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Governments Go Online -- Without Windows
June 1, 2006, 11:40 am |
http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/HeXgwNu1U64Bbc/Governments-Go-Online----Without-Windows.xhtml
Governments Go Online -- Without Windows
Inter Press Service
03/26/06 5:00 AM PT
"Developing countries can't afford to buy Windows-based software. The
basic Windows operating system costs a year and half salary for the
average Vietnamese citizen," said Mike Reed, director of the United
Nations University International Institute for Software Technology.
Electronic governance promises to cut corruption and improve
transparency, and open source Latest News about open source software
offers a way to break South Asia's technological dependence on
industrialized countries, experts say.
Open source software such as Linux is non-proprietary, less complex,
more efficient and freely available to anyone -- unlike Microsoft's
(Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows operating system, says Mike Reed, director of
the United Nations University International Institute for Software
Technology (UNU-IIST), based in Macau, China.
"Linux is now the fastest-growing software and powers eight of the 10
fastest supercomputers in the world," Reed said.
Open source software like Linux is embedded in many types of
electronic devices, like mobile phones and cameras. Open source is
also starting to cut into the near complete domination of the personal
computer market by the Windows operating system, he said.
"Developing countries can't afford to buy Windows-based software. The
basic Windows operating system costs a year and half salary for the
average Vietnamese citizen," he noted.
That's led to rampant theft or illegal copying of Microsoft software.
However, such software cannot be modified or customized to meet local
needs. Companies and governments have no other choice than to
commission expensive custom programming from California's Silicon
Valley.
Open source, on the other hand, is easy to customize and not
particularly difficult to learn, says Reed.
Although Linux has been around for more than 10 years, only a few
developing countries like Brazil have a significant number of
home-grown open source programmers. Without local programmers, setting
up electronic governance -- use of computer technology by governments
to improve public access to information and services -- becomes very
expensive and difficult.
Access to computers is one major problem in the developing world, and
so is the lack of local programming projects so that programmers can
learn, says Reed.
Reducing Corruption
Vietnam is one exception. A few years ago, Vietnam launched an
ambitious effort to modernize, developing its own version of Linux
called Vietkeylinux, partnering with the computer chip Latest News
about computer chips manufacturer Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and moving to
electronic governance (e-governance).
"Vietnam has more things online than the U.S. government," Reed said.
Isolated Vietnamese villages now have public computer kiosks where
citizens can conduct business with the government online, such as
registering for birth certificates.
"That reduces mid- to low-level government corruption, because it's
easier to keep track of paperwork and everything is visible and
public," he said.
Government services are easier and cheaper to provide electronically.
Plus, such an electronic/information infrastructure and expertise in
these areas is crucial for a country like Vietnam to successfully
participate in the global economy.
South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore are successful examples of
countries with low levels of corruption and high levels of economic
activity that other Asian countries are hoping to emulate, Reed said.
The information revolution has been slow in reaching two-thirds of the
world, according to Darrell West, an e-governance researcher at the
Center for Public Policy at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
"Many countries don't have the money, and some don't see the benefits
or have the desire to make the public sector open and transparent,"
West told IPS.
Major Motivator
In an exhaustive survey of the e-governance capabilities of 191
countries, West found that it is practically nonexistent in most
African countries, as well as those in the Middle East. While money is
the main problem in the former, the latter are dominated by "rich
monarchical governments that have a very different view of public
service and are not interested in e-governance," he said.
Although e-governance can reduce "street-level corruption," the
biggest motivator for most countries is to improve their economic
development and boost their trade capacity, he said.
In the long term, West is optimistic. "Countries are beginning to see
the benefits and the cost reductions of e-governance," he said.
However, launching such initiatives isn't easy and requires technical
expertise, financing and political leadership, Reed added.
It required a major two-year effort in the UNU home base of Macau, on
the coast of China. Among the most difficult parts of moving to
e-governance is getting government departments to open up, share their
information and cooperate with each other, he said.
"It used to require permissions and licenses from 10 different
agencies to start a business in Macau. Now, there is just one online
form," the researcher explained, and it took a strong leadership that
insisted government officials make it happen.
The impoverished country of Nepal was on the verge of achieving a good
level of e-governance until the current political strife erupted a
year ago. Nepal's high level of literacy and good mathematical
education made it possible to develop Nepalese programmers who, with
UNU training and US$2 million in outside funding, built an open source
e-governance infrastructure.
Government Resource
E-governance in Nepal is effectively on hold now, said Reed.
This month, India announced an extremely ambitious national
e-governance plan to computerize data in public sector banks,
insurance companies and tax departments, create national citizen
databases, put passports, visas and immigration information and data
online, and much more. The two-year effort is expected to cost $1.5
billion.
To assist these e-governance attempts and to help other countries get
started, the UNU has established an interactive information
clearinghouse on the Internet that it calls UneGov.net.
In addition to having instructional how-to materials online, the
portal will make available software and research papers, as well as
contact information for others who have or are setting up e-governance
in their own countries.
The World Bank is among funding agencies being approached. Already,
Vietnam is sharing some of its experience with Nigeria, Reed said.
"People love to share their success stories," he concluded.
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Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha
http://fn.goa-india.org | fred@bytesforall.org
Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436
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Photographs from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/popular-views/
--
Regards
Vinay
Mob: 9422113939
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Vinay Yadav vinayRas Infotech
www.vinayras.com Nagpur, India
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Linux Consultant & PHP/MySQL Developer
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