[kictanet] Training for Digital Villages Operators

Wed Apr 30 11:51:26 EAT 2008

Nice topic going..

I have previously written on this list on matters regarding software.

Everyone has been very engaged on connectivity/telecom infrastructure issues
and hardware has somehow sorted itself out through competition.

Software is an integral part of ICT and accounts for the highest expenditure
especially on recurrent costs. Software also brings about lots of indirect
costs such as security, training, professional fees, ...the list is big.
Its important that this matter is given the attention it deserves.

With basic operating system and office productivity software costs going to
about USD 700, this means we require something like 3 GDP months to get
commodity software for a simple workstation environment. We are counting
approximately 500,000 PCs in this country and you can do the mathematics to
sum up what this really means if licensing compliance is to be aggressively
enforced. Honestly, this may even warrant authorities to support piracy
indirectly..

How then do we grow into a software services hub when commodity software is
drawing that much out of our economy? We would of course require such an
industry to earn the country proper foreign exchange to make enough returns
on such an investment. The point is, we have to become more open minded with
regard to software trends.. Please lets avoid these
multinational/international vendor hangovers..

We need to grow our own software development and services industry and this
will only compliment other areas we are trying to germinate such as the BPO
& Outsourcing. Open Source, SaaS and the like will just serve to provide
entry points for our players. Its impossible to give businesses such as the
Digital Villages sufficient money (they are supposed to be making money
anyway)  but by given them information and choice, you will be giving them
more than money.

I may be wrong but i am little disappointed to see that the ICT board (board
and top executives are on this) does not respond to some questions raised
here.

I would be happy to hear from someone this time round because all the
players in the industry are really partners in the development of this
industry.

Muthoni

On Wed, Apr 30, 2008 at 10:04 AM, Evans Ikua <ikua at lpakenya.org> wrote:

> 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
> >>
> >>
> >>
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>
>
>
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-- 
Muthoni

My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
--------------------------------------------
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First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
AND THEN YOU WIN!!!
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