. The examples that are
used in the book are mostly based on the projects that are
supported by the International Institute for Communication
and Development (IICD) but they are not limited to the work
of this organization.
Finally, this book is mainly based on Free and Open
Content that has been made available through the internet
or otherwise. We have refrained as much as possible from
using Paid and Closed Content as a matter of principle. We
believe that free and open exchange of knowledge is
necessary for the development of LDC's and opening up
content to limited groups of people (i.c. those who can
afford) should be discouraged. We realize that this position
14 Introduction

may (not necessarily) limit the range of the book, but at the
same time it makes all the underlying knowledge available
and accessible for all readers.

Victor van Reijswoud

victor.vanreijswoud@gmail.com
Arjan de Jager
a.de.jager@hec.nl
Free and Open Source Software for Development 15

1. What is the role of technology for the Least Developed

Countries?

KEYWORDS:
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDC'S), INFORMATION COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGIES (ICT), ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT (ICT4D)

Most of the economies in the Least Developed Countries4

(LDC's) are still agricultural economies that try to rush into
the information age. This requires a rapid adoption of all
kinds of technologies.
Information and Communication Technologies are a
relatively recent instrument in the fight to eliminate hunger
and poverty and increase the quality of life of the people
living in the LDC's (Blommestein at al., 2006). The World
Bank in its 2002 Strategy Paper on ICT states that:
“Information and Communication Technologies are a key
input for economic development and growth. They offer
opportunities for global integration while retaining the identity
of the traditional societies. ICT can increase the economic and
social well-being of poor people, and can empower individuals
and communities. Finally ICT can enhance the effectiveness,
efficiency and transparency of the public sector, including the
delivery of social services.” (World Bank, 2002)
ICT4D projects have been implemented in several sectors in
the LDC's and gradually it becomes clear that successes are
possible with ICT, but that the programs need to be designed
and implemented with care. Early enthusiasm and claims that
ICT would prove a silver bullet for development problems
lead to a number of false starts. Many of the problems in the
early period are to be blamed on the lack of experience of
the project managers from both the donor countries as well as
on the recipients side and the fact that solutions that worked
16 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

in developed countries were unthinkingly copied to projects

in LDC's. Over time the program managers have matured
and the uniqueness of ICT solutions for LDC's is gradually
recognized. The last is still underway and this book tries to
contribute to this domain of knowledge. We consider Free
and Open Source Software one of the solutions that may help
LDC's to leap into the information age.
Not all people are convinced that ICT can contribute to
an increased quality of the lives of the people in the LDC's.
There are more important issues to be addressed, critics say.
Daly (2003) puts the point clearly:
“In a fundamental way, ICT's are not going to help these kids.
They can't eat computers, telephones won't make them well.
However, given people, policies and institutions working to
solve the problems of hunger and malnutrition, ICT can make
a difference.”
We do not promote that ICT presents a silver bullet for all the
problems that the LDC's face, but it may provide them with
access to the basic information and tools to make informed
decisions that will trigger new levels of development.

2. What is the digital divide?

KEYWORDS:
DIGITAL DIVIDE, ICT GAP, KNOWLEDGE DIVIDE, ACCESS TO ICT

Regardless of how we measure it, there is an immense

information and communication technology (ICT) gap, a
“digital divide”, between developed and developing countries.
Some statistics published by the ITU quantify some aspects of
the digital divide.5 In 2004:
- the developing world had 4 times fewer mobile subscribers
per 100 people than the developed world;
Free and Open Source Software for Development 17

- the developed world still had 8 times (was 73 in 1994)

the Internet user penetration rate of the developing
world;
- less than 3 out of every 100 Africans use the Internet,
compared with an average of 1 out of every 2 inhabitants
of the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia, the UK and the US);
- there are roughly around the same total number of
Internet users in the G8 countries as in the whole rest of
the world combined: 429 million Internet users in G8
and 444 million Internet users in non-G8;
- the G8 countries are home to just 15% of the world’s
population – but almost 50% of the world’s total Internet
users;
- Africa accounted for 13% of the world’s population, but
for only 3.7% of all fixed and mobile subscribers
worldwide;
- the top 20 countries in terms of Internet bandwidth are
home to roughly 80% of all Internet users worldwide;
- there are more than 8 times as many Internet users in the
US than on the entire African continent.
Relative to income, the cost of Internet access in a low-
income country is 150 times the cost of a comparable service
in a high-income country. There are similar divides within
individual countries. ICT is often non-existent in poor and
rural areas of developing countries (United Nations, 2006).
This is partly due to the lack of infrastructure but another
reason is the relatively high costs: Even when the costs are
the same in both urban and rural areas, income disparities
between rural and urban communities make communication
services more expensive for rural dwellers. Within region in
the LDC's there are also significant differences. Table 1
provides a detailed breakdown of the computer and internet
usage in different areas in the world.
18 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

Computer Use Internet Use

(per 100 people) (per 100 people)
Developing Countries 2.5 2.6
Least Developed Countries 0.3 0.2
Arab States 2.1 1.6
East Asia and the Pacific 3.3 4.1
Latin America and the
5.9 4.9
Caribbean
South Asia 0.8 0.6
Sub-Saharan Africa 1.2 0.8
Central & Eastern Europe &
5.5 4.3
CIS
OECD 36.3 33.2
High-income OECD 43.7 40

Table 1: Computer and internet use in different regions (UNDP, 2006).

There are many definitions of the digital divide and although

they differ slightly, they focus on the access to information
and communication technology (telephones, computers and
internet) and the skills people need to access information and
knowledge that will increase the quality of their lives
(Sciadas, 2003). Access is determined by many variables at
national, community and individual levels. Some countries in
the developing world have such a poor electricity and
internet infrastructure causing computers and internet to be
basically only available in the capital (Best et al., 2007). In
some countries access to internet is so expensive that only
the top-earners can afford it (Sciadas, 2003) and there are
even governments that prefer to limit their citizens in
accessing information on the internet. But even when people
have access to ICT and internet, they still need to have to
skills to use these technologies. Knowing how to switch a
Free and Open Source Software for Development 19

computer on and off does not automatically guarantee an

entrance into the world of knowledge. It is important that
users of ICT know how to use the computer to write a letter
to their representative in parliament, or search and process
information on the internet that will help them to prevent
their crops from being eaten by locust. This last is also
sometimes referred to as the knowledge divide. It is the
combination of access and skills (or better the lack thereof)
that will determine the magnitude of the digital divide.
A special dimension to the digital divide is presented by
the information that is available on the internet. Most of the
information that one finds on the internet is produced by the
developed countries in the North (Europe and North
America). According to the Internet World Stats6, the top ten
languages on the Internet, listed below, account for 81.8% of
all Internet use. English is the dominant language, accounting
for almost 30% of Internet users, with Chinese coming up.
The LDC's have contributed considerably less to the public
information domain. This is partly caused by their limited
access to ICT and partly by the fact that potential
contributors lack the necessary skills to add information. A
result of this is that finding information that can be useful to
the lives of the people and that can directly increase the
quality of their lives is more difficult. The production of
'local' knowledge has been promoted strongly by initiative
like the Development Gateway7 and the Drumbeat8, but there
is still a long way to go.
Free and Open Source Software and Open Content can
play an important role in bridging the digital divide. FOSS
lowers the barriers for people to have access to tools that will
enable them to access information and contribute information
to the public domain and Open Content removes the barriers
that the publishers of information put up to distinguish
people that can afford to pay for information from the ones
20 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

that cannot. We will develop this issue further in the course

of this book.

3. How does access to information relate to

development? An example

KEYWORDS:
ICT4D, RURAL FARMER COMMUNITIES, UGANDA COMMODITY EXCHANGE,
ICT4D CASE STUDY

The role of access to information for the strengthening of

communities can be argued from a theoretical perspective,
but it can better illustrated with an example. Below we will
present a project that is being implemented in Uganda: The
Uganda Commodity Exchange (UCE). The description of the
UCE is based on (Blommestein et al) Case: Combined
Warehouse and ICT-assisted commodity trading in Uganda
A truck loaded with three tons of coffee rocks towards a big
and empty warehouse in Kabwohe, in Sheema district in
southwest Uganda. It is the first delivery coming from three
farmer societies. Instead of selling their coffee by means of the
middleman, the goods stay here till the farmers agree on a
price with the highest bidder on the electronic trading floor of
the Ugandan Commodity Exchange (UCE) in Kampala.

Uganda is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2004,

at the beginning of the project, the per capita income was
estimated to be approximately US$250. Life expectancy at
birth remains low: 43 years in 2002, compared to 47 years in
1990. Similarly, infant and child mortality has not improved
much over the same period and today remains at around 100
respectively 150 per 1,000 live births.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 21

Data on the increase in agricultural production is hard to

obtain but it certain that the increase in agricultural
production is not keeping pace with the growth in population.
The Uganda Commodity Exchange project addresses this issue
as it aims to:

À Establish an efficient communication system to enable

effective collaboration between all stakeholders in the
agricultural sector
À Provide accurate and timely information from all
sections of the agri-industry system
À Enable rural farmer groups to produce and trade in a
more commercial manner

The Uganda Commodity Exchange was first established in

1998 and acts like a stock exchange through the auctions of
agricultural commodities. In 2004 an information system
(IS) was implemented to support the farmer groups. The
UCE-IS informs farmers on a whole host of issues such as
current prices, market trends, and price fluctuations, is
critical as this enables them to make informed decisions
with regard to production planning and pricing. The price/
market information is collected by the farmer groups,
shared, and disseminated using a variety of different
media: announcements posted at the centers, team leaders
linked to farmer groups who distribute the information to
the farmers (traveling from group to group on bicycles or
motorcycles), radio and SMS messages. At this stage the
project reaches three centers with 24 farmer groups, each
group with over 200 farmers, for a total of approximately
4800 farmers.

Analysis of the project impact showed an high increase of

awareness among the farmers about the price fluctuations and
role of the middlemen in the pricing structure of the
22 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

commodities. There are also strong indicators that production

has increased and diversified. One of the participants in the
project stated: “With better prices, our standard of living
will improve and we shall even improve further the quality of
coffee. Later we hope to sell beans, peas and honey in this
way. Everybody will benefit”.

Figure 1: Information Flow Diagram at the Uganda Commodity Exchange.

Evidence shows that if and when farmers are able to access

relevant and qualitative information regarding their production
methods and commodities, they are able to increase their
production levels as well as obtain better prices for their
products. This benefits both the farmers and their families as
well as the national economy. ICT support this in a variety of
ways (Blommestein et al., 2006):

- Providing general information

- Access to new markets
Free and Open Source Software for Development 23

- Empowering farmers to negotiate better prices

- Enhancing position in the value chain
- Optimizing usage and preservation of natural resources
- Support improved (financial) management processes

4. What are the major challenges for organizations

LDC's implementing ICT4D?

KEYWORDS:
LDC'S, BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, CHALLENGES FOR ICT4D, CAPACITY
CHALLENGES, FINANCIAL CHALLENGES

Although ICT is an important tool to bridge the digital

divide, the technology also brings along huge challenges for
organizations in LDC's. These challenges can be divided into
two main categories:

- capacity challenges
- financial challenges

We will address both challenges below.

Capacity challenges

ICT brought new and powerful technology for all LDC's.

Where developed countries had already a relatively long
history in which ICT has gradually been developed and
integrated in the daily and organizational reality, LDC's were
only confronted with it in the last 10-15 years, depending on
the countries. Some countries like Kenya, Senegal or
Zimbabwe had some limited experiences with ICT for some
time, but countries with lower development levels, like Chad,
the Democratic Republic of Congo, or the Central African
Republic have virtually no experience with ICT dating before
the introduction of donor-supported projects.
24 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

The consequence of this late introduction is that there was

no or very limited knowledge infrastructure to support the
use of ICT. Primary and secondary education is not
providing basic computer-literacy programs, universities had
no programs in computer science or information systems (or
outdated and theoretical ones), decision-makers were not
aware of the possibilities that the new technology was to
offer, there were no trained business support and so on. In
other words, the powerful technology landed in a knowledge
and capacity vacuum. Expensive foreign experts were more
than happy to fill in this vacuum.
In order to bring down the costs of development,
implementation and maintenance of the ICT infrastructure,
capacity needed to be build rapidly and with the right
knowledge and skills. 'Old school' university curricula had to
be replaced with programs that provide practical skills to
students in order to be able to play an active role in the ICT
development in the country. In most countries this process is
still underway. Universities are gradually changing the
programs and vocational training is offered for sub-
university level students. Programs like the CISCO academy
program for LDC's are important initiatives to improve the
knowledge and skills levels to the required level.

Financial challenges

The introduction of ICT also brought financial challenges to

those organizations eager to adopt the new technology. Next
to the costs of training and educating people, as we have seen
in previous section, acquiring hardware, ICT governance and
software also poses challenges.
Computer hardware is often a large expense for
organizations in the developing world, when compared to
available financial resources. The costs of a simple computer
(with internet connection and the necessary surge protection)
Free and Open Source Software for Development 25

are often comparable to the annual salary of the person using

it.9 The introduction of ICT, for example in a ministry in a
developing country is accountable for a huge investment,
which is in a lot of cases not available.
Computer software is an often forgotten and
underestimated cost. Ghosh (2003) shows that what the
developed world considers minor costs for productivity
software like Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office,
becomes an exorbitant cost when it is related to the Gross
Domestic Product of the LDC's. In figure 2 the price of
Windows XP is expressed in the GDP Months for several
countries and regions in the world. Prices of commercial
software like databases, learning management systems,
document management systems, software development
environments etc. extend the costs of the ICT far beyond the
investment costs of the hardware.

Figure 2: Price of Windows XP expressed in GDP/capita months

(based on data in Ghosh, 2003).

Increased personnel costs are the last financial challenge that

we would like to highlight. The introduction of ICT in
organization is always accompanied by new internal or
26 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

external staff members providing ICT maintenance and user

support. Users needs to be trained, day-to-day problems will
have to be addressed and solved, server and other systems
will have to be maintained and updated and important
information will have to be stored and protected. Soon after
the first computers are introduced an ICT department is
established. At national levels, the introduction of ICT may
lead to new governing and regulating bodies, and increasing
to the establishment of ICT ministries. These should be all
considered ICT related costs.

