Open Source in the World

Zdnet has an interesting series on the development of open-source software in both the developing and developed world. Part one, two. One of the interesting points they make is that this isn't just some hugfest for commies, but it's actually the only way these countries can address their computer needs:

Buying Windows XP and Office XP on Amazon.com in the US is equal to almost 3 months of GDP per capita in South Africa and over 16 months of GDP per capita in Vietnam. This is equivalent to charging a single–user licence fee in the US of $7,541 and $48,011 respectively....

The availability of software in a local language can also be a factor in the deployment and support of open source software by governments. For example, the South African government has funded a project to translate OpenOffice.org into the 11 official languages of South Africa. This project is nearly completed, while Microsoft Office 2003 supports only one of the official South African languages — English — according to the Microsoft Web site....

I'm in the middle of paper season at school, so blogging may be erratic for a while. But one of my last papers will be arguing that copyright is an obstacle to any kind of fair "information society" we want to build in the future, and needs to be replaced by some alternative funding mechanism wherever possible.