[kictanet] Training for Digital Villages Operators

[Evans Ikua]

Patrick,
By default, ICDL here in our market is normally delivered in the MS  
platform. Its good that you are referring to FOSS implementations of  
the same in a country like Italy, where inspite of the fact they have  
a large economy, they still do not see why they should buy software  
that they do not need to. same goes for countries like Britain, France  
and Germany who have pro-FOSS policies. Makes me wonder why us poor  
countries are in the forefront of this yet we don not have money to  
waste.


To answer Odhiambo, its important to note that with the earlier  
example that I gave of Cybers migrating, they did not migrate because  
they liked Linux and Open source, or because they hate MS, or because  
Linux was easy, but because they simply could not afford the licenses.  
It was out of necessity. The training that they had to undergo or the  
installation charges were simply not comparable to the high license  
costs.

Its also important to note that the capacity for training on FOSS  
applications is there in the market. The LPA has enough members who  
can support this. Some of us had actually applied to do the training  
on OpenICDL but turns out that we had applied to the wrong people  
because of the confusion that was there in the board.

Since the board also has ICT for development and bridging the  
Technology divide as some of its objectives, its imperative that they  
should first consider Open source before going for proprietary software.

what governments in SA, Europe and elsewhere have is an official  
policy that says that they will only go for proprietary software if  
they cannot find an open source alternative that can do the work at  
hand. The board should spearhead this as they are closer to the powers  
that be.


-- 
Evans Ikua
Chairman
Linux Professional Association of Kenya
Tel: 20-250381, Cell: 0722 955 831
Eagle House, 2nd Floor
Kimathi Street, Opp. Corner House
www.lpakenya.org


Quoting Patrick Mburu <patrick.mburu at gmail.com>:

> Good afternoon,
>
> a quick note on the ICDL;  Actually ICDL is a standard certification of
> competencies an individual has in the use of IT;  It is broken down
> into the different modules such as word processor's and databases...etc
> The curriculum is a non vendor based certification however the mode of
> delivery is dependent on the implementing organization;
> I'm leading the implementation of this standard, we are scheduling the
> implementation of this certification and have had to base this on
> Microsoft Office for licensing and other matters;  I do know that other
> sister agencies have done this with various implementations indeed
> including IT Training curricula on open source systems as well, i.e:
> ILO of the UN un Turin,Italy;
>
> It would be a shame to certify this programme on specific vendors where
> there are other options available.  The Computing Society of Kenya or
> the highest training board in relation to IT should be involved in this
> aspect as adherence to the accredation.  anyone on the list from either?
>
> Regards,
>
> Patrick
>
>
> On Apr 29, 2008, at 4:49 PM, Evans Ikua wrote:
>
>> After a close look at the ICT Board program for training their "Pasha"
>> operators especially on the technology to use, I noticed that they are
>> planning to train them on the ICDL curriculum, which is based on
>> Microsoft.
>>
>> What this means is that they are expected to get their Ksh 100,000
>> loan and then decide whether to buy software or to buy computers, not
>> to mention pay rent and all other startup costs.
>>
>> As you can expect, MS will wait in the wings for them to use
>> unlicensed copies of their software and then pounce on them,
>> confiscating their computers till they pay up.
>>
>> Then as happened with the cyber cafes, they will start looking for
>> Linux installers to migrate them. This will take them back to square 1
>> to start learning how to use Linux.
>>
>> My suggestion therefore to the ICT Board is to seriously consider
>> starting off these guys on Linux and the OpenICDL curriculum, which
>> will mean that they don't have to buy software they can hardly afford,
>> or use illegal copies and keep looking behind their backs.
>>
>> Not to do this will be to encourage use of illegal software and vendor
>> lock-in. It will also mean that they are setting the stage for mass
>> failure of the whole project.
>>
>> That is my humble opinion.
>>
>> -- 
>> Evans Ikua
>> Chairman
>> Linux Professional Association of Kenya
>> Tel: 20-250381, Cell: 0722 955 831
>> Eagle House, 2nd Floor
>> Kimathi Street, Opp. Corner House
>> www.lpakenya.org
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> This message was sent to: patrick.mburu at gmail.com
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at   
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/patrick.mburu%40gmail.com