5. What is the role of the donor community in

promoting ICT4D?

KEYWORDS:
DONOR PROJECTS, DONOR COMMUNITY, ICT4D PROJECTS, DONOR
RESPONSIBILITIES IN ICT4D

The donor community has an important role to play in

promoting the use of ICT for development in the LDC's. In
general terms, the donor community needs to guide
communities in the LDC's in discovering the added value of
ICT in improving the quality of life .
ICT has a wide range of application areas and the first
role of the donor community is to play a guiding role for
communities that want to explore the possibilities of ICT.
The ICT revolution has brought about enormous changes in
private and public spheres in the developed countries. Access
and storage of information has never been greater and new
information sharing and communication possibilities have
really created a global village. For the developed nations this
has been a gradual change, but the LDC's are confronted with
a almost impenetrable range of possibilities. Many new
entrants are paralyzed by these overwhelming possibilities.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 27

They do not know what and where to search on the internet

and they do not have an informed idea about the range of
tools that they can use. Usually they end up using the internet
for leisure and the computer as a sophisticated (but very
expensive) typewriter. The donor community has a
responsibility to guide LDC's as novices into a new world to
make sure that they are not lost and that the investments are
used in an efficient and effective manner.
This guiding role needs to be geared to discovery of
needs and answers. When confronted with the new world of
information, communication and technology, people first
need to be aware of their needs and desired improvement in
the quality of their lives. This will range from easier
communication means, to access to information about the
price of commodities as we have seen before. At a national
level improved record-keeping of key economic indicators
may be a key need. Whatever it is, the donor will have to
provide assistance to governments, communities and
individuals in revealing and articulating needs and
prioritizing them. Only when the needs are clear the
appropriate technologies can be selected.
Too often the donor community limits its role to a mere
financial funder of the ICT infrastructure. They make
available the financial means for the implementation of the
ICT infrastructure and forget that they have to be a guide to
make the potential beneficiaries discover the potential of
ICT. This approach has resulted in many so-called 'white
elephants', i.e., ICT infrastructures that are not used or fail to
contribute to an improved quality of the life in the
communities they are meant for.
The donor community will have to be serious about the
importance of its role. ICT4D requires specialists that
understand the context and have a good overview of the
possibilities that are suitable for LDC's. Hardware that does
28 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

not last in tropical and/or dusty conditions10 or software that

requires an online activation through a credit-card payment
are typical examples of solutions that are not suitable to be
used in ICT4D. Open and low-cost solutions will have to be
in the toolkit that is presented by the ICT expert of the
donors to the governments, communities and individuals in
the LDC's.

6. What is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)?

KEYWORDS:
FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (FOSS), ORIGINS OF FOSS, PROPRIETARY
SOFTWARE, BILL GATES, RICHARD STALLMAN, FREE SOFTWARE FOUNDATION
(FSF), GNU, OPEN SOURCE INITIATIVE (OSI)

“Briefly, OSS/FS programs are programs whose licenses

give users the freedom to run the program for any purpose,
to study and modify the program, and to redistribute copies
of either the original or modified program (without having
to pay royalties to previous developers).” (Wheeler, 2003)
Finding an agreement on one definition of Free and Open
Source Software has proved to be difficult, but the definition
of David Wheeler provides a good description of the essence
of what FOSS is. It is software that is produced and issued by
a community that likes to have their products open and likes
them to be shared freely with the others in the community. It
argues from the idea of a community that likes to learn and
share without leaving people out. The FOSS community
promotes the growth of knowledge by allowing other
members to stand on the shoulders of the giants in this same
community.
At the philosophical level we find two major schools or
paradigms in the FOSS world: the oldest is the philosophy of the
Free and Open Source Software for Development 29

Free Software Foundation (FSF) philosophy founded by

Richard Stallman. On the other end is the more business-like
approach expressed in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
philosophy.
The Free Software Foundation has a long history rooted in
the academic principles of knowledge sharing. The FSF
emerged in the early days of computer science and computer
industry when sharing software code became a problem and
software gradually became 'closed'. Before this period software
was treated as most academic products. People were sharing
computer code, algorithms or whole programs with their peers.
This sharing was done on the basis that you could use it, but had
to acknowledge the origin of the information, the same way
most of the academic world is still functioning.
The rise of industry and the commercialization of the
computing industry changed this attitude. Sharing was gradually
replaced by protection and academics that promoted openness
had to make way for entrepreneurs that build 'closed'/proprietary
software. By many, William (Bill) H. Gates' now-famous
pamphlet: “An Open Letter to Hobbyists” dated 3rd February
1976, is considered a landmark in this change. In this letter Bill
Gates rails against the prevailing culture of software sharing:
“Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware,
most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid
for, but software is something to share. Who cares if the
people who worked on it get paid?”
The gradual destruction of the software sharing culture Gates
refers to was reason for Richard Stallman, researcher at MIT
Artificial Intelligence Lab to stand up and promote the Free
and Open Source Software development and licensing. He
founded the Free Software Foundation.
According to the FSF, free software is about protecting four
user freedoms:
- The freedom to run a program, for any purpose.
30 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

- The freedom to study how a program works and adapt it

to a person’s needs.
- Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so that you can help
your neighbor.
- The freedom to improve a program and release your
improvements to the public, so that the whole
community benefits. Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.

At the heart of FSF is the freedom to cooperate and

collaborate. Because non-free (free as in freedom, not price)
software restricts the freedom to cooperate, FSF considers
proprietary software unethical. FSF is also opposed to
software patents and additional restrictions to existing
copyright laws. All of these restrict the four basic user
freedoms listed above.11
At the same time the world and the FOSS community is
changing. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has
become an international phenomenon, moving away from
relative obscurity to being the basis of a full blown industry.
Within the context of the approach of the FSF, business
initiatives do not always feel comfortable. The approach of
the Open Source Initiative likes to accommodate this. In the
nineties, this group associated with FSF introduced the term
“open source” to emphasize a break with the pro-hacker,
anti-business past associated with GNU and other free
software projects and to place a new emphasis in the
community on the possibilities of extending the free software
model to the commercial world. The new “open source”
projects exist in the mainstream of the commercial software
market and include operating systems, such as Linux, the
Apache web server, and the Mozilla browser.
The OSI philosophy is therefore somewhat different from
the FSF philosophy:
Free and Open Source Software for Development 31

“The basic idea behind open source is very simple: When

programmers can read, redistribute, and modify the source
code for a piece of software, the software evolves. People
improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. And this can
happen at a speed that, if one is used to the slow pace of
conventional software development, seems astonishing.”
(Wong, Sayo, 2003)
The OSI is focused on the technical values of making
powerful, reliable software, and is therefore more business-
friendly than the FSF. It is less focused on the moral issues
of Free Software and more on the practical advantages of the
FOSS distributed development method. 998, a group
associated with free software introduced the term “open
source” to emphasize a break with the pro-hacker, anti-
business past associated with GNU and other free software
projects and to place a new emphasis in the community on
the possibilities of extending the free software model to the
commercial world. These new “open source” projects would
exist in the mainstream of the commercial software market
and include operating systems, such as Linux, the Apache
web server, and the Mozilla.
OSI defines Open Source as software providing the
following rights and obligations:
- No royalty or other fee imposed upon redistribution.
- Availability of the source code.
- Right to create modifications and derivative works.
- May require modified versions to be distributed as the
original version plus patches.
- No discrimination against persons or groups.
- No discrimination against fields of endeavour.
- All rights granted must flow through to/with redistributed
versions.
- The license applies to the program as a whole and each
of its components.
32 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

- The license must not restrict other software, thus

permitting the distribution of open source and closed
source software together.
This definition clearly leaves room for a wide variety of
licenses (see section 12). While the fundamental philosophy
of the two movements are different, both FSF and OSI share
the same space and cooperate on practical grounds like
software development, efforts against proprietary software,
software patents, and the like. As Richard Stallman says, the
Free Software Movement and the Open Source Movement
are two political parties in the same community.
But FOSS is more than a philosophy, it is also a software
development approach that has resulted in the new and
powerful software, of which some dominate the current
software spectrum.
The changing concept and work approach that is used in
open source software development was well described and
analyzed by Erik Raymond in his book “The Cathedral and
the Bazaar” (Raymond, 1998). The cathedral and bazaar
analogies are used to contrast the FOSS development model
with traditional software development methods.
Commercial software development is similar to the way
cathedrals were built in ancient times. Small groups of
skilled artisans carefully planned out the design in isolation
and everything was built in a single effort. Once built, the
cathedrals were complete and little further modification was
made. Software was traditionally built in a similar fashion.
Groups of programmers worked in isolation, with careful
planning and management, until their work was completed
and the program released to the world. Once released, the
program was considered finished and limited work was
subsequently done on it.
In contrast, FOSS development is more akin to a bazaar,
which grows organically. Initial traders come, establish their
Free and Open Source Software for Development 33

structures, and begin business. Later traders come and

establish their own structures,and the bazaar grows in what
appears to be a very chaotic fashion. Traders are concerned
primarily with building a minimally functional structure so
that they can begin trading. Later additions are added as
circumstances dictate. Likewise, FOSS development starts
off highly unstructured. Developers release early minimally
functional code to the general public and then modify their
programs based on feedback. Other developers may come
along and modify or build upon the existing code. Overtime,
an entire operating system and suite of applications develops
and evolves continuously.
The model of the bazaar is an interesting model for users
and software industry in the LDC's. Since they have not been
involved in the development of the 'software cathedrals' of
modern times, their needs have not been addressed. Requests
like translating e.g. Microsoft Office in local African
languages (even the large ones like Swahili) land on deaf
ears. In the bazaar model it becomes more easy to get the
needs of the LDC's integrated, through collaborating in the
development of new applications or forking12 of existing
applications.

7. Advantages and disadvantages of FOSS

KEYWORDS:
FOSS, ADVANTAGES OF FOSS, DISADVANTAGES OF FOSS, NATIONAL
ADVISORY COUNCIL OF ON INNOVATION SOUTH AFRICA, UK OFFICE OF
GOVERNMENT COMMERCE, SUSTAINABILITY

The discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of

FOSS is a difficult discussion since there are lack of
objective information available. We will therefore list some
of the advantages and disadvantages listed by others.
34 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

South Africa's National Advisory Council on Innovations

summarizes the major benefits of FOSS and the adoption of
open standards and software as promoted in the FOSS
paradigm13:

- Reduced costs and less dependency on imported

technology and skills
- Affordable software for individuals, enterprise and
government
- Universal access through mass software rollout without
costly licensing implications
- Access to government data without barrier of proprietary
software and data formats
- Ability to customize software to local languages and
cultures
- Lowered barriers to entry for software businesses
- Participation in global network of software development
Additional advantages that are identified the UK Office of
Government Commerce (OCG, 2002) are:

- Supplier independence, limiting vendor lock-in

- Patches or updates become available quicker, which
limits breakdowns and security risks
At the same time there are also limitations and drawbacks to
the use of FOSS. The UK Office of Government Commerce
identifies the following factors that my limit successful
implementation:

- Available support for FOSS. In the past years support

has been lacking a professional approach. In recent years
this has improved now that large software companies
like IBM, SUN and HP have started to join the FOSS
movement.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 35

- Finding the appropriate software: Since FOSS is not

'advertised' it can be very difficult to select the
appropriate applications for the task it has to support. A
more active approach is needed from the users.
- Documentation: The documentation that accompanies
FOSS software application is often idiosyncratic and
sometimes non-existent. FOSS developers are motivated
towards the technical aspects of the application than
towards the usability.
- Limited best practices: There are very little known and
documented cases of large scale migration from
commercial software to FOSS.
- Hardware – software fit: FOSS often lags behind
concerning new hardware. This is caused by the fact the
hardware manufacturers fail to release hardware
specifications in time to the FOSS community.

The bazaar method of software development has been proven

over time to have several advantages:

- Reduced duplication of effort: By releasing programs

early and granting users the right to modify and
redistribute the source code, FOSS developers reuse the
work produced by compatriots. The economies of scale
can be enormous. Instead of five software developers in
10 companies writing a single networking application,
there is the potential for the combined efforts of 50
developers. The reduced duplication of effort allows
FOSS development to scale to massive, unheard of levels
involving thousands of developers around the world.
- Building upon the work of others: With the availability
of existing source code to build on, development times
are reduced. Many FOSS projects rely on software built
by other projects to supply the functionality needed. For
example, instead of writing their own cryptographic
36 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

code, the Apache web server project uses the OpenSSL

project’s implementation, thereby saving thousands of
hours of coding and testing. Even in cases where source
code cannot be directly integrated, the availability of
existing source code allows developers to learn how
another project has solved a similar problem.
- Better quality control: “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs
are shallow” is an oft-cited quotation in the FOSS world.
It means with enough qualified developers using the
application and examining the source code, errors are
spotted and fixed faster. Proprietary applications may
accept error reports but because their users are denied
access to the source code, users are limited to reporting
symptoms. FOSS developers often find that users with
access to the source code not only report problems but
also pinpoint the exact cause and, in some cases, supply
the fixes. This greatly reduces development and quality
control time.
- Reduced maintenance costs: Maintenance of any software
package can often equal or exceed the cost of initial
software development. When a single organization has to
maintain software, this can be an extremely expensive
task. However, with the FOSS development model,
maintenance costs can be shared among the thousands of
potential users of a software application, reducing per
organization costs. Likewise, enhancements can be made
by the organization/individual with the best expertise in
the matter, which results in a more efficient use of
resources.

