http://www.school.net.th/linux/news/linuxpakistan/

FROM PAKISTAN, LOW-COST COMPUTERS

Pakistan Ministry of Science and Technology advisor Salman Ansari says that 
some 50,000 low cost computers are to be installed in schools and colleges
all over Pakistan. These will be PII computers, each being sourced for less
than $100 a piece, he says.

Proprietary software for these PCs would cost a small fortune. Surely more
than what the computers cost! But, using GNU/Linux as the OS would ensure
that the overall prices are kept low. Pakistan is seriously considering the
use of Star Office, an Open Source productivity tool that does the same work
as proprietary software costing thousands of rupees.

"Don't be surprised if we become the first country in the world to say that
all (government-run) services are going to be GNU/Linux based," Ansari says
enthusiastically. It's to be seen if these dreams can be accomplished.

"I've set up several networks. When I started setting them up six years ago,
the only thing I could run them with, without breaking the law, was Linux.
At that time, Windows NT was very flaky. So I've developed a very healthy
respect for Linux and Open Source. Though I'm a typical Pakistani, I still
feel a bit uncomfortable in buying pirated software, and paying 90 cents for
a software priced US$500," he says with a smile.

(Others at a recent UNDP meet held in Kuala Lumpur too raise question about
the prices for proprietorial software. More so, in the Third World, where
the price of a single software could cost more than the average citizen's

per capita income! Some suggest that software should be priced at
differential levels, keeping the dollar-earning power of different
countries' citizens in mind. Just as books originally published in the US,
for instance, are re-published and priced at as little as one-sixth the cost
when reprinted in South Asia.)

Ansari says Pakistan has been speaking to some big vendors of proprietorial
prices. "We told them we would like to do business with them, but for that
the pricing would have to be realistic first," says he.

If current software prices are taken into account, to go 'legal' Pakistan
would have to pay something like US$400 for converting each of its PCs to
proprietorial software.

"The Business Software Alliance (the network promoting proprietorial
software) has been going all out for it. But they have to come in at a price
which equates to the economics of the country," argues Ansari.

Ansari points to the growing belief which says that if professionals wanting
to enter the software development field need to get into Open Source. "You
will be then able to create products, and not just projects," says he.

It makes sense from the regional language solutions front too. "Urdu (the
national language of Pakistan) language software is easier (to use) if it
resides at the OS level," he adds.

Ansari says that as chairman of the peer review committee of all IT
projects, he has been keen to turn down any project that uses pirated
software. "But what this ends up doing is that it bloats the cost of the
software," he complains, suggesting the Open Source could be a way out.

"There are two interesting initiatives now. We're launching a major
e-governance programme, and the government must have legal software. We're
also planning to put in computers in rural schools. Both are going to be
high profile projects. We want to make sure they don't use pirated software,
even while we work on cleaning out other PCs..."

Ansari says this has 'thrown open the debate' in Pakistan. For instance, the
Technology Resource Mobilisation Unit has a task force on Linux. The
government has also agreed to put in Rs 200 million to fund R&D and software
product development, which the government would then own and distribute for
free -- cutting into the very logic of proprietorial software.

On the client-side, efforts are on to build a GUI interface for Linux, by
working at the OS level for projects which relate to text-to-speech,
language translation and language-related software.

"But at the same time, we're not stopping anyone (in government) from buying
branded products. So long as they can justify it and negotiate a good price
(the justification for which has to be very valid)," says the US-returned
engineer. "In a government contract, if you're going to bid for computers
which has a legal OS and office suite, guess who's going to win," he says.

Three aspects take priority on this front, says Ansari.

Firstly, encouraging legal software. Secondly, enabling a 'complete industry
growth' for product development based on Linux. And, thirdly, making people
"very, very aware" of this powerful tool. GNU/Linux is something which
"almost everybody has adopted, whether it's Sun, Oracle or IBM". This would
reduce the cost of computing for the people, even while we would like to use
non-pirated software, says Ansari.

He finds it ludicrous to believe the BSA's estimation that India uses 63%
pirated software, while Pakistan's figure is something like 83%. "Their
current paradigm is simply to count the number of computers shipped, and
multiply this by five, on the assumption that each computer needs five
pieces of software. This is a ludicrous way of estimating things," says he.

Says he: "Sure, piracy is far high. If everybody somehow started using
Linux, we'd fall below the US piracy levels, and maybe have 2% piracy. We
want to be ahead of these guys before they start their next 'war on
terrorism' (using the issue of 'intellectual property'). But we also want
the likes of Microsoft to come out with prices that are reasonable. We want
companies like those to also come and invest in the country, where software
or drivers could be written here. Under those circumstances, even Microsoft
would start looking very different," he argues. 

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