[kictanet] President Kenyatta secures Microsoft support for computers

Thu Jun 6 17:30:05 EAT 2013

Thanks Dr. Ndemo for your response. I must clarify what my point in all
this is.

1. It is my belief that Microsoft will not offer everything for free. They
are here to make money, which is their inalienable right. So they will
offer a few subsidies here and there but the bottom line, and as reported
in the media, they stand to make billions out of this deal. As a tax payer,
I hate to see my Government wasting money buying software for which they
could have gotten better options at a fraction of the cost. Using open
source alternatives like Edubuntu could have given us far much better value
for every Shilling that we spend. If am the only one who sees it this way,
then I must be mad or something. Any individual or corporate that has the
money to spend is free to spend their money on whichever software that they
want. But public money needs to be spent on whatever product that gives the
best value.

2. The strategy for Microsoft as Dr. Ndemo clearly put it is to lock in the
market. This way they might consider giving away a few freebies to make the
deal look good. But we must remember that they do business for their own
best interest, not ours. In the long term, they have a captive market of
kids and future systems admins and developers who are beholden to their
platform. The result is that they continue minting money out of our
economy. What is  our interest in this? Do we just stand by and say that
there is nothing we can do? Most European and Asian countries have started
to see the light here and they are busy developing their local software
industries based on open source and open standards.

3. Are we doing anything as an open source community or we are just a talk
shop? Yes we are. Camara Educational foundation where I am a director has
done a great deal of work especially at the coast province enhancing
education using technology. They give computers to schools and support them
over the life time of the equipment. They also train the teachers on the
technology in partnership with Intel under the IntelTeach programme. They
have now moved upcountry and have a presence in Nairobi and Bungoma. The
man thing is that their computers come loaded with Edubuntu, along with
over 80 open source educational software and applications, not to mention
the RACHEL Server. RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspots for Education and
Learning) are low-cost, scalable deployments of the best open-source
software and creative commons educational content available.  World
Possible curates  from leading educational resources such as The Khan
Academy, Wikiepedia, CK-12 and many more, making a digital library in a box
available in one easy to reference location.  RACHEL software then allows
any computer to function as a server whereby all other computers can access
it's central repository in a internet-like environment.

4. Unfortunately, the President may not know that there is anything else in
the world apart from Microsoft. But the people who should be advising him
do. These are the people who look down on us and call us dreamers.

I look forward to the meeting at Strathmore where I will present my
position paper on this.

Ikua

On Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 9:45 AM, James Mbugua <jgmbugua at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I suppirt, PS Ndemo that we discuss the issues not sideshows.
>
> Books - it will make no sense, to spend all this money on laptops, then
> have to buy text books. Let the Ministry/KIE develop standards for eBooks
> or eLearning in general to be used from Std 1 to 8. Ideally, with a similar
> curriculum, there us no reason why we shouldn't have standardized testing,
> like SAT/TOEFL for every term nationwide. So that ares lagging behind can
> be detected early and corrective measures taken.
>
> Replacement - What happens when the kid loses their laptop? What is the
> replacement mechanism? Who eill supply replacements, at whose cost? Should
> we give new ones to each new class or instead have each class pass down
> their laptops to the next?
>
> Regards
>
> JG
>
>
>
> On Thursday, June 6, 2013, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Ikua,
> >
> > I feel you and I am tempted to support your sentiments.  But I think
> this issue runs deeper than whether we should use Proprietary (Microsoft)
> or Open source software for our pupils in standard 1.  My take is we are in
> a situation where we may  NOT have defined the learning objectives, the
> curriculum, the teaching/delivery/assessments  etc.  I wish I am wrong but
> I think we have NO EDUCATIONAL SPECIFICATION of what we want this kids to
> come out with after blowing 60Billiion Ksh on laptops.
> >
> > In the absence of this specification, you will get all types of vendors
> surrounding you and selling you all types of hardware, curricula, software,
> etc.  And then the choice of whom you work with, will very much depend on
> which vendor can pull the heaviest punch - financially speaking.
> >
> > But all is not lost, we just need to define educational specification
> and then panel-beat all the vendors to do what we want, not what THEY want.
> And maybe that specification exists but is a cabinet secret - and so we
> shall continue fire-fighting in darkness.
> >
> > walu.
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com>
> > To: jwalu at yahoo.com
> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>; "
> isoc at orion.my.co.ke" <isoc at orion.my.co.ke>
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 8:54 PM
> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] President Kenyatta secures Microsoft support for
> computers
> >
> > Dear Dr Ndemo,
> > Now that you have outlined what MS will do, maybe you can share with us
> what is in it for them? I am sure they did not fly in their Global
> President for nothing. I suspect that they stand to gain immensely from
> this "partnership". The partners referred to must be their local
> distributors, or other Government agencies. They will win big and we will
> lose big time.
> >
> > It would be good to know how much the laptops will cost, and how much of
> that cost will go to software, or to MS for that matter. If they are
> offering a free OS, or a subsidised one for that matter, just remember the
> analogy of dope - the first dose is always free, its the subsequent one
> that you pay for!
> >
> > Dont even think about the fact that if we give proprietary solutions to
> our kids, we will be losing the opportunity to give them better options
> that are available in open source. But most sadly, we have just mortgaged
> our freedom and that of the future generations.
> >
> > Ikua
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 8:18 PM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> wrote:
> >
> > Barrack,
> > As I promised, Prof. Godia accepted to respond to your questions on
> > Kicktanet.  You will need to fix e-mail, godiaes at yahoo.com into the
> > mailing list to make it easier to reply.
> >
> > I attended the State House function and Microsoft agreed to do the
> following:
> >
> > 1.      Work with different partners to Train ALL Primary School Teachers
> > computers (more than 260,000) to enable them implement computer to
> schools
> > programme by January.  They are ready to start as soon as the Government
> > of Kenya gives the go-ahead to start the programme at County level;
> > 2.      Work with different partners to develop and train at least five
> > enterprises in each County to provide technical support in Hardware,
> > Connectivity and Software to all schools within each County; and
> > 3.      Develop a research and innovation hub at Konza Technology Park to
> > support software developers in the region.
> > 4. Work with other Hardware manufacturers to develop a sustainable model
> > that includes local assembly of computers as well as local software and
> > content development that can be replicated in other African countries
> >
> > This will go a long way in realzing our President's commitment to
> > achieving his promises to the Kenyan people.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> > Ndemo.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> Walu,
> >>
> >> I think its time we focused on other issues, seems this project is a
> >> foregone conclusion. We will take stock in 2017.
> >>
> >> Best Regards
> >>
> >>
> >> On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 2:59 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Whao!
> >>>
> >>> When I grow up, I want to work for M$oft :-)
> >>>
> >>> Sounds like they are concluding the deal to be on 1million laptops next
> >>> year - as we are busy tweeting on what Software is relevant for pupils
> >>> in
> >>> Standard one. Read on
> >>> @
> >>>
> http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Uhuru-secures-Microsoft-support-for-computers/-/1056/1871904/-/7i517tz/-/index.html
> >>>
> >>> walu.
> >>>
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
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-- 
*----------------------------------------------------
Kind Regards,
Evans Ikua,*
lanetconsulting.com,
lpi-eastafrica.org,
ict-innovation.fossfa.net,
Skype: @ikuae
Cell: +254-722-955831
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