Microsoft has claimed the cost of software is not an important issue in the developing world.
In response to a question on the role of open source software in Africa, Gerald Ilukwe, the general manager of Microsoft Nigeria, said that cost is not important, even though he admitted that the average annual salary in the West African country is only $160 (£91).
"It's easy to focus on cost and say how much is a product, but at the end of the day it's the total impact that's important. You can give people free software or computers, but they won't have the expertise to use it," he said. "Microsoft is not a helicopter dropping relief materials; we're there in the field."
Neil Holloway, the president of Microsoft for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that training in IT skills is the most important issue in emerging markets. Microsoft is involved in a number of training activities in Africa, including the Partners in Learning programme, which helps train teachers in computer skills, and the Nepad eSchools project, which supplies schools across Africa with computers, software, training, networking, connectivity, maintenance and support.
"It's not about the cost of the software, it's about how you take your expertise to people. We are sharing our expertise, particularly with governments in emerging markets. Cost is not the barrier here — expertise is," said Holloway.
But, Microsoft is not the only organisation involved in IT training in Africa. There are a number of organisations that run open source software training projects across the continent, including SchoolNet Namibia, The Shuttleworth Foundation and the East African Centre for Open Source Software.
Talkback
Dear ZD, Free and Open Source software are not the same thing.
You can sell people expensive software
and they STILL won't have the expertise to use it.
Why do you think there is "Video Professor"?
Just the great M$ FUD machine at work...next they will say Africans don't need to eat either.
If you are going to introduce computers to someone it
is better for them to start out with something that is stable & secure than with MS crap.
There's Logic and there's MS logic. They're not the same.
Sometimes I wonder if M$ is in a fantasy world. It sure sounds like it.
Reminds me of an episode in Muppets show. The Drummer said - The Bear mind has gone ba-ba.
Worse than that - this way of argumenting things is nothing more than pure insult to John Does common sense.
Linux isn't hard to use. Yes it's different to Windows but in many ways its superiour design makes it easier. No registry hacking, data in sensible places, good consistency.
If you're not used to Windows, then Windows familiarity is not an advantage for it. You may as well go for the option you can afford that still solves the problem.
Africans can learn to use OSS. It's not hard. Perhaps with OSS's greater wealth of options for customisation Africa could achieve a bigger better computer economy than if they were to sink all the money into locked down Microsoft software.
Of course Microsoft doesn't want to see a large part of the world economy not using their platform. It would force them to consider open standards more and be more compatible. It would make them lose control which must be very frightening. So frightening it's worth while putting the money in trying to make Windows the familliar system in Africa not Linux, and worthwile making announcements like this one.
Microsoft once again dominates the discussion by making it all about cost.
This should have been titled, 'Microsoft: We Promote Piracy in Africa".
Look at the fact. They supply free software to schools and also train people to use their software. But surely they can't expect people who earn $160 per year to be able to afford their software, so any ongoing use of this software must be because it was pirated?
If you only earn $160 a year, you still need to eat, so how would you afford MS Windows, MS Office and all the myriad of anti-virus and security software you'll need (including expensive ongoing updates) and still feed your family. Clearly Microsoft is not only expecting them to pirate their software, they must approve of the behaviour.
(YES, this argument is about as specious as the idea that free software isn't worth it because you still need to learn to use it ;-])
Oh thank you very much, Microsoft
In my experience, lowering barrier to entry for the masses is the best way to address a lack of expertise. Coming from the biggest software company in the world, a comment such as they make is surprisingly racistic and generalist.
It is not expertise in the use of Microsoft Office which is required, but the wholistic knowledge in the use of the wide variety of applications, tools and development facilities which only open source software can provide.
With a salary of only $160, would you prefer to spend some of that on Microsoft, or to have it for free?
Another piece of FUD from M$. At the point using open source is way easier than M$ tools. Anybody can use the environment he needs to work in - be it command line, simple GUI or advanced feature-rich integrated desktop.
And the expertise... you just ask users, real people and they give you real help, unlike the support from M$.
And money... yes, they are of great importnace. For Africa expecially.
Microsoft should keep their corporate rant out of 3rd world countries. How can they ask people to pay for a single licence when it cost more than their annual salary?