The advantages are alike for the developed and developing

countries, but some have more weight in the LDC's. The most
obvious aspect is the cost aspect, for FOSS users (individuals
and organizations) pay no licensing fee. Cost reduction,
especially recurrent costs, is increasingly important in Africa,
Free and Open Source Software for Development 37

to become less dependent on donor grants. The Total Cost of

Ownership, is often mentioned to be higher for FOSS since
more development time (with expensive developer salaries)
is needed. In the LDC's where salaries are significantly
lower, this may tip the scales to the other side.
However, the “openness” and flexibility of FOSS is more
important when considering the situation at hand in Africa.
FOSS can be customized and constantly revised to develop
and change with the needs of the user. It is only now when
ICT is implemented in the LDC's that the needs and
requirements for the software is gradually discovered.
Moreover, where propriety software is very hardware
intensive, FOSS can be be modified to run on computers that
are “obsolete”. This will limit the need to replace hardware
frequently.
Of all the advantages and disadvantages the open
software development communities may prove the biggest
advantage of FOSS in for the LDC's. Lecturers and trainers
that are conversant with modern software technologies and
tools are often hard to find in LDC's. This has a negative
impact on the development of the technical capacity needed.
Through the participation in bazaar like software development
projects, implicit training in software development becomes
available though other participants, that would otherwise not
be accessible.

8. Is donated software also free software?

KEYWORDS:
PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE, LDC'S, SOFTWARE AS GIFT, PRICE OF SOFTWARE,
BASE OF THE PYRAMID (BOB), UBUNTU

Although it might be clear by now, FOSS is not the same as

donated software. In recent years the software vendors have
'discovered' the potential of the LDC's. The International
38 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

Finance corporation of the World Bank group and the World

Resources Institute (Hammond et al., 2007) estimate the
market for ICT and ICT related services at the so-called base
of the pyramid (BOP) on USD 51.4 billion and growing
rapidly. An interesting figure and the large proprietary
software producers and vendors are rapidly establishing
emerging market divisions to tap into this enormous
potential.
Well aware of the fact that the spending power of these
economies is not yet strong enough to afford expensive
software solutions, offering low cost or free versions of their
proprietary and more expensive commercial software is
considered a viable first step to bind these new markets to
their companies. With success. Several countries in Africa
have standardized their national database systems on
proprietary software, universities have adopted proprietary
tools to support the learning processes for their computer
science students and recently we see the development that in
some countries national computer literacy exams for
secondary school students are only granted on the Microsoft
platform. The decision to adopt the proprietary platforms and
software is justified by idea that the software is donated by
the vendor at a low cost or even free.
This notion of 'free' should not be considered the same as
the notion 'free' of that is used for Free and Open Source
Software. The donated software may not require (much)
investment, but in all other aspects the software is not free. It
cannot be shared with other members of the community, the
user is not allowed to adapt the software to the local needs,
and the costs may be low today, tomorrow the owner of the
software may ask you to pay for its use. In other words, this
can be a free gift that will come with huge future costs.
Where the donated/free software still uses the license to
restrict the user from sharing and redistributing the software
Free and Open Source Software for Development 39

and limits the user from adapting the software to local

conditions but thus getting back to the software producer,
FOSS encourages this. This best illustrated with the text on
the Ubuntu CD cover14:
“Ubuntu is software libre. You are encouraged and legally
entitled to copy, reinstall, modify and redistribute this CD for
yourself and your friends”
and
“Ubuntu will always be free of charge, including enterprise
releases and security updates”
Until software donations are performed under these conditions,
the 'free' will come with limitations and an expiration date.

9. What softwares are well-known free and open

softwares – desktop?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS, LINUX, LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS, PRODUCTIVITY SOFTWARE, USER SOFTWARE,
BUSINESS SOFTWARE, SMALL BUSINESSES, SOFTWARE ALTERNATIVES

Software is an essential element in the operation of every

computer, from PDA to notebook, from desktop to server. At
a general level we identify two types of computer software:
operating systems software and application software. We
could introduce more complex classification of the different
software layers, as the OSI model, but they are beyond the
scope of this book.
Operating systems software is designed the make all the
different hardware components in the computer, as well as all
the peripherals, work together and to make it operate as an
integrated machine. The operating system does interpret
40 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

signals from keyboard and other input peripherals, allowing

the user to input data, to process it in the central processing
unit, store it temporarily or permanently on storage devices,
and provide an output on output peripherals, as screen or
printer.
Linux is considered the main operating systems software
FOSS alternative. Linux is the runaway success of the Unix
world. The term Linux is often used synonymous with the
Linux distribution . The distribution is the Linux operating
system software (kernel) bundled with application and/or
server software. In some cases the distribution is a bundling
of thousands of bigger and smaller applications. There is
however only one Linux kernel and there are many Linux
distributions. The best-know linux distributions15 are listed in
the table below. We have distinguished between fully FOSS
distributions and partial FOSS, where FOSS is combined
with some proprietary elements.
Fully FOSS Partial FOSS
Ubuntu www.ubuntu.com SuSE www.suse.de
Slackware www.slackware.org Red Hat www.redhat.com
Debian www.debian.org Mandriva www.mandriva.com

Table 2: The Major Linux Distributions with their Websites.

Application software is designed to support individual users

or organizations in executing their tasks. Application
software is used on top of the operation systems software.
For most tasks that users perform on the desktop there are
FOSS alternatives available. In the table below we have
listed major tasks of the user and the most important FOSS
alternatives that will support this task.
FOSS is often regarded as software that is designed for the
Linux platform. However this is not necessarily the case.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 41

Many of the FOSS applications work on the Linux operating

system as well as on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
In the table below we have therefore indicated the operating
system the software will work on. We have selected, where
possible, software that works on both Windows (indicated
with W in the table) and Linux (L).16

Task Application Website Platform

Office productivity Open Office www.openoffice.org W/L
suite
Web browser Firefox www.mozilla.org W/L
Email reader Thunderbird www.mozilla.org W/L
Personal Chandler chandlerproject.org/ W/L
Information Evolution www.gnome.org L
Management Kontact www.kontact.org L
(calendars, tasks,
addresses, emails
etc)
Image Editing GIMP www.gimp.org W/L
Desktop publishing Scribus www.scribus.net L
Media player VLC www.videolan.org W/L
Personal Database Open Office www.openoffice.org W/L
Base

Table 3: The Main FOSS Alternatives for the User/Desktop Tasks.

Business software is often more expensive than user/desktop

software and this poses a huge challenge for start up
companies and small and medium enterprises (SME) in the
LDC's. Although they are the driving force of many
developing economies, the profits are small, financial
institutions are reluctant to support investment for these
organizations and therefore large investments in software are
often not possible. However, in order to grow their
42 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

businesses and expand abroad, the SME's will have to

automate. FOSS provides a range of business applications
that provide good alternatives for the expensive proprietary
business software.
Below we present a list of some of the most important
FOSS alternatives for common business tasks.

Task Application Website Platform

Customer SugarCRM www.sugarcrm.com W/L
Relationship
Management
Document Alfresco www.alfresco.com W/L
Management
Financial SQL Ledger www.sql-ledger.org W/L
Management GNU Cash www.gnucash.org L
Project Management Open Project www.projity.com W/L
Gantt Project www.ganttproject.org W/L
Enterprise Resource CentricCRM www.centriccrm.com W/L
Planning (including Adempiere www.adempiere.com W/L
financial
management)
Knowledge pbwiki www.pbwiki.com W/L
management
Web Content Joomla www.joomla.com W/L
Management Drupal www.drupal.com W/L
Web Site Design NVU www.nvu.com W/L
Quanta Plus quanta.sourceforce.net L
Database MySQL www.mysql.com W/L
PostgreSQL www.postgresql.org W/L

Table 4: The FOSS Alternatives for (Small) Business Tasks.

Free and Open Source Software for Development 43

10. What softwares are well-known free and open

softwares – server?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS, SERVER SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE ALTERNATIVES, EMAIL SERVICES,
DATABASE SERVICES, FILES SHARING SERVICES, WEB SERVICES

When using computers in a networked environment, the user

is only confronted with a small proportion of all the software
that is used. To connect and survive in a computer network
the user is connected to one or more servers that contain
information and software. For the user this software is mostly
invisible and applications on the user side are used to navigate
through the network without knowing the networking details.
However, servers are recommended when more computers
need to access the same data, and in many small and medium
enterprises this is the case.
On the server-side, which is mostly operated by the
network administrator or network operator, a lot of different
applications and hardware are used to enable the major
networking functions or services:

- Email services: In LDC's many small organizations use

public email services like Yahoo! or Hotmail. When the
organization becomes more professional services need to
be set up a mailserver to send and receive mail.
- Web services: Many organizations acknowledge the
importance of their presence on the World Wide Web
(WWW) with a website with corporate information
becomes more important. In order to do so, a web-server
needs to be set up.
- File Sharing services: When working in a network with
information and data on a central server, there is need
for file sharing services.
44 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

- Database services: Getting information and storing

information in the business is best done with databases.
When an organization grows, central database systems
will be introduced.

FOSS has a bigger impact on the server environment than it had

in the user/desktop environment. Many system administrators
find FOSS interesting since it offers alternatives that require or
little or no investments (Upadhaya, 2007). Presently, most of the
Internet Service Providers and Telecommunication providers in
the LDC's use FOSS for their servers.

Task Application Website

Mail server Postfix www.postfix.org
Sendmail www.sendmail.org
Web server Apache www.apache.org
Database server MySQL www.mysql.com/
PostGres www.postgresql.org/
File sharing server Samba us1.samba.org/samba/
Content filtering server SquidGuard www.squid-cache.org
Security server NMap www.insecure.org/nmap
Anti-virus ClamAV www.clamav.net
Amavis www.amavis.org
Spam filtering SpamAssassin www.spamassassin.org

Table 5: FOSS Alternatives for the Server Environment.

The server environment is often a major hurdle for

organizations in LDC's since there are limited experts
available that can setup and manage a complex server
environment with all the components above. In the FOSS
world there are some excellent Linux distributions that offer
all the applications that are needed to set up a server.
Currently one of the best examples is SME-Server. SME-
Free and Open Source Software for Development 45

Server provide a distribution that installs out-of-the-box a

webserver, a mailserver, a network file server, a firewall,
content filtering and more. A relatively new direction for
organizations in LDC is to use web-services like Google
Apps.17 This service allows organizations to host their email,
webserver, and most of the other services above for virtually
no costs. The server management is done by Google in an
secure environment in the USA. This not really a FOSS
solution, but very useful in an environment where limited
qualified staff is available.

11. Who are the main stakeholders in the FOSS arena?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS, STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS, SOFTWARE INDUSTRY, GOVERNMENT,
DONOR COMMUNITY, LOCAL SOFTWARE INDUSTRY, CIVIL SOCIETY, LOCAL
BUSINESS COMMUNITY, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

In order to understand the FOSS we need to have an overview

of the different players that participate in the community and the
stakes that they have. The main stakeholders are listed below:
- Software industry: The key players in the FOSS arena
are the software manufacturers, both producing and
distributing proprietary software and FOSS. In recent
years, the proprietary software industry has shown an
increasing interest in the LDC's as a new sales frontier.
Decision-makers and responsible government officials
are approached in order to standardize on propriety
software. Interesting 'free software' deals are offered.
Unfortunately, the FOSS vendors have shown relatively
little interest in the LDC market, with the exception of
Ubuntu.
- Governments: Governments are the central players in
the arena. The other stakeholders fight for their attention
46 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

in order to make them create the 'right' rules, regulations

and laws. In the LDC's governments are mostly corrupt
and therefore the outcomes of the decision making
processes are unpredictable and not transparent (Laffont,
2005).
- Donors18: In the LDC's the power of the donor is mainly
determined by the amount of funds they make available
for development of the key issues in the country. Almost
all donors invest in ICT as part of their approach, but
there are only few donors that are specialized in
explicitly devising ICT solutions for development. In
general donors have good relations with decision-makers
and government officials. Few donors have relations
within the (local) ICT or software industry.
- Local ICT industry: The local ICT industry in LDC's is
often young, immature and with a low level of
organization. Individual businesses and entrepreneurs
are fighting their way into a new market. Because of the
short history of computing in LDC's these businesses are
run by young people, that have recently graduated from
local universities or expatriates that try to capitalize on
the skill and knowledge advantage. In few countries the
ICT industry has organized themselves in industry
branch organizations that are able to put pressure on the
government and decision-makers.
- Local business community: The local business
communities increasingly depend on the ICT climate in
a country. ICT is getting more and more important for
their survival in the global economy and a good ICT
infrastructure is a precondition for their international
success. The local business community do have
influence on the direction of the government policies,
but only to a limited extent.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 47

- Civil society: Like the local business community, civil

society is aware that access to ICT and information plays
a significant role in the country's development. They
will try to influence government and decision-makers to
improve regulations that promote access information and
communication possibilities for all citizens. However,
their influencing powers are limited.
- Educational institutions: The educational system
provides the next generation computer users and ICT
experts in a country. Most universities in the LDC's have
a basic ICT infrastructure, train students to use
computers and offer courses in Computer Science and
sometimes in Information Systems. In an increasing
number of secondary schools students have access to
computer technology and some countries have made
computer studies a compulsory subject for secondary
school students. Governments set the guidelines for
curricula for schools and play an important role in types
of systems and platforms that are used.

Figure 3: Stakeholders and their stakes in the FOSS Arena.

48 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

In the figure above we have displayed the stakeholders

relationships. The arrows display the direction of the
relationships, and the thicker the arrows are, the stronger the
influential relationship is.

