[kictanet] The end of Open Source as we Know it? National Position or National Opinion

[Nnenna Nwakanma]

Hi people
> Open Source Software (OSS) has a long life and is here to stay. OSS actually
> scares Proprietary Software such that the latter wants to kill the former at
> the earliest possible opportunity. I agree that the OSS community is larger
> than MySQL.

Certainly.  Now we have the very notion open permeating well beyond  
software and licenses.

  And infact, I predict that the biggest growth in OSS will be in
> developing countries, hoping that Kenya will among others, provide the next
> generation of leaders in the use of ICTs and the Internet.
Why not?

  Evans Ikua <ikua at lpakenya.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Not that there would be a "Kenyan Position"

I am not sure what a Kenya position will influence in the current  
business plan of Oracle.  I know that governments who wanted to be  
informed towards an opinion did so BEFORE the acquisition.  The US  
Department of Commerce Consulted.  I do remember being consulted  
alongside other Open Source Initiative board members.  An open meeting  
was actually held in Washington in which all 'interested stakeholders  
were invited'.  Basically, we did raise the MySQL issue.

The EU Commission has a Directorate of Informatics.  They also  
consulted OSS stakeholders.

My point is simple.  Let us consult first, have informed opinions and  
probably effect changes before they are made.

Best regards

-- 
Nnenna Nwakanma
Director, nnenna.org
Consultants on Information, Communications, Technology
and Events for Development
(RCCM - CI-ABJ-2008-A-3.768)
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nnenna at nnenna.org
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