Open source is the only solution for 3rd world countries. Yes training is required, so is it for Window$. But the ongoing cost in the long run is always cheaper when using open source solution. For M$ it's not just the cost of the operating system, it comes with the hidden cost of pricy antivirus and support software.
A typical Windows workstation: Windows + MS Office + Anti Virus = A lot of money.
A typical open source workstation: Linux + Open office + heaps of free software that will meet 95% of users requirements = FREE.
You do the math!
And lets not get started with server/corporate solutions, shall we?
What absolute nonsense.
I'm a South African living and working in South Africa.
Cost of software is ALWAYS a factor. Microsoft either has their collective heads up their collective anuses, or they're deliberately FUDing.
Fucking morons. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Africans are not idiots. As usual, MS' statements are based on the premise that everyone else is a mental invalid.
Africa does not need free software- AFRICA does not need free software. Africa, a continent ten times larger than China but inhabited by fewer people than China. Africa, where it is easier to catch AIDS than anywhere else and if you survive that, your country will be in a civil war, on time, next week, same time, same channel and you can watch yourself get blown to bits on CNN IF there is a television in your neighborhood and if the latest corrupt, angry, greedy, politician has not stolen it from you!!! Africa, the playground for misguided super corporations selling contaminated baby formula to unknowing African mothers. Africa, the source, 'free' source of outsourced Black toil, misery, and eternal denigration that propelled every white, western, culture on earth to economic excellence or some degree of prosperity, does NOT need free software!?! A continent perpetually in need of rescue by UN Peacekeepers, the centers for disease control from around the world, and, or every UN aid group imaginable. Every other nation on earth would need 10-on-the-richter-scale earthquakes every minute for twenty years to be in as bad a shape as pillaged and raped Africa is in right now.
Hey, you are right,they do not need free software -ONLY! They need what they have earned from white societies around the world -REPARATIONS!
During the Black Diaspora, twenty MILLION blacks lived, twenty MILLION died. Can you even imagine what the white world would say to such a mass slaughter of white flesh? Oh I know, my bad, they would say, "America, Europe, Australia, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Canada, DO NOT NEED FREE SOFTWARE! But, they do need Morbius to come and rescue their collective rear-ends from The Microsnot Matrix-the machine gods they built when they finished letting Microsoft sell them the party line on where creativity should begin and end: I mean, where do you think Ubuntu Linux comes from anyway!
Take the bill pill and go back to your doggone cubicle!
Microsoft is arrogant, and they're about to begin paying for that arrogance. Many people I know will join me in doing our part to punish them with our pocket books.
Bullshit! I live in Africa,I've taught IT in Africa and I run a small IT company in Africa.You cannot teach computer skills if you can't afford the equipment you need to teach those skills.
It's IMPOSSIBLE to teach anyone computer skills purely on a theoretical basis.These are practical skills-reduce the cost involved and you can teach more people with the same amount of money.
As a great African entrepeneur put it: "M$ is bug #1"
Africa is vast. There are so many areas that are not that poor and backward to lack expertise. Even if it was so, they would have to start from somewhere. Aagh, what kinda empty headed people are at Microsoft?!
MS people are very stupid. One thing is what they are thinking we are, another thing is to tell to everybody that we are dummies! So, they are very stupid
Looks like we've come full-circle. In the beginning, wasn't Microsoft the cheap alternative to Apple? It didn't matter that "nobody" had the expertise, the CFOs said "if I can get two PCs for the price of an Apple, guess what we're getting". It didn't matter that the Microsoft solutions were arguably inferior, price was the determining factor.<p>Ah, karma! Ya gotta love it!
Africa certainly doesn't need Microsoft software. Microsoft is like a drug dealer. They start out by giving you the software and getting you trained to use their products. Once their software has infiltrated the schools they know they've captured the next generation of computer users. That generation then expects to use Microsoft products at work. Since it's not truly compatible with similar packages from other vendors, once the number of computers running Microsoft software reaches a critical mass, everyone else will be forced to move to Microsoft for compatibility and simplification of maintenance issues. Since Microsoft cripples the cheaper versions of their products, companies will be forced to upgrade to the more expensive versions when they require more sophisticated features.