12. What licenses are used for FOSS?19

KEYWORDS:
FOSS LICENSES, OPEN SOURCE DEFINITION, GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
(GPL), COPYRIGHT, OPEN SOURCE LICENSE, FREE SOFTWARE LICENSE,
CLOSED SOURCE SOFTWARE

All software comes with licenses. The license protects the

author of the software from others copying the software
without his/her permission. Basically the license is an
implementation of the basic copyright laws that have been in
use for decennia in most countries around the world. This
also implies that copyrights apply, even when they are not
registered officially. When someone writes a small computer
program for the school-bell to ring every 45 minutes for a
period of 10 hours per day, but not on Sundays, the program
is copyrighted simultaneously with its creation and is the sole
property – barring any contractual abrogation of the copyright
– of its creator. This counts for people in Europe, the USA,
Asia and also for work that is done in most of the countries in
Africa.
Open source licenses may be broadly categorized into the
following types: (1) those that apply no restrictions on the
distribution and (2) those that do apply such restrictions. This
has resulted into two licensing paradigms: Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS) and Proprietary and Closed Source
Software (PCSS). Although both types of licenses are to
protect the ownership of the software, they greatly differ in
the extent to which they protect the rights to modify and
Free and Open Source Software for Development 49

redistribute and sell the product as well as the underlying

software code.
The fundamental purpose of open source licensing is to
deny anybody the right to exclusively exploit a work.
Typically, in order to permit their works to reach a broad
audience, and, incidentally, to make some sort of living from
making works, creators are required to surrender all, or
substantially all, of the rights granted by copyright to those
entities that are capable of distributing and thereby exploiting
that work.
Within the FOSS community, we identify two major
trends in licensing: Open Source (OS) licenses and Free
Software (FS) licenses.
FS licenses are the OS approach in its stronger form. FS
licenses propagate indeed complete freedom to use the
software's source code for any purpose and in any
environment. The user of the packages released under FS
licenses are granted complete access to the source code, as
well as the right to all modification, to redistribute copies so
that you can help your neighbor, and to improve the software
and to release the improvements to the public so that the
community can benefit. No constraints are allowed, and FS
licenses in its strongest form, the GNU GPL license, are self-
propagating, id est every modification to the source code of a
package, which had originally been released under GPL,
must be released under the same license. A package released
under GPL can only evolve and be used in other packages,
which are released under GPL themselves. The details for
Free Software licenses are defined in the GNU Manifesto20
and under this license high quality software has been
produced since 1984.
The OS licenses are defined by the Open Source
Definition. The Open Source Definition builds on the GNU
Manifesto, but tries to provide credits to the originator of the
50 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

software and to protect a product that is already in the market

from misuse. At present there are more than 30 different
licenses that are harbored by the Open Source Initiative.
They differ from each other in the extend to which
modification, redistribution and (re)selling of the software is
allowed. Most important, packages released under some of
the OS licenses, which still comply with the Open Source
Definition, do not necessarily have to be released under the
same license. Theoretically, a package released under CS
license could then be built on top of another package released
under OS license, even if the original OS licensed package
has to be distributed along with the added CS components.21
Notwithstanding these secondary differences, FS and OS
licenses are perfectly compatible, and FS licenses are indeed
all Open Source Definition compliant, that is FS licenses are
all also OS licenses, whilst the opposite is not true.22
Within the Closed Source Software community, it is
normal practice that each software producer designs their
own license that goes with the software. Large software
companies like Microsoft and Oracle has specially designed
user licenses, smaller organizations mostly work with
standardized licenses to protect the intellectual property of
their software. More information about the license that
proprietary software producers use can mostly be found on
their website. The information for the Microsoft products can
be found at: www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/
When a consumer purchases a piece of PCS software,
say, Microsoft Excel, he or she acquires, along with the
physical copy of the software and the manual (if there are
such physical copies), the right to use the software for its
intended purpose – in this case, as a spreadsheet program. By
opening the plastic wrap on the box, the consumer becomes
bound by the so-called “shrinkwrap license” under which
s/he is bound not to copy the work (beyond the single copy
Free and Open Source Software for Development 51

made for her or his own use), not to make derivative works
based on the work, and not to authorize anyone else to do
either of these two things. The elimination of these three
restrictions is the foundation of open source licensing.
Over the past decades several a growing number of
licenses have been put forward to protect the products that
are produced in the Open Source Arena. The most important
licenses are:
- MIT
- BSD
- Apache, Versions 1.0 and 2.0
- Academic Free License (AFL)
- GNU General Public License (GPL)
- GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
- Mozilla Public License (MPL)
How can one choose between the type of license required?
First of all in practical and realistic terms, copyright issues
lead their own life in LDC's. Most of the countries in Africa
have a thriving illegal software market. Not only are illegal
copies of most PCS software sold in markets and small
roadside shops, there is also a lucrative business that installs
illegal software and provides maintenance services on it.
The illegal use and distribution of PCS software is
common practice in Africa (and large part of Asia) and there
are good reasons for that. We will list the main reasons:
- There are limited outlets that sell legal copies of PCS
software. One will have to search for 'official' outlets,
while illegal ones are readily available.
- There are limited possibilities for local support –
vendors of illegal software provide better services than
the 'official' dealer. When a help-desk needs to be called
for support, this is in most cases outside the country and
therefore not affordable.
52 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

- Software is unreasonably expensive when related to

income of people. For details, e.g. the comparison of
License Fees and GDP Per Capita by Ghosh (2003).
- Finally, most users are not aware and education on the
nature and implications of software licenses, both Open
and Closed. This is ignorance is made worse since most
computers are bought with pre-installed illegal software
from 'official' hardware dealers.
Second: The choice of the correct licensing model is beyond
the scope of this book. More information can be found at
www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses and www.croftsoft.com/library/
tutorials/opensource/

13. What is the essence of the GPL?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS LICENSES, GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE, GPL IN LDC'S, FREE SOFTWARE
FOUNDATION

The GNU General Public License (GPL License or just GPL)

is one of the foundation Open Source licenses and was created
by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). Characteristic of the
GPL is that it explicitly requires that derivative works be
distributed under the terms of the GPL and also that
derivative works may only be permitted to be distributed
under the terms of the license.
The purpose of the GPL is explained in detail in the
preamble that is attached to the license. The preamble clearly
and concisely sets out the three main purposes of the GPL.
The first, and by far the most important, is to keep software
free, in the sense that it can be distributed and modified
without additional permission of the licensor. This imposes a
mirror-image restriction on the licensee: while the licensee
Free and Open Source Software for Development 53

has free access to the licensed work, the licensee must

distribute any derivative works subject to the same
limitations and restrictions as the licensed work. The second
purpose of the GPL is to ensure that licensees are aware that
software under the license is distributed “as is” and without
warranty. The third purpose (which is really a variant of the
first) is that the licensed software be free of restrictive
patents: to the extent that a patent applies to the licensed
software, it must be licensed in parallel with the code.23
The GPL is one of the most used software licenses in the
FOSS world, but at the same time very suitable in the context
of LDC's. It allows the free distribution of software without
the violation of any copyright laws. It allows the local
software industry to take up a piece of software in the public
domain and start localizing or changing it. The skills to write
software from scratch is mostly lacking and localization
(language, currency, etc) of the software are mostly needed.
The result of adaptation of the software will then again be
available for other people who cannot afford or do not have
the knowledge to make the changes. In this way, software
developers build on the work of others while serving
development goals.

14. What is Open Content?

KEYWORDS:
OPEN CONTENT, FOSS, FREE SOFTWARE MOVEMENT, OPEN CONTENT FOR
LDC'S, GNU FREE DOCUMENTATION LICENSE

When talking about FOSS, one also needs to bring up the

issue of Open Content. The developments in ICT are marked
by the possibilities of greater dissemination of information
and knowledge. Yet at the same time, stricter copyright laws
that have been implemented over the last decennia (Lessing
54 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

2006, 2004) have created an invisible barrier to knowledge

access and creativity in the information age. A number of
scholars have used the metaphor of ‘second enclosures’ as a
way of illustrating how the ‘commons’ of knowledge and
culture are increasingly being fenced by the imposition of
strict property protections on the intangible domain of
intellectual property. It is in this context that ‘Open
Content’ (and also FOSS) have emerged. These initiatives
recognize that the future depends on proactively nurturing a
vibrant ‘commons’ of knowledge and cultural resources.
Open Content derives philosophically from the Free
Software movement and attempts to achieve for the world of
general content what FOSS did for software. The word
‘content’ itself may sometimes be misleading as it refers to a
whole range of subject matter, from music to movies and
literature to learning materials.
The best known example of Open Content Development
is Wikipedia.24 Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free
Documentation License. The encyclopedia’s contents are
written collaboratively by readers and are not subjected to
any formal peer review. Readers can also edit the articles
written by someone else. When using the material one does
not have to pay for the use, but a reference to the source does
need to be made.
A good example of an Open Content project directly
aiming at the Developing World is the Global Textbook
project.25 The aim of the project is to develop, under the
Creative Commons license, textbooks in the area of
Information Systems, Computer Science and Business
Studies that can be used by students in the developing world
to overcome the prohibitive costs for traditional books. The
project also provides the opportunity to use the basic texts
but replace the examples with contextualized examples, i.e.
Examples that reflect the situation in the country in which the
Free and Open Source Software for Development 55

book is used. This is important since business and technology

contexts differ greatly in the developed and developing
worlds.

15. What are the characteristics of Open Content

licenses?

KEYWORDS:
OPEN CONTENT LICENSES, CHARACTERISTICS OF OPEN CONTENT LICENSES,
CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

Most Open Content licenses share a few common features that

distinguish them from traditional copyright licenses. These can
be understood in the following ways (Liang, 2007):

Basis of the License/Validity of the License

While being a form of license that allows end users freedom,
it is important to remember that the Open Content licenses,
like Free Software licenses, are based on the author of a work
having valid copyright. It is on the basis of this copyright and
the exclusive rights that it grants him/her that the author can
structure a license that allows him/her to impose the kinds of
rights and obligations involved in using the work. Every
Open Content license therefore asserts the copyright of the
author and states that without a license from the author, any
user using the work would be in violation of copyright.

Rights Granted

The premise of an Open Content license is that, unlike most

copyright licenses, which impose stringent conditions on the
usage of the work, the Open Content licenses enable users to
have certain freedoms by granting them rights. Some of these
rights are usually common to all Open Content licenses, such
56 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

as the right to copy the work and the right to distribute the
work. Depending on the particular license, the user may also
have the right to modify the work, create derivative
works,perform the work,display the work and distribute the
derivative works.
Derivative Works
Any work that is based on an original work created by you is
a derivative work. The key difference between different
kinds of Open Content licenses is the method that they adopt
to deal with the question of derivative works. This issue is an
inheritance from the licensing issues in the Free Software
movement. The GNU GPL, for instance, makes it mandatory
that any derivative work created from a work licensed under
the GNU GPL must also be licensed under the GNU GPL.
This is a means of ensuring that no one can create a derivative
work from a free work which can then be licensed with
restrictive terms and conditions. In other words, it ensures that
a work that has been made available in the public domain
cannot be taken outside of the public domain. On the other
hand, you may have a license like the Berkeley Software
Distribution (BSD) software license that may allow a person
who creates a derivate work to license that derivative work
under a proprietary or closed source license. This ability to
control a derivative work through a license is perhaps the most
important aspect of the Open Content licenses.

Commercial/Non-Commercial Usage
Another important aspect of Open Content licenses is the
question of commercial/non-commercial usages. For instance,
I may license a piece of video that I have made, but only as
long as the user is using it for non-commercial purposes. On
the other hand, a very liberal license may grant the person all
rights, including the right to commercially exploit the work.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 57

Procedural Requirements Imposed

Most Open Content licenses require a very strict adherence
to procedures that have to be followed by the end-user if s/he
wants to distribute the work, and this holds true even for
derivative works. The licenses normally demand that a copy
of the license accompanies the work,or the inclusion of some
sign or symbol which indicates the nature of the license that
the work is being distributed under, for instance,and
information about where this license may be obtained. This
procedure is critical to ensure that all the rights granted and
all the obligations imposed under the license are also passed
onto third parties who acquire the work.

Appropriate Credits
The next procedural requirement that has to be strictly
followed is that there should be appropriate credits given to
the author of the work. This procedure applies in two
scenarios. In the first scenario, when the end user distributes
the work to a third party, then s/he should ensure that the
original author is duly acknowledged and credited. The
procedure also applies when the end-user wants to modify
the work or create a derivative work. Then, the derivative
work should clearly mention the author of the original and
also mention where the original can be found.
The best-known license in the Open Content domain is
the Creative Commons license (www.creativecommons.org).
The license is based on the philosophy that a large, vibrant
public domain of information and content is a pre-requisite to
sustained creativity, and there is a need to proactively enrich
this public domain by creating a positive-rights copyright
discourse. It does this by creating a set of licenses to enable
Open Content and collaboration, as well as acting as a
database of Open Content. Creative Commons also serves to
58 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

educate the public about issues of copyright, freedom of

speech and expression and the public domain.
The Creative Commons license comes in three main
attributes:
1. Attribution – Gives permission to copy, distribute,
display, and perform work and derivative works based
upon it but only if credit is given.
2. Noncommercial – Gives permission to copy, distribute,
display, and perform work and derivative works based
upon it but for noncommercial purposes only.
3. No Derivative Works – Gives permission to copy,
distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies
of work but not derivative works based upon it.
4. Share Alike – Gives permission to distribute derivative
works only under a license identical to the license that
governs the original work.

