The Nooitgedacht Primary School, on the outskirts of Cape Town, is little more than a few drab buildings surrounded by barbed wire. The school can’t afford a library, and only a few students have the money to buy uniforms. But up two flights of stairs in room No. 6, a class of fifth graders sits hunched over 20 computer terminals, writing with word-processor programs, experimenting with spreadsheets and familiarizing themselves with the mouse and keyboard. How does a level-C school–the lowest on the South African government’s poverty scale–afford an up-to-date computer lab?
Linus Torvalds has never been to Nooitgedacht, but he’s the most likely answer. Torvalds, a Finnish computer scientist, was only 21 back in 1991 when he invented the Linux operating system with the idea of competing with Microsoft’s Windows. Rather than sell copies of the software for a fee, Torvalds released Linux’s source code–the original program–into the public domain. That kick-started the so-called open-source-software movement, which has since produced a whole suite of programs, from word processors to spreadsheets to video programs–most of it free. In recent years some big companies like IBM, HP and Oracle, but also foreign governments like those of France and Germany, have embraced Linux as a way to stem Microsoft’s dominance in PCs.
Now open-source software is beginning to have an even more electrifying effect in the developing world. Schools, government offices and small businesses that could never afford Microsoft’s license fees are getting wired using so-called freeware. The software saves them a bundle and gives them unprecedented flexibility to adapt programs to their local needs–which include using old computers rather than the fastest, priciest versions, and allowing local programmers to maintain and develop their computer systems. For many countries, open-source software holds out the promise of high-tech independence. “We need to be in charge of our own information-technology future,” says Johann Eksteen of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
Cost savings are driving the trend. In the developing world, the price of licensing Windows can be astronomical. In South Africa, it costs around $280 per computer, which is one reason the State IT Agency (SITA) declared in January that it would switch to open source. The anticipated cost savings amount to billions of dollars a year.
Another factor is reliability. Some software experts argue that Microsoft products are too complicated and prone to glitches, whereas Linux is simpler for a user to fix. That’s partly why the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre was so quick to adopt Linux in the late 1990s; the system’s pudgy-penguin logo now graces the screens of most school, university and municipal-government computers. The phenomenon has recently begun to spread across Brazil, with retailers, bankers and even the armed forces souring on Microsoft. “Talk to nine out of 10 people in the software business and you’ll hear complaints about Windows,” says Alexandre Moura, who runs Light-Infocon, a database-software maker in Campina Grande, Brazil’s Silicon Valley.
For governments in particular, better security is another attraction of Linux. Whereas Windows provides standardized safety settings, Linux’s security options can be more easily customized. Likewise, while Micro-soft veils its programs in manufacturer codes that only company-approved technicians can service, Linux can be “opened up,” fashioned and adapted to the taste of individual clients. In China, rumors of Microsoft and the American government’s spying on computer users through so-called back doors built into the software has paved the way for the growing popularity of the local open-source product, Red Flag Linux.
Microsoft is not watching quietly. After the South African government threw its support behind the open-source movement last year, Microsoft offered to supply free software to government-run schools in South Africa. Hilton Theunissen, the project manager at Nooitgedacht Primary School, is skeptical of Microsoft’s sudden altruism. “For years and years I was writing letters to Microsoft, always asking for software donations,” he says. “What I ended up receiving was either a negative reply or no reply at all.” Microsoft is also working harder to argue the superiority of its software to open-source products. Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft Africa, says that at the end of the day, governments and schools in the developing world need to look at “the total cost of ownership,” including ongoing support and maintenance.
But that’s precisely what appeals to many developing countries about Linux–the fact that they don’t need to go to Microsoft for help. Gopalakrishnan, secretary to the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh state in India, notes that using open-source software encourages investment in a local industry of programmers that is bound to pay off in the long run. The kids at Nooitgedacht might be new to computers, but for them, open-source will soon be old hat.