That's when Microsoft will have them running full speed on the squirrel-cage to produce obscene profits for Microsoft alone.
Great idea.
Racism aside, by the time MS considers Africa ready for its product, the continent will be wall-to-wall Linux and when local computer users see MS ads, people will be asking "Why should I pay money for software that makes files incompatible with what my friends, neighbors, businesses, and government agencies are using?"
Hmmm Shall I eat or shall I buy the latest upgrade of M$.
*laughs cynically* It's more like this, "train people to use Microsoft products thus creating more potential money for them later on...". Of course while this is intelligent (???) of MS it doesn't really create many opportunities for the countries involved.
It also has the downside of not opening up all avenues of learning (aka more affordable solutions such as Linux or FreeBSD) *sigh*
Sharing expertise?? hmmm... well if the people latch onto the Microsoft way they will probably end up improving their general situation. Microsoft tactics seem to work well on the weak-minded...
To this stupid declaration I just say:
Viva Mark Shuttleworth and Ubuntu Linux!!!
Africa does not want Microsoft! Trust it from a native.
It is common knowledge that ours is the poorest continent. So why, then, do the richest corporations want to colonise it all over again? For money! Shell, texaco, etc rape our land. Microsoft now want to strangle it.
All Microsoft is saying is that africans are stupid. We should invest in their product, because all other products, while being free (i.e. **nix), the "costs" involved in the long run make it more expensive. Are they saying then, that we are too stupid to figure it out? That we should use their "user friendly" products? I installed ubuntu the other day and was scared by how easy it is to use.
Yes, countries need the expertise to train their population to use linux. But the same goes for windows! The only difference is that after being taught a little bit of linux, you can get a hold of a crappy computer, install the a copy of whatever distro was handed to you when you finished the training, and create professional documents for their recently started business. All for the price of a few kW of electricity! Whereas, for windows you have to buy a high end machine, just to run it. Buy all the software that don't come with it. In other words, screw yourself over with debt.
I detest Microsoft purely for their corporate identity. They do put money into Africa, for training purposes. But, that is only because they know that every single student they are going to train will still need to buy a copy of their crappy os.
This is exactly analogous to the ploy that MS is pulling in the US. Give schools access to $800 copies of VisualStudio, let them teach it to the young developers, and wait for the money to roll in once the young developers graduate. Painfully obvious. What Africa needs is a platform that can be African, that Africans can develop, and that Africans can control and propagate through their own countries. They, like the rest of the world, do not need to be force-fed 'solutions' from a corporation that does not understand the issues involved in Africa. By definition, a corporation is a unique legal entity, and this implies a degree of self-interest that is supposed to trickle down to the populace. <sarcasm> This arrangement clearly is preferable to African firms being able to control their own platforms and solutions that deal with their unique local needs.</sarcasm>
Welcome to Microsloth Windoze.... the world's most successfully deployed virus...
A parasitic program written intentionally to enter a computer without the users permission and/or knowledge. Though some virus's do little but replicate others can cause serious damage to files or other programs and adversely system performance. A virus should never be assumed harmless and left on a system. Damage to the system may be serious enough to cause a complete loss of programs/data and requiring re-formatting to completely remove from the computer.
Microsft is terribly wrong fo thinking that Africa doesnot need free software
To have the expertise to use software they need good software. And that software should be Free and Open Source Software.
I am amused by the arguments made by the Nigerian Microsoft Agent. Of course what do you expect when his bread is buttered by Mocrosoft. Fact is Africa needs Free and Opens Source Software cos that is the only way Africa will hasten its development of ICT. Lets llok back and realise that if we had not move on from DOS commands to click an go platform, Africa children would have reached further in bridging the ICT gap. Open Source gives you the opportunity to learn scripting and with a little understanding one can customise ones software and then make it available to others. Whoever says free and opens sosurce software is not good for Africa is ideologically bankrupt.
Nii
It is often said that many of the major problems in Nigeria are not facilitated by external factors, but Nigerians who cannot see truth even when it stares them in the face.
Evidence for this abounds - a legislature that pays lip service to labour issues and then goes on recess when a simple action by them would have more impact than a 3 week labour strike; ministers who make you wonder if you live in the same nation when they talk about Nigeria, a 'populist' government which is 'making progress' in eradicating poverty, and hundreds of 'heroes' whose paths are strewn with evil.