Figure 4: Creative Commons license as used by Eric von Hippel's book

Democratizing Innovation.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 59

16. Is FOSS only for LDC's?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS FOR DEVELOPMENT (FOSS4D), DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL, ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT

We may get the impression that FOSS is something that is

only applicable to the situation in LDC's. That is definitely
not the case, however, the LDC's can benefit hugely from
FOSS (Dravis, 2003). Weerawarana and Weeratunga (2004)
conclude on the basis of case study research conducted
mainly in Asia that careful exploitation of FOSS will enable
LDC's to establish a global position in the IT driven
knowledge economies of the future.
Ghosh and Schmidt (2006) list reasons why technologically
advanced and LDC's alike should adopt FOSS as part of their
ICT policies. In addition to the obvious cost-advantages, the
study of FOSS developers and users communities demonstrate
that the process of learning and adapting software enables the
users to become 'creators of knowledge' rather than mere
passive consumers of proprietary technologies. Through a
system of 'informal apprenticeships' where the FOSS
community takes care of the training of novices, local ICT
competencies are being built. This new capacity, combined
with the low entry barriers of FOSS, provides an excellent
starting point for local business development. This link
between FOSS and the rise of small ICT businesses is
important given the tendency of proprietary vendors to ignore
local needs, especially in developing and economically weak
regions.
60 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

17. How can initiatives in FOSS be qualified?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS LICENSES, MICRO LEVEL, MESO LEVEL, MACRO LEVEL, ICT POLICY

The FOSS arena is a complex world. It ranges from

individual developers designing and writing programs that
are offered to the public through a license like the GPL, to
policy makers that promote national ICT policies to be
changed to FOSS based ICT policies. This complexity makes
it difficult to study and report on FOSS4D. Where to begin
and what to address?
When we consider FOSS in the development context we
have to concentrate on multiple levels in order to get a good
understanding of the impact of the different initiatives. The
implementation and the propagation of FOSS is performed on
micro, meso and macro levels. At the micro level we like to
think about individual users or small organizations (< 10
members) that decide for or against the use of FOSS. For
example a user that prefers to use Open Office to make his or
her texts, or a small NGO that decides to use a Linux mail
server in stead of proprietary server software. At the meso level
we consider organizations that take actions to integrate FOSS
into their total software solution. These are organizations with a
more complex organizational decision and governance structure
and in most cases an already established (information/
communication) technology infrastructure. In order to reach at a
decision to implement FOSS, projects will need to have
proposed and approved by the management of the organization.
For example a university that likes to implement an Open
Source Learning Management system like Moodle26 will have to
seek approval at different management levels in the university
(faculty, senate, executive committee, ICT committee etc)
before the project can be started. Finally, the macro level
Free and Open Source Software for Development 61

applies when government policies and actions are

considered. At this level we will also find sector policies like
educational policies that are proposed by government
agencies or industry branch organizations. When a NGO
representing e.g women's initiatives in a country publishes
guidelines and recommendations to their members to use
FOSS tools, we consider this to be an initiative at macro-
level.

Macro level
Topdown effect

Bottom up effect
Meso level

Micro level

Figure 5: Framework for categorizing FOSS4D projects.

When considering the impact of projects, we also identify the

possible effects the initiative can have on other organizations
or individuals. The effects can take place in organizations
and individuals within the same level, but it can also trickle
down or up to the other levels. A school that has a very
successful implementation of FOSS can serve as an example
for other schools (meso level), but it can also make parents
adopt FOSS on the computers at home (when applicable) or
in the internet cafe around the corner, and ultimately, the
experiences at one school may end up on the desk of a civil
servant at the ministry of education who takes it as input for
62 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

an ICT policy for the sector. These effects need to be

promoted in the projects and programs that are initiated. At
the same time we need to realize that not all projects have an
impact as described above. Many individuals and small
organizations that decide for the use of FOSS remain
unnoticed.
In the three questions that will follow we illustrate the
levels with examples that were found on the African
continent. The examples will make the concepts more clear
and provides some empirical evidence.

18. What are the key examples at a Macro level?

KEYWORDS:
SUCCESS FACTORS MACRO LEVEL, BRAZIL, GITOC SOUTH-AFRICA, FOSSFA,
SCHOOLNET NAMIBIA

Governments provide a huge potential for FOSS, not only as

site for implementation for the software, but more importantly
as propagators of the philosophy behind the FOSS movement.
Over the past years, a growing number of countries are
starting to consider FOSS as a serious alternative (Hoe, 2006,
Wong, 2004, Nicol, 2003). Brazil has been one of the
countries that has actively pursued the FOSS model. It was in
Brazil that the first law regarding the use of Open Source
Software in the world was passed in March 2000. The
country is one of the places where policies regarding
adoption FOSS have been successful, notably in the states of
Rio Grande do Sul and Pernambuco. Also, the Brazilian
Navy has been using FOSS since 2002.27
In Africa, the South African government is the forefront
player. In the wake of the developments, the South African
government released a policy framework document in
September 2002 by the open source work group of the
Free and Open Source Software for Development 63

Government Information Officers' Council (GITOC).28 The

GITOC Policy document (GITOC, 2002) recommends that
government “explicitly” supports the adoption of open
source software as part of its e-government strategy after a
comprehensive study of the advantages and pitfalls of FOSS
for government requirements. Next to adopting FOSS
software GITOC also recommends that the government
promotes the further development of FOSS in South Africa.
There is an huge potential role for South Africa's SME
industry in the production and implementation of FOSS as
well as in setting up user training infrastructures. At the same
time, the FOSS approach does represent a powerful
opportunity for South African companies to bridge the
technological gap, at an acceptable cost.
Some success factors need to considered in order to tap
this potential:
1. Implementation should produce value: Value is related
to economic value, i.e., the reduction of costs and
saving of foreign currency; and social value, i.e., a
wider access to information and computer training.
2. Adequate capacity to implement, use and maintain:
There needs to be enough trained people to support
and use the FOSS solution. Training users and
developers needs to have a high priority.
3. Policy support for an FOSS strategy: Support for FOSS
needs to expand to all key players at governmental
level, departmental level, IT professionals and computer
users in general.
Government's Department of Communication has already
begun the move to Open Source by adopting Linux as their
operating system. The South African government plans to
save 3 billion Rands a year (approximately $338 million
USD), increase spending on software that stays in their
64 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

country, and increase programming skills inside the country.

South Africa reports that its small-scale introductions have
already saved them 10 million Rands (approximately $1.1
million USD).
The government of Malawi has integrated the promotion
of FOSS in the Malawi Nation ICT for Development Policy
Document of September 2005:
“Advocate for the use of open source software as a viable
alternative to proprietary software” (Section 3.3.2.1.1)
Other countries are following.
Worldwide, similar moves are discussed by Taiwan, China,
Viet Nam, the United Kingdom and Germany. Unfortunately,
little governments in LDC's follow this direction.
An initiative with good potential that tries to bring
together scattered FOSS society in order to get FOSS on
political agenda is the Free and Open Source Foundation for
Africa (FOSSFA).29 The initiative started as the offspring of
an ICT policy and civil society workshop in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, in February 2003. During the workshop the
participants agreed that FOSS is paramount to Africa's
progress in the ICT arena. The mission of FOSSFA is
therefore to promote the use and implementation of FOSS in
Africa. Herewith it began to work on a coordinated approach
to unite interested individual and to support open source
development, distribution and integration. FOSSFA envisions
a future in which governments and the private sector embrace
open source software and enlist local experts in adapting and
developing appropriate tools, applications and infrastructures
for an African technology renaissance. They support South-to-
South cooperation in which students from Ghana to Egypt and
Kenya to Namibia develop softwares that are then adopted by
software gurus in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda in order
to narrow the digital divide.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 65

19. What are the key examples at Meso level?

KEYWORDS:
MESO LEVEL, IICD, UGANDA MARTYRS UNIVERSITY, SCHOOLNET NAMIBIA

The International Institute for Communication and

Development (IICD)30, investigated the use of FOSS in
organizations in three countries in Africa: Uganda, Tanzania
and Burkina Faso (Bruggink, 2003). The objective of the
research was to find out how, where and why organizations
from all kind of sectors use FOSS, what problems can be
observed and what opportunities for development are
available. The findings of the research show that FOSS in
Africa is being used, but it is not yet very widespread though
there are huge differences between countries. FOSS is mostly
found at the server side of Internet Service Providers (ISP's)
and is sometimes used by government and educational
institutions. This means that FOSS operating systems, mainly
Linux and derivatives, web servers, email servers and files
servers are found where the day-to-day computer users are
not aware that they are actually using FOSS. Large and
hierarchical organizations that have migrated completely
from proprietary software to FOSS (server side and user
side) were not noted in the report. Most of the organizations
that are using FOSS are small organizations. When the three
countries are compared, it is concluded that Ugandan
organizations show most initiatives, while in Burkina Faso
organizations do not show interest to move away from CSS.
The research of the IICD highlighted several reasons why
organizations in Africa do not take up the challenge of
FOSS. In the first place there are some false perceptions on
FOSS. Many organizations believe indeed that FOSS is
Linux only and that FOSS is user unfriendly and only
suitable for the ICT specialist. Secondly, there is limited
66 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

access to FOSS. Most of the FOSS is distributed through the

Internet and with the limited and low bandwidth Internet
connections, the access to FOSS is limited as a by product.
Software companies, including FOSS companies, see little
market potential in Africa (outside South Africa) and the
availability of FOSS is low. This is also reflected in in the
amount of resellers for FOSS. Finally, there is little expertise
available to provide certified training and quality support for
FOSS and eventually consultancy in migration processes.
A recent and interesting example of the introduction of
FOSS at an organizational level is Uganda Martyrs University
in Nkozi (Uganda). This migration is a role model for
educational institutions on the African continent (Reijswoud,
Mulo, 2006).
In 2002 Uganda Martyrs University embarked on a
mission to be the first large organization in the region to
completely migrate to FOSS. The main reasons for this
decision were reduction of licensing costs and capacity
building. At the start of the migration (August 2003) the
university had about 250 desktop computers for students and
staff, plus a variety of servers, connected in a campus wide
Local Area Network. In 2002 the university started to
migrate the server side (mail servers, Internet connection and
file servers) of the network to FOSS. In the second phase of
the project, which started June 2003, the university embarked
on the migration the user side, after the university senate
decided that all standard desktop computers of lecturing staff
and students were to be equipped with a Linux operating
system and FOSS applications like Open Office as a
replacement for the popular Microsoft Office suite.
At present, next to the servers, all public (library) and
student labs are migrated to FOSS. Staff computers have not
been migrated, although a growing number uses FOSS
applications in the Windows platform.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 67

SchoolNet Namibia is another interesting example based

in Africa. SchoolNet Namibia has developed a model for the
empowerment of students through FOSS and the Internet
which can act as a role model for the LDC's. SchoolNet
Namibia started in February 2000 to empower youth through
the Internet. Its main objectives were to provide sustainable
low-cost ICT solutions to all Namibian schools. In this
context it connected schools to the Internet, it did set up its
own Internet Service Provider (ISP), it provides refurbished
computers to schools, it implemented huge training programs
for teachers and by now it connected 300 schools (in rural
and urban areas) with 180,000 daily users, various libraries,
teacher resource centers and non-government agencies, and it
did set up computer laboratories in these schools and in many
of the other resource centers. The schools and other centers
use solely FOSS applications running on SuSE Linux and the
schools are using the open source OpenLab application
(which includes a bundle of educational content).

20. What are the key examples at Micro level?

KEYWORDS:
MICRO LEVEL, AVOIR PROJECT, RULE PROJECT, EACOSS, BUSINESS SKILLS
& DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

Most of the FOSS initiatives are small scale projects of

individual people or small organizations.31 A growing number
of individuals throughout the LDC's is becoming aware of
potential of FOSS from strategic point of view. This
awareness results in smaller organization and individuals that
start to develop or use FOSS.
To a limited extend, Open Source Software development
projects have been launched in LDC's. On the African
continent, most of the projects are situated in South Africa,
68 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

for reasons connected to the presence of infrastructure. The

African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resource (AVOIR)
project, located at University of the Western Cape in South
Africa is an interesting project which aim to develop FOSS
capacity on selected universities in Africa.32
Outside South Africa, a project which is worth mentioning is
the RULE33 (Run Up to-date Linux Everywhere) project. The
aim of the project is the creation of a very light Linux
distribution for people that cannot afford modern computers
systems. In order to achieve the goal, developers are
modifying a standard Red Hat distribution, trying to allow
the greatest real functionality with the smallest consumption
of CPU and RAM resources. The new distribution is mainly
intended to be for schools and other organizations in LDC's.
At the present the RULE project provides a FOSS solution
with GPL license that is able to transform 5 years old
computer models (Pentium 75MHz, 16 MB RAM, 810 MB
Hard disk) into useful machines again. Unfortunately, the
project has stopped active development.
A recent and successful example in line with the RULE
project is “One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)” project. The
project uses FOSS to run on low-cost hardware.
The increasing interest for FOSS is also driving the
emergence of FOSS specific organizations. In several
countries of Africa, like Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and South
Africa, specialized software and consulting companies have
started, whilst young people with a background in computing
are embracing the FOSS approach and try to reform the
accepted practice of buying (illegal) proprietary software. At
present the market share of FOSS is still small and difficult
for these specialized companies to grow, but when the
benefits become clear and FOSS is implemented on a bigger
scale, the capacity to implement the systems is ready.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 69

That there is a demand for Linux and FOSS capacity is

clear from the EACOSS34 (East African Center for Open
Source Software) project. The project, started in 2003 in
Uganda and has trained a new generation of Linux and FOSS
professionals in the region.
Business Skills & Development Centre, or BSDC is a
South-African NGO was founded in 1987 by 3 women who saw
the desperate need for young, black women to acquire job
related skills in order to access meaningful employment in the
business world. BSDC offers intensive courses of six-months in
Business Administration, Office Skills and Entrepreneurship
and includes typing, information technology, bookkeeping,
office practice and business communication, business english,
life skills and drama. Entrepreneurship is also taught in the
form of theoretical and applied training. In fact BSDC is an
incubator centre where students start their own small
businesses with funds provided for by BSDC. The current
intake is 50 students twice a year and 70% of the trainees
find employment after the course. The computer laboratory
is central to the training provided and its operational
requirements are quite specific. However, licensing for
proprietary software was found to be cost-prohibitive, and
maintenance of individual, standalone PCs was also found to
be too expensive.
The OpenOffice suite is used for teaching office
computing while cost savings are achieved both through
using free software and a low maintenance, terminal server
environment (thin client solution). BSDC is in the process of
moving their entire operation onto open source systems. The
organization has just completed the first of four OS
migration phases: the migration of the training environment
to an open source terminal environment.
70 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

21. What lessons can be learned from the examples?

KEYWORDS:
LESSONS LEARNED, RESISTANCE TO CHANGE, CHANGE IN MINDSET

The most important lessons that can be learned from the

examples is that in spite of all the advantages, the actual use of
FOSS is very limited in LDC's and that most projects are
small. The migration of Uganda Martyrs University in Uganda
has suffered enormous setbacks. Although the staff of the
university is well aware of the advantages and value
sustainable development, they resist to the change of their
computer software. Similar resistance is also confirmed in
smaller migrations of users with limited computer skills. In
other words, knowing does not lead to doing.
We also observe that although LDC's are rapidly adopting
ICT. However, using closed source software seems to be the
norm. Since there are only a limited number of official
software vendors, the origin of the software is dubious.
Because of this origin, there is no official support for users and
developers, but this does not seem to be a barrier. On the other
hand, free community support for FOSS users is often
presented as a key advantage. For the LDC's this advantage is
not confirmed.
The limited number of LDC-based free and open source
software development projects is very limited. Although some
software has been localized, the does not seem to exist an
practical software movement in the LDC's. The situation is
worst in Africa. The challenges that are encountered in the
AVOIR project and the slow progress that is made by the
software developers outside South Africa is a reason for real
concern.35 The question needs to be asked whether we can
expect software developers in the LDC's to contribute to the
FOSS movement while they are struggling to make a living
Free and Open Source Software for Development 71

from ICT? It also seems that the FOSS approach needs more
time to settle down. The change in mindset, the trust in other
developers etc. need time to settle in in Africa
Finally, the lack of government attention for the use of
FOSS is worrying. Where one would think that governments
like to limit their public spending where viable alternatives are
available, they decide to opt for expensive and proprietary
solutions with annual recurrent licensing costs. Where
governments have the possibility to build up an independent
and open standards based ICT infrastructure and local
industry, they seem to opt for strong vendor dependent and
closed solutions. From a national development perspectives
these decisions are hard to justify.

22. What are the major hindrances for the introduction

of FOSS in LDC's?

KEYWORDS:
HINDRANCES, LACK OF INFORMATION, AVAILABILITY OF SOFTWARE, MISSING
ROLE MODELS, LINUX USER GROUPS, UBUNTU, LAST MILE SOLUTION ,
EXTREMADURA

We identify three major factors that hinder the introduction

of FOSS in LDC's: lack of information, availability of
software and missing role models. We will consider these
hindrances in more details below.

Information
Access to information about advantages/disadvantages FOSS
and alternatives to proprietary software is very limited. Most
of this information is available and distributed through the
internet, but the majority of the people in the LDC's still have
limited access to this medium. When people have access they
72 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

will only search for it when they are aware on the existence
of FOSS.
Unfortunately, universities and schools pay very little
attention to FOSS and Open Content. The large majority of
schools and universities use (illegal) proprietary softwares
for teaching and have little interest in alternatives. At the
level of the teachers and lecturers there is too little
knowledge about the FOSS in order to be a source of
information for their students. In most LDC's the issue of
copyright receives too limited attention to provide a start for
a search for alternative solutions. The discussion of copyright
laws could be a stepping stone for elaborating on FOSS and
Open Content and the creation of awareness.
Some of the ICT-oriented donor community is informed
about FOSS and will promote FOSS based solutions,
however, the majority of the donor community promotes the
use of ICT without addressing the FOSS issue. As mentioned
before, they fail to take their guiding role to the level that
they should.
Linux user groups (LUG) have emerged all over the
developing world. They have become an important source of
information for the Linux and FOSS communities. Because
of their local focus they are able to serve the direct needs in
the community, which are often different in the LDC's than
in the global newsgroups. At the same time, these groups are
mostly technology oriented and this may form a barrier for
newcomers to join and participate.
Software availability
Like the information about FOSS, the software is also made
available through the internet. There are hardly no physical
distribution points for Free and Open Source Softwares
except for the Ubuntu dissemination mechanisms (normal
mail in some African countries and so-called toasters: a
Free and Open Source Software for Development 73

Linux operating system hooked up to a flat-screen where one

can get copies of most open source operating systems and
software for free.
This creates a huge barrier for the users of FOSS, since in
most of the LDC's internet connections are slow, unstable and
expensive. This makes the downloading of a complete
distribution like SuSE or Fedora (1 Gb +) virtually impossible.36
Organizations like the East African Center of Open
Source Software (EACOSS)37 in Kampala tried to overcome
this problem by using normal mail to bring the software in
the country, then storing it in a public repository on their
website and re-distributing it to users. This 'last-mile'
solution is facilitated through scooter-taxis (boda boda) that
take the software to the users for the costs of the CD-
rom/DVD's and the boda boda fare. This initiative has been
replicated in several other countries in Africa.
Ubuntu also recognized the issue and has made, from the
beginning, their distribution available through mail. Users
can order one or more copies of their software from the
Ubuntu website.

Missing role models

A major hindrance to the growth of FOSS in the LDC's the
lack of icons and iconic projects. In general the FOSS
movement has only a limited number of people that can serve
as examples for young entrepreneurs to look up to, contrary
to the proprietary software movement where people like Bill
Gates and Larry Allison spark imaginations of wealth and
influence and for many people in the LDC's an escape from
poverty. On the African continent there a virtually no other
role models than Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu.38 The leaders
of the countries show no interest in FOSS and there are no
businessmen that have made a fortune with the application of
FOSS.
74 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

Similarly, there are very little large-scale projects that can

serve as a model for young entrepreneurs. Projects like
African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources (AVOIR)39,
hosted by the university of the Western Cape in South Africa,
that aim at the development of cutting-edge e-learning for the
African continent has been able to attract the attention of
academia, but has not been able to inspire the business
community. Large projects like in Extremadura Spain, where
the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
successfully initiated project to convert computer systems
from proprietary systems to FOSS are not replicated in LDC's.
The Extremadura project has been able to revive general
prosperity and business activity in a poor region in Spain,
and ultimately the quality of life in the region (Nah Soo Hoo,
2007, APC, 2007, Dravis, 2003).
The LDC's need some good examples of successful
organizations that have succeeded with the use of FOSS.
Existing projects will have to be more closely monitored and
deserve more attention by the donor community. New
projects will have to be reported more broadly.

23. What does it take to start with FOSS?

KEYWORDS:
USERS, TECHNICAL PERSONNEL , POWER USERS

To start implementing FOSS in LDC's requires above all a

lot of courage and persistence. Making the decision to use
FOSS is a decision that will involve continuous justification.
Users and technical personnel will challenge it because it
means for most of them a journey into the unknown. The
most difficult people to convince are the ones that have just
enough knowledge to use computers to meet their needs.
They fear that the 'new system' will put them back in the
Free and Open Source Software for Development 75

position of learners, a position they have worked hard for to

outgrow. New users and power users pose less problems. The
new users have such a challenge ahead to master the new
computer skills that they do not mind whether they get the
skills on FOSS or proprietary applications. Moreover, most
of them do not know the difference. Power users have
enough skills and often curiosity that they adapt easily.
When deciding to use FOSS internet connectivity is
essential, especially for the technical staff working on the
project. Since most of them will not have the skills at hand to
solve the problems they encounter, internet (users group and
websites) will be their main sources of answers. As observed
in the migration of Uganda Martyrs University (see above),
relatively simple problems, like what filesystem is installed
and what filesystem is best able to deal with power-cuts, can
get technical experts and the project stuck.
Basic technical knowledge and skills are needed to
provide a basis for understanding FOSS. We have observed
that many of the so-called computer experts in LDC's lack
basic understanding of hardware and software. Being trained
in a 'click, drag and drop' environment did not prepare them
for the more challenging problems and questions. Small
scripts or minor alterations to software to provide a
contextualized solutions is often already beyond their
technical abilities. However, it is this knowledge that is
needed to start to explore the full potential of FOSS.
As in every project, there needs to be a champion who
drives the project as a figure head. In the LDC's, where
hierarchical and generational relations still carry more
weight, this needs to be a politically accepted figure. In most
cases these people are hard to find and difficult to commit to
the project.
76 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

24. Considering migrating to FOSS?

KEYWORDS:
TOTAL FOSS MIGRATION, PARTIAL FOSS MIGRATION, PILOT MIGRATION,
SERVER MIGRATION, DESKTOP MIGRATION, INDIVIDUAL MIGRATION, SKILLS

FOSS migrations can be distinguished in two types:

- Total FOSS migration: All software (operating system
and applications) used on the computers (servers and
user-workstations) in the organization is Free and Open
Source.
- Partial FOSS migration: Some software used on the
computers in the organization is Free and Open Source
Software while other is proprietary.
Total migrations are very rare and in most of the cases the
migration will aim at certain applications. In a similar line,
organizations that only use proprietary software are rare.
Most organizations use some FOSS applications (like
Apache) on their servers.
When considering migrating, most organizations will
start with a pilot migration. The actual goal of the pilot
migration is not to have some computers in the organization
use FOSS. The main goal of a pilot migration is answering
the following question: How can we deploy across the
organization with confidence? The key to a good pilot
migration is that is includes all possible usage models that
might also be included in an eventual migration (Almond et
al., 2004).
Migrations are mostly initiated by the technical staff.
Some system administrator or head of ICT department starts
using FOSS applications, because s/he finds it interesting
from a technical or cost-reduction perspective. A number of
these people that are confronted with FOSS are dragged into
Free and Open Source Software for Development 77

the FOSS world (Individual migration). Through enthusiasm

servers are migrated to Linux and other FOSS applications
(Server migration) and in a small number of cases this
extends to the productivity software on the users' desktops
(Usage Area migration). Sometimes all software is migrated
including a change of the operating system (Total migration).
Uganda Martyrs University is one of the examples that went
through these stages and started off on an almost total
migration project (Reijswoud, Mulo, 2006). The four stages
of FOSS migration are displayed in the figure below.

100%
Total migration
all software used in
the org is FOSS
Organization involvement

Usage Area migration

particular softwares are
migrated to FOSS

Server migration
ICT department starts
using FOSS on servers

Individual migrating
isolated people
start using FOSS

0%
Time
Figure 6: Four stages in FOSS migration.

A migration of an organization from a proprietary platform

to an open software platform is considerably more difficult
than starting to use FOSS from scratch. This is important for
the people involved to realize. The initiators may be
enthusiastic and the benefits clear to the management, but
when it affects the users, they will be the main challenge.
Computer users in the LDC's have very basic computer
skills, but not withstanding how limited these skills are, they
set them apart from the crowd. Moreover, these skills are
often acquired through privately funded (expensive)
78 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

computer training. The combination of the shallowness of

their skills and value they present to them creates fear among
the users that they will lose their acquired position. Strong
resistance is the result. Only through extensive and
continuous information and training sessions they will be
willing to support the change. An additional sentiment was
observed in the case of Uganda Martyrs University where the
users felt that they were confronted by mediocre software.
They replied to the people in charge of the migration: “If the
software is so good, why are our colleagues in the West not
using it?”, is an argument hard to counter, especially when
the donor promoting the use of FOSS makes a presentation
with Microsoft PowerPoint and requests a .doc file when an
Open Office file is sent.

25. Is there hope for FOSS in LDC's?

KEYWORDS:
ADVANTAGES OF FOSS, ADVOCATING

Although empirical data on the use and impact of FOSS is

still quite limited one can conclude that the penetration of
FOSS in LDC's, especially in Africa is still low. Although
there are no exact figures available, there seems to be a slight
growth in the server segment, but hardly no growth in the
user-desktop environment. This raises the question whether
there is still hope for FOSS in LDC's.
The advantages of FOSS are clear and they are getting
confirmed by the organizations and individuals adopting it.
There is a reduction of costs, no vendor lock-in, unrestricted
distribution of software and an increased understanding of
computing at all levels involved. At the same time users feel
isolated and different from their peers using mainstream
software, and have fears that their skills in FOSS are less
valuable on the job market.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 79

The FOSS communities in the LDC's are fighting an

uphill battle. Over the past years, the FOSS communities
have achieved a relatively good level of organization in user
groups, interest groups, training centers and some large
conferences like Idlelo and AfricaSource. It was possible to
make a lot of noise, but the question is: who is going to listen
to them? There some areas like networking, system
administration and internet hosting/website design where
they find a willing ear. In other areas like productivity
software for users, educational software and databases they
receive little attention and we observe a growing penetration
of proprietary software.
The FOSS advocates need to realize that examples need
to be set. The advocates will have to show the people that
FOSS solutions work instead talking about the advantages.
When users and decision makers are confronted with a well-
working FOSS computer environment, there is hope that
more will decide to take the step of adopting it.
If the FOSS penetration in LDC's is to grow, all
stakeholders will have to carefully consider their role and
how to move to a more sustainable ICT infrastructure for
LDC's. In conclusion we will therefore outline the challenges
for the government of LDC's, the donor communities
promoting the use of ICT, the educational sector that will train
the new generation of users and developers, and the software
industry in both the developing and developed world.