So far in the IT world we have had it a little better; we have been realistic and within limits, hardworking. Microsoft we may not like, but we do not deny their brilliance. Even gladiators give themselves some dubious kind of respect.
Mr Ilukwe has by the statement below stood, as a respected member of the IT community, to make a statement that trivialises the achievements of harworking Nigerians and insults the vision of the NITDA's, NIG's, NGLUG's and others - even MCSE's who can configure Linux!
I dont think he understood what he was saying - that his own countrymen do not have the intelligence to move their nation forward. I am sure such speech enhances his income, but it is, to say the least, unpatriotic.
I work in a company that is populated by many reputedly 'hard-working, brilliant' chinese, and I am shocked at the rate at which Nigerians read fast, assimilate and become experts at things in a short while - becoming better than the expatriates in some cases! Believe you me, Mr Ilukwe, the Nigerians that you associate with may be too rich, daft or cosy to understand FOSS, but some of us do - and given time and exposure, many more will - so when you want to take your statistics, move a few steps outside the Microsoft Nigeria office, will you? The demographics outside are more accurate..
Apparently I am furious - and it is because many will listen to men like this and believe them - thus boxing innocent citizens and young people into a corner because of a line on Mr Ilukwe's Microsoft approval sheet.
I think he needs to stop this 'Fani-Kayode-sque' type of inverted intelligence. I dont know him, but I do respect him.
So, with due respect, Mr Ilukwe, you're wrong. When you dont know what to say, kindly keep quiet.
What you think you save now is usually what you have to pay for later. An old sales men trick in the commercial world.
Buyers (if any) are best advised to think long term. Their safest bet is to keep their options open.
Ridiculous Microsoft.
No doubt that Africans will profit from both available products: either free OS and applications or the Microsoft's pirated ones.
Well maybe if they spent less time faking email money scams and running drug rings.......they wouldnt need more software
one question to microsoft.
wich would you use?
1. a ware who is expensive and almost useless and need uppgrades who makes the whole thing worse+ slowing down your computer.
2.cheap well working ware.
u know that the iq in microsoft are not so high but i think they would take nr2.
but im a bit unsure!
Its not un who is gonna decide wich software africa will have its the african and no other!
isn't that what you americans call freedom?
im not from africa im from europe so im not thinking for my best.
Let us be honest about the differences between open source/free source products and Microsoft products. Microsoft has dominated because of 'ease of use'. The same cannot be said of opensource/free products.
Microsoft products(including operating systems) are initially expensive but support costs(personnel) are cheaper in the long term.
The intelligence level required to support free/opensource products(including operating systems) is higher than that required for microsoft.
Africa has a high level of illiteracy.
Free/open source products are not well supported.
Training Africans in open source products will take a longer time.
Invariably, Africans will end up having to hire expensive personnel from Europe. Even though it will appear that they have received free software, they will end up paying more in consultancy fees. Hence, free is not really free at all.
What is the point of having a free software that you cannot utilise fully when you need?
Fucking Stupid statement by Microshaft.
I'm planning to give a Linux Distribution as the new year gift to Billy Gates. ;)
Of course cost is not an issue! With all the pirating of software going on and the lack of copyright laws, or lack of enforcement of copyright laws, why should we pay a dime to M$?
Microsoft point of view carries no water - and shows how shallow minded they are in their thinking - I would have expected more from a company of its stature...
I am not against microsoft - I am just an African trying my best to get by - In Africa cost is the greatest factor - what is Microsoft sofware worth without training??? - So far, what we see on ground level is just a lot of hat air from them - theres no training and all efforts end at - we give to the government - wake up!!!!!!! --- AND JUST FOR YOUR INFORMATION - we are not illitereate idiots - you should revise your employment pollicies 'cause it looks like you Senior staff are just that!!!!
I support all efforts to help those on the ground - I have dedicated my life to that and supply services at no cost to the underpriviliged at cost to myself!! PROVE TO ME YOU MEAN BUSSINESS MICROSOFT - I'll use and train people in whatever will give them some edge in life