26. What are the challenges for governments in LDC's?40

KEYWORDS:
SUCCESSES, PROMOTION OF FOSS, ICT POLICIES, ICT STRATEGIES, LOCAL
SOFTWARE INDUSTRY

Successes of the FOSS movements in Brazil, South Africa,

Extremadura in Spain and some cities in Europe clearly
80 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

underpin the importance of central and local governments in

the promotion of FOSS. If FOSS is not embraced by
government, there will be no changes at the meso levels.
Governments in the LDC's have to realize that they will
have to build an ICT infrastructure that will, eventually,
provide access to all citizens in the country, province, region
or municipality. Vendor lock-in is highest where a significant
investment in a proprietary technology is already in place.
This is hardly the case in most developing countries where
computerization is only beginning. So re-training and other
transitional costs of moving from proprietary technology to a
low-cost open source technology are much lower in LDC's.
At the moment the donor communities in the developed
world are willing to support, with financial means and
knowledge, the initial stages of the ICT infrastructure
buildup. However, this donor support will not last forever
and the governments in the LDC's need to anticipate on this.
Central and local governments need to reconsider their
ICT policies and strategies with a sustainability perspective
in mind. In countries where the financial means are limited
and not guaranteed, recurrent costs of the ICT infrastructure
need to be a low as possible. Software licenses that need to
be paid now, or in the future, do not fit into a sustainable
policy when there are viable alternatives.
There is an opportunity for governments of LDC's.
Governments of LDC's could make a start by adapting OSS
for the public sector. The software eligible for FOSS
alternatives can be categorized into four major groups:
- e-Government portals and service delivery systems
- Desktop office applications
- Server environments and networking
- Collaboration software
Free and Open Source Software for Development 81

In order to accommodate a sustainable local software

industry that can serve the country, the region and that it can
even play a role in a global economy, governments will have
to promote vendor independent and open solutions. Through
the use of open standards, the local software industry will be
able to offer services and solutions that provide the basis for
a sustainable ICT infrastructure that allows growth and
interconnection without be hindered by vendor controlled
software standards.
Interesting sources of reference for governments in
LDC's are:
1. The initiative of the Australian Government to develop A
Guide to Open Source Software for Australian
Government Agencies41 which was released in 2005 with
the intention to “provide Australian Government agencies
with background information and processes to better
understand, analyze, plan for and deploy open source
software (OSS) solutions in appropriate situations”.
2. The research conducted by the Berlecon Research which
was financed by the European Commission‘ (IST
programme). This research resulted in a series of reports
such as Basics of Open Source Software Markets &
Business Models, Motivations and Policy Implications.42
It also presents the penetration of Open Source software
in the EU showing that half of local government
authorities already use at least some Open Source.
Finally, since internet access is crucial for capacity
development in FOSS, the governments will have to create
conditions for low-cost and wide-spread internet access.
82 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

27. What are the challenges for the donor community?

KEYWORDS:
NEW DEVELOPMENT PARADIGMS, LOCAL ICT SECTOR, ROLE MODEL, OPEN
STANDARD DOCUMENTS

The main challenge for the donor community is to start

practicing what they preach.
Over the past years many large donors have published
research confirming the potential of FOSS for development
of a sustainable ICT infrastructure for the LDC's. Several
donors have supported projects for the development and
implementation of FOSS in LDC's.
The body of knowledge has become rich and vast. In
spite of this research, little of the new projects seem to
benefit. Still most of the computers that are used in donor
projects are equipped with proprietary software and there is
no coherent approach by all donors to guide beneficiaries in
discovering the suitability of FOSS in their projects.
Too often the ICT issues in projects are dealt with by
non-specialized program managers that have no or too little
understanding of ICT to select appropriate solutions. The
donor community will have to increase the number of ICT
specialists and increase the level of ICT knowledge,
including the understanding of FOSS, among their program
managers. The role of ICT is getting too important for
development. The appointment of ICT specialists is justified
in all projects in which computer technology is applied.
The donor community should become more aware of the
opportunity to become a role model in the use of FOSS. At
present the donor community preaches the advantages of
FOSS, but fail to adopt it themselves. Very few of the donors
use FOSS application, like Linux, Open Office, Thunderbird
etc. Many of them will not accept open standard documents
Free and Open Source Software for Development 83

like the OpenDocument Text files (.odt) or OpenDocument

Spreadsheet files (.ods) and in this way are forcing their
partners in LDC's to use proprietary software by demanding
the use of .doc and .xls files. This behavior has a strong
discouraging effect on new FOSS users in LDC's. The donor
community will have to start to realize that change in the
behavior in the LDC's starts with change of the behavior of
the themselves.
To emphasize this point, donor will have to realize that
1. The opportunities for co-operation and participation in
development projects by a community of users fit naturally in
the new paradigms of development co-operation. The current
development models emphasize ownership, knowledge
sharing, Public Private Partnerships, collaboration and
communities of practice. FOSS can be considered as a tool to
support these new development paradigms: The new insights
in development co-operation and FOSS are in that respect a
perfect match.
2. The fact FOSS can contribute to economic development
by supporting the development of the local ICT sector fits
well in modern development cooperation. Due to the open
and cooperative nature of FOSS it is easy for local
programmers to get involved in adapting or developing
software thereby not only creating opportunities for using
ICT’s as a tool in the traditional development sectors but also
the development of new income-generation opportunities.

28. What are the challenges for education?

KEYWORDS:
FOSS LABS, CURRICULUM, FOSS COMPETENCY CENTERS

Like the donor community, the educational world in the

LDC's will have to reconsider their own position and
84 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

behavior. In the developed world, the academic world has

been a major driver in the promotion and developments in
FOSS, the academia in the LDC's will also have to stand up
and promote the use of FOSS for their own benefit as well as
the benefit of their countries.
The traditional educational structure, starting from
primary schools up through to the university level, can often
be an excellent training ground for FOSS. There are a wide
number of strategies in this sector, we will list some below:

- Installation of FOSS labs: This will limit the costs of

the lab and will result in students that are open to FOSS.
- A vendor neutral curriculum: Make sure that the
curricula do not contain vendor specific skills and
knowledge.
- Enforce the use of legal software in school/universities:
Management will have to prevent the use of illegal
software by staff and students. This will make people
aware of the costs and alternatives.
- FOSS competency centers: FOSS knowledge becomes
essential for computer science students. Set up centers to
build this capacity (and groom a new generation of
FOSS professionals).

The transformation from proprietary software to FOSS will

affect the curricula and will require the existing staff to
acquire new computer skills. The educational system can
promote this learning process and reward fast movers.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 85

29. What can the software industry do?

KEYWORDS:
AVAILABILITY OF FOSS, DISSEMINATION OF FOSS, CERTIFICATION PROGRAMMES

There is a major challenge for the FOSS industry to increase

the emphasis on FOSS in the LDC's. Presently, the role of
companies that are specialized in the development and
distribution of FOSS is too limited to have a significant
impact.
Although the international FOSS world is largely made
up of individuals and small companies, there are also some
large companies that can make a difference in the FOSS for
development world. These companies should take a global
responsibility for the development in LDC's and through
efforts that concentrate along two lines:
1. Improved availability of the software: As noted,
most software is distributed through the internet. Due
to the lack of affordable internet connection the access
to FOSS applications is low. In order to promote the
access to FOSS a dissemination program will have to
be set up. Local FOSS training centers like EACOSS
and Linux User Groups could be used as point of
distribution.
2. Increased access to affordable certification programs:
Certification programs play an important role in LDC's
where quality of education is not always guaranteed.
Although some local ICT companies have tried to
develop relationships with large distributors like Red
Hat and SuSE, little of these efforts have materialized
in affordable certification programs. When set up, the
costs of certification are too high to be competitive
with certification programs like for example MCSE.
86 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

Also, in spite of huge effort from the FOSS

community, the LPI program, although low cost, has
not spread widely on the African continent.
In order to promote the use of FOSS distributors and
vendors should support the set up of low-cost
certification programs to promote FOSS skills
development in LDC's. The Cisco/UNDP program
could serve as an example.

30. What is the research agenda for FOSS4D?

KEYWORDS:
RESEARCH, FOSS4D, CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT, GOVERNMENT, CUSTOMIZED
APPLICATIONS

Over the past years Open Source Software and Free Source
Software have matured into a serious alternative when
considering new software. The methods and the tools
supporting software development processes in distributed
environments like FOSS communities on the Internet, have
been refined over the past years. As a result software
products from the FOSS community have reached levels of
reliability and security that allows them to compete with
commercially developed software. In turn this gives an
important impulse to the growth of the community.
Although most of the implementations of FOSS are still
on the server side, user side adoption of FOSS grows now
that friendly environments, high functionality and reliable
alternatives for office applications become available.
Governments, like Germany, the Netherlands, United
Kingdom, and South Africa on the African continent, start to
promote the use of FOSS.43 Financial and moral support for
development and use of FOSS alternatives increases
awareness and acceptance.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 87

FOSS initiatives in LDC's are still very limited. Africa is

still in the phase of early adoption. Except for the South
African government, governments in Sub Saharan Africa do
not take a strong position in promoting the use of FOSS. This
is may be partly due to fact that they are not well informed
about the possibilities of FOSS, but it may also be caused by
the fact that these countries have a low level of expertise in
the ICT field. At present the skills levels needed for
implementing and maintaining FOSS are perceived as higher.
The software development community in Africa is still in
its infancy. University programs in software engineering are
of relatively recent date, and the quality of the programs is
low due to lack of facilities, lecturing materials and, most
importantly, knowledgeable and dedicated lecturers. Training
programs in the development of FOSS are not in place,
which makes that African developers have to rely heavily on
the expertise in other parts of the world. High bandwidth
Internet access is therefore a precondition for success.
In spite of the low adoption, the FOSS paradigm provides
advantages that are relevant within the African context. The
most obvious advantage is the costing aspect. With increased
licensing costs combined with high penalties for illegal use
of proprietary software, FOSS provides a low cost
alternative. Once the software is acquired, it can be used to
automate a whole organization, small or large. Especially in
large organization this can lead to a significant cost
reduction. A different angle on the costing aspect is the fact
that FOSS can easily be designed to run on 'obsolete'
hardware, like the efforts in the RULE project. The financial
situation of many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa does not
allow large investments in new and modern hardware.
Streamlined software can extend the life-span of computer
hardware without compromising on functionality.
88 Victor van Reijswoud, Arjan de Jager

From a capacity development point of view, the openness

of the program source code provides the software development
community in Africa with an insight on near-commercial
software development. African software developers can
participate in the world-wide FOSS development community
and improve their skills from this participation.
From a macro perspective a wide-spread adoption of
FOSS may provide governments in Africa in the position to
negotiate better conditions and improved functionality for the
software they acquire. At present governments are the largest
buyers of software products in Africa, but they have virtually
no influence on the functionality of the products they
purchase.
Finally, the flexibility of the FOSS makes it the perfect
candidate for developing customized applications, which can
keep into account peculiarities and specificity of the different
local cultures. By adopting the FOSS paradigm organizations
do not only reduce their costs, but also support a different
perspective on intellectual property. If software is 'owned' by
everyone, it is also owned by the people in the LDC's. This
'ownership' also provides the possibility to influence the
direction of its development, and new, LDC-inspired features
like the development of user interfaces in local languages,
may be proposed.
There is still a long way to go, but the potential benefits
are there at the end of the journey. Adoption of the FOSS
paradigm needs to be encouraged in the LDC's, as it will
represent a significant change in the technological
relationship between the North and the South, developed and
less/least developed countries, as we will no longer have to
solely rely on the technical expertise of those in the First
World. And this represents the first true step towards true
sustainability.
Free and Open Source Software for Development 89

On the basis of current situation we conclude with the

formulation of a 5 point FOSS4D research agenda.
1. Get a clear understanding of the reasons why
governments and decision-makers in the LDC's are not
giving wide-spread support for FOSS and Open
Standards.
2. Get a clear understanding of the reasons why such a
small part of the international donor community
actively promotes the use (donor and beneficiary
sides) of FOSS and Open Standards in their projects.
3. Get a better understanding of the role open content
lecturing material can play in the promotion and
spread of FOSS and how these lecturing materials
should be designed and distributed.
4. Research the possibilities to reduce software copyright
infringements in LDC's by establishing educational
programs and offering alternatives.
5. Research appealing role models that can be used for
the promotion of FOSS in LDC's.
 91

LITERATURE AND SELECTED READINGS

Almond, C., Cannon, A., Van Hoof, J., Mark, O., Patsch, C., Schwaller,
T., Vaddadi, S., Linux Client Migration Handbook: A practical
Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux.
IBM Red Books, 2004. Available on: www.ibm.com/redbooks
Association of Progressive Communications (APC), Global Information
Society Watch 2007, APC/ITeM, Uruguay, 2007. Available on:
www.GlobalISWatch.org
Best, M.L., Jones, K., Kondo, I., Thakur, D., Wornyo, E., Yu, C., Post
Conflict Communications: The Case of Liberia. Communications of
the ACM, October 2007, Vol. 50, No. 10, pp. 33-39.
Blommestein, N., Van der Krogt, S., Lamoureaux, L., Morrow, K.,
Neuman, F., ICT's for Agricultural Livelihoods: Impact and Lessons
Learned from IICD Supported Activities. International Institute for
Communication and Development, Den Haag, 2006. Available on:
www.iicd.org
Briggs, J., Peck, M., QinetiQ Analysis of Open Source Solution
Implementation Methodologies QOSSIModo: A Case Study Based
Analysis on Behalf of The Office of the Government Commerce.
Report QinetiQ, February 2003.
Bruggink, M., Open Source in Africa: A Global Reality; take it or leave
it?. IICD Research Brief – No UICT01, May 2003. Available on:
www.iicd.org
DiBona, C., Ockman, S., and Stone, M., (Eds.). Open Sources: Voices
from the Open Source Revolution. O'Reilly, 1999. Available on:
www.openresources.com/documents/open-sources/index.html
(accessed 20/5/2003).
Dravis, P., Open Source Software: Perspectives for Development,
InfoDev Report, 2003. Available on: www.infodev.org/
Ghosh, R.A., License Fees and GDP Per Capita: The Case for Open
Source in Developing Countries, First Monday, Issue 8-12, 2003.
Available on: firstmonday.org.
92 Literature and selected readings

Ghosh, R.A., Schmidt, P., Open Source and Open Source Standards: A
New Frontier for Economic Development? United Nations University
Policy Brief, No.1, 2006. Available on: www.unu.edu
Government Information Officers' Council. Using Open Source software
in the South African Government: A Proposed Strategy Compiled by
the Government Information Technology Officer' Council, GITOC
2002.
Hammond A.L., Kramer, W.J., Katz, R.S., Tran, J.T., Walker, C., The 4
Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid.
World Resources Institute, Washington, 2007. Available on:
www.wri.org/thenext4billion
Hertz, N., The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of
Democracy. Random House, 2001.
Hoe, N.S., Breaking Barriers: The Potential of Free and Open Source
Software for Sustainable Human Development – A Compilation of
Case Studies from Across the World. UNDP Asian – Pacific
Development Information Programme (APDIP), Bangkok, 2006.
IDA – Interchange of Data Between Administrators. The IDA Open
Source Migration Guidelines. European Communities, 2003.
Jager, A. de, The Rural Information System of the Uganda Commodity
Exchange. Thematic Report of the International Institute for
Communication and Development – IICD, Den Haag, 2007.
Available on: www.iicd.org.
Kenwood. C.A., A Business Case for Open Source Software. Mitre, 2001.
Laffont, J.J., Regulation and Development. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2005.
Lane, D., A Quick History of Open Source. Available on:
www.open2.org/oshistory.php (accessed on 27/52003).
Lessig, L., Code: Version 2.0. Basic Books, 2006.
Lessig, L., Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the
Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. Penguin
New York, 2004.
Literature and selected readings 93

Liang, L., Free/Open Source Software Open Content. United Nations

Development Programme – Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme (UNDP-APDIP), 2007. Available on: www.apdip.net
Marker, P., McNamara, K., Wallace, N., The Significance of
Information and Communication Technologies for Reducing
Poverty. Department for International Development (DFID),
2002. Available on: www.dfid.gov.uk.
McNamara, K.S., Information and Communication Technologies,
poverty and Development: Learning from Experience. InfoDev, The
Worldbank, Washington, 2003. Available on: www.infodev.org
Nicol C. (Ed.), ICT Policy: A Beginner's Handbook. Association for
Progressive Communications. Available on: www.apc.org.
Nuvolari, A., Open Source Software Development: Some Historical
Perspectives. Eindhoven Centre for Innovation Studies, 2003
Available on: http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/nuvolari.pdf (accessed
2/8/2003)
Office of Government Commerce (OCG). Guidance on Implementing
Open Source Software. OCG September 2002.
Raymond, E.S. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. 1998 Available on:
www.openresources.com/documents/cathedral-bazaar/ (accessed
20/5/2003).
Reijswoud, V.E. van, Mulo, E., Applying Open Source Software in
a Development Context: expectations and experiences. A Case
Study of a University in Uganda, E-Learning, Special Issue:
Models for bridging digital divides. Vol. 3, No. 3, 2006, pp
361-372.
Sayo, P., Chacko, J.G., Pradhan, G. (Eds.), ICT Policies and e-
Strategies in the Asia-Pacific: A Critical Assessment of the Way
Forward. United Nations Development Programme-Asia Pacific
Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP), Elsevier,
New Delhi, 2004.
Sciadas, G. (Ed.), Monitoring the Digital Divide ...and Beyond.
Orbicom, 2003. Available on: www.orbicom.uqam.ca.
94 Literature and selected readings

St. Laurent, A.M., Understanding Open Source and Free Software

Licensing. O'Reilly, 2004. Available on: http://www.oreilly.com/
catalog/osfreesoft/
United Nations Development Programme. Human Development
Report 2006. Beyond Scarcity: Power, poverty and the global
water crisis. United Nations, New York, 2006. Available on:
www.undp.org.
United Nations, Least Developed Countries Report 2007. United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva, 2007.
United Nations, The Digital Divide Report: ICT Diffusion Index
2005. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
United Nation, New York and Geneva, 2006.
Upadhaya, G.R., Free/Open Source Software: Network Infrastructure
and Security. Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
e-Primers on Free/Open Source Software, Elsevier, New Delhi,
2007. Available on: www.apdip.net.
Von Hippel., E., Democratizing innovation. The MIT Press,
Cambridge – MA, 2005.
Weerawarana, S., Weeratunga, J., Open Source in Developing
Countries. Department of Infrastructure and Economic Cooperation
(SIDA), 2004. Available on: www.sida.se.
Wheeler, D.A., Why Open Source Software / Free Software
(OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!, May 2003. Available on:
www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html.
Wong, K., Free/Open Source Software: Government Policy. Asia-
Pacific Development Information Programme e-Primers on Free/
Open Source Software, Elsevier, New Delhi, 2004. Available on:
www.apdip.net.
Wong, K., Sayo, P., Free/Open Source Software – A General
Introduction, Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
e-Primers on Free/Open Source Software, UNDP-APDIP, 2003.
Available on: www.iosn.net.
Literature and selected readings 95

World Bank, Africa Development Indicators 2006. World Bank,

Washington DC, 2006.
World Bank, Information and Communication Technologies: A World
Bank Group Strategy. World Bank, Washington DC, 2002.
 97

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Victor van Reijswoud finished his formal education with a

Ph.D. in information systems from Delft University of
Technology in the Netherlands. After an extensive career in
academia and industry in Europe he got involved in ICT for
Development as professor at Uganda Martyrs University in
Uganda and Université Lumière de Bujumbura in Burundi.
Through experience he observed the potential role that FOSS
might play in development. He has initiated several FOSS
migration projects in LDC's and has been acting as invited
speaker at FOSS and ICT4D related conferences. Currently
he is active as independent ICT4D advisor, researcher and
professor at Divine Word University in Madang – Papua
New Guinea. In these capacities he aims to share his
experiences and build a more open world. Dr Van Reijswoud
resides in Port Moresby.

Arjan de Jager studied Physics and Mathematics at the

University in Utrecht in the Netherlands. After his studies he
worked as lecturer Computer Science in the Netherlands and
Zimbabwe. From 1998 to 2008 he worked as Country
Manager for the International Institute for Communication
and Development (IICD – www.iicd.org) in The Hague in
the Netherlands. He has been working on ICT projects in
Uganda, Tanzania, Mali and Zambia. Recently he joined the
Centre for Expertise (HEC – www.hec.nl) as senior advisor
responsible for ICT and Policy Development in the public
sector.
 99

NOTES

1 There has been quite a lot of discussion and sometime

intense debate about the label for Free and Open Source
Software. Several labels have been put forward and are
defended fiercely. We believe that this is an academic
discussion and will provide little benefits for the users. We
will use the term Free and Open Source Software
(abbreviated to FOSS) through out this book, unless a
specific aspect of FOSS needs to be emphasized.
2 Accessed January 4th 2008.
3 See for more information: www.gnu.org and www.fsf.org.
4 Fifty countries are currently designated by the United
Nations as “least developed countries” (LDCs): Afghanistan,
Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi,
Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad,
Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti,
Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-
Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People's Democratic Republic,
Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali,
Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda,
Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu,
Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Yemen and
Zambia. The list of LDCs is reviewed every three years by the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in the light of
recommendations by the Committee for Development Policy.
(United Nations, Least Developed Countries Report 2007).
5 See: http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/
6 www.internetworldstats.com
7 www.developmentgateway.org
100 Notes

8 www.comminit.com
9 Figure on salaries of individual computer users are not
known, but this remark is justified for the situation in Africa
where the Gross Domestic Product (real) is US$ 354
(excluding South Africa).
10 We will not elaborate further on hardware requirements
for the LDC context. Although important, this is outside the
scope of the book.
11 For a more detailed explanation of why software
needs to be free see: “Why Software Should Be Free”,
(http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/shouldbefree.html).
12 Forking in software development is like branching:
Programmers take a copy of a program and start to develop a
new program.
13 NACI January 2002 – www.naci.org.za/docs/opensource.html
14 Text as displayed on the CD cover of Ubuntu Version
6.06 LTS for your PC.
15 For a complete list of the all FOSS and non-FOSS
Linux distributions see: www.distrowatch.com
16 We do not include Apple's OSX operating system, since
we consider this a partial proprietary Unix variant and highly
comparable with Linux.
17 www.google.com/a
18 With the term donor we denote all foreign agencies that
providing or support in terms of knowledge or skills in LDC's.
So this includes both funding agencies as well as implementing
agencies.
19 This chapter is mainly based on St. Laurent, 2004.
20 For details see: www.fsf.org
21 Examples: Ximain or Mac OS X.
22 For further details on different FOSS licenses see:
www.opensource.org
23 A given piece of code may be subject to both a
copyright and a patent. In order for the GPL to function
Notes 101

properly, both copyright and patent licenses must be subject to

the terms of the GPL.
24 www.wikipedia.org
25 http://globaltext.org
26 www.moodle.org
27 http://www.pernambuco.com/tecnologia/arquivo/softlivre1.html
28 See for details and discussion about FOSS in South
Africa: www.oss.gov.za
29 http://osfa.allafrica.com/
30 www.iicd.org
31 An interesting overview of micro FOSS projects is
described by Na Soo Hoe in Breaking Barriers: The Potential
of Free and Open Source Software for Sustainable Human
Development.
32 For more information see the project website:
http://avoir.uwc.ac.za
33 www.rule-project.org/en/
34 www.eacoss.org
35 One of the authors served as board member on the
project and reports from own observations.
36 In Papua New Guinea where internet is paid by the
megabyte would cost the download of Ubuntu 7.04 (697.9
Mb) around €200. This excludes the updates that have to be
installed after the installation.
37 www.eacoss.org
38 His status is waning now that he is not longer living in
South Africa.
39 http://avoir.uwc.ac.za/. See also: Na Soo Hoe, 2006.
40 For a more in-depth coverage of this issue, see: Wong,
2004.
41 See http://www.sourceit.gov.au/sourceit/oss
42 see http://www.berlecon.de/studien/downloads
43 Wong, 2004, EU Observer, Linux conquers Microsoft in
Munich, 2003 (http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=11435),
102 Notes

EU Observer, EU institutions test alternative to Microsoft

(http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=11261), Volkskrant,
21 augustus 2002, Computerbranch knokt om overheid.
 103

LIST OF KEYWORDS

(Some keywords appear duplicated in order to facilitate the search)

A Creative Commons License. . .55

Curriculum..........................83
Access to ICT.....................16 Customized Applications....86
Advantages of FOSS.....33, 78
Advocating.........................78 D
Availability of FOSS..........85
Availability of Software......71 Database Services...............43
AVOIR Project...................67 Desktop Migration..............76
Development Potential........59
B Digital Divide.....................16
Disadvantages of FOSS......33
Base of the Pyramid (BOB). .37 Dissemination of FOSS.......85
Bill Gates............................28 Donor Community........26, 45
Brazil..................................62 Donor Projects....................26
Bridging the Digital Divide...23 Donor Responsibilities in
Business Skills & ICT4D.................................26
Development Centre...........67
Business Software...............39 E
C Eacoss.................................67
Economic Development......59
Capacity Challenges...........23 Educational Institutions......45
Capacity Development........86 Email Services....................43
Certification Programmes...85 Extremadura.......................71
Challenges for ICT4D.........23
Change in Mindset .............70 F
Characteristics of Open
Content Licenses.................55 Files Sharing Services.........43
Civil Society.......................45 Financial Challenges...........23
Closed Source Software......48 FOSS...........33, 39, 43, 45, 53
Copyright............................48 FOSS Competency Centers...83
104 List of Keywords

FOSS for Development IICD....................................65

(FOSS4D)...........................59 Individual Migration...........76
FOSS Labs..........................83 Information Communication
FOSS Licenses........48, 52, 60 Technologies (ICT)..............15
FOSS4D..............................86
FOSSFA.............................62 K
Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS).................28 Knowledge Divide..............16
Free Software Foundation
(FSF).............................28, 52 L
Free Software License........48 Lack of Information............71
Free Software Movement....53 Last Mile Solution..............71
LDC's............................23, 37
G Least Developed Countries
General Public License (LDC's)...............................15
(GPL)............................48, 52 Lessons Learned.................70
GITOC South-Africa..........62 Linux..................................39
GNU...................................28 Linux Distributions.............39
GNU Free Documentation Linux User Groups.............71
License...............................53 Local Business Community...45
Government..................45, 86 Local ICT Sector.................82
GPL in LDC's.....................52 Local Software Industry. .45, 79

H M
Hindrances..........................71 Macro Level........................60
Meso Level...................60, 65
I Micro Level..................60, 67
Missing Role Models..........71
ICT for Development
(ICT4D)..............................15 N
ICT Gap..............................16
ICT Policies........................79 National Advisory Council of
ICT Policy..........................60 on Innovation South Africa...33
ICT Strategies.....................79 New Development
ICT4D.................................20 Paradigms...........................82
ICT4D Case Study..............20
ICT4D Projects...................26
List of Keywords 105

O S
Open Content......................53 SchoolNet Namibia.......62, 65
Open Content for LDC's.....53 Server Migration.................76
Open Content Licenses.......55 Server Software..................43
Open Source Definition......48 Skills...................................76
Open Source Initiative Small Businesses................39
(OSI)...................................28 Software Alternatives....39, 43
Open Source license............48 Software As Gift.................37
Open Standard Documents ...82 Software Industry................45
Origins of FOSS.................28 Stakeholder Analysis..........45
Success Factors Macro
P Level...................................62
Successes............................79
Partial FOSS Migration......76 Sustainability......................33
Pilot Migration....................76
Power Users........................74 T
Price of Software................37
Productivity Software.........39 Technical Personnel............74
Promotion of FOSS.............79 Total FOSS Migration........76
Proprietary Software.....28, 37
U
R
Ubuntu..........................37, 71
Research.............................86 Uganda Commodity
Resistance to Change..........70 Exchange............................20
Richard Stallman................28 Uganda Martyrs University...65
Role Model.........................82 UK Office of Government
RULE Project.....................67 Commerce...........................33
Rural Farmer Communities.20 User Software.....................39
Users...................................74

W
Web Services......................43
 107

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Publishing studies series

Development organizations and International Non-

Governmental Organizations have been emphasizing the high
potential of Free and Open Source Software for the Less
Developed Countries. Cost reduction, less vendor dependency
and increased potential for local capacity development have
been their main arguments. In spite of its advantages, Free and
Open Source Software is not widely adopted at the African
continent. In this book the authors will explore the grounds on
with these expectations are based. Where do they come from
and is there evidence to support these expectations? Over the
past years several projects have been initiated and some good
results have been achieved, but at the same time many
challenges were encountered. What lessons can be drawn from
these experiences and do these experiences contain enough
evidence to support the high expectations? Several projects and
their achievements will be considered. In the final part of the
book the future of Free and Open Source Software for
Development will be explored. Special attention is given to the
African continent since here challenges are highest. What is the
role of Free and open Source Software for Development and
how do we need to position and explore the potential? What are
the threats? The book aims at professionals that are engaged in
the design and implementation of ICT for Development (ICT4D)
projects and want to improve their understanding of the role
Free and Open Source Software can play.

ISSN 1973-6061
ISBN 978-88-7699-131-8

9 788876 991318