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SA turns back on Microsoft

Feb 22 2007 14:50 Print this article | Email article

Microsoft eyes emerging markets

Cheap internet access 'coming'

Gates in SA Microsoft drive

Cape Town - South Africa plans to switch all government departments over to open source computer software instead of using Microsoft systems, a cabinet spokesperson said on Thursday.

Themba Maseko told reporters the cabinet would use the open source Linux operating system in a bid to lower administration costs and enhance local IT skills.

Unlike rival Microsoft's proprietary software, the open source operating system works on the principle that software is free and can be modified at no cost by anyone to suit local and specific needs.

The cost implications are considerable in a country struggling to bridge the digital divide, and where a vast majority of the people are computer illiterate.

"This is going to be a long process... What this (open source) initiative is basically trying to streamline (is) our use and development of software in the country," Maseko said.

Maseko said it was too early to provide timeframes for implementing Linux, but by April this year an office would be established by the department of science and technology and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to oversee it.

South Africa joins governments in other emerging markets like Brazil, China, Spain, India and Malaysia in adopting open source software, with proponents of Linux arguing that the free software could help slash the cost of getting computers into schools, homes and community centres.

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Frank Daley Aug 07 2007 08:54

Use of the Linux operating system will save the South African Government tens of millions of dollars in annual license fees. There are now a number of powerful tools that provide central management of Linux machines including deployment and ongoing maintenance. Universities and training colleges around the world are now turning out increasing numbers of graduates trained in the use of Linux. Hence the cost of supporting Linux systems is fast moving to a parity with the ongoing support costs of Windows. That leaves savings of tens of millions of dollars, let alone the long-term benefits for South Africas local IT industry.

Dave Aug 07 2007 08:54

In response to those lamenting the decision, consider that if the government is making this decision, then they will have the opportunity to select a nationally supported distro. Also, automatic updates can be configured using the rdist facility to keep thousands of systems updated with minimal overhead (just need a master rdist server and someone who knows how to manage it). Also, SA citizens will be have an opportunity to become technically savvy so as to make better, more informed decisions on the pro/cons of different OSs. Since the Shuttleworth foundation supports Ubuntu, that is also a bonus.

CZ Aug 07 2007 08:54

the only reason why tech-support costs are so high, is because their are so few consultants, and thats why they can get away with charging so much. Microsoft learnt this, and thats why implemented so many techie training courses like A+, etc. If government puts their money where their mouths are, supply of consultants will meet demand both meet where the price is right.

Ari Aug 07 2007 08:54

great to see government going open source, it will provide a boost to our sofware industry, and stop all the licensing fees going out of the country.

NoMore Aug 07 2007 08:54

While the "free" claim is overstated, one can see that Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) towards open source is alive and well while reading the comments left by other readers.

Kate Aug 07 2007 08:54

Microsoft has an agreement with schools to supply them with their latest software FOR FREE as long as all the schools computers containing the software are registered with them. The argument that using Linux would help slash the cost of getting computers to schools is clearly one made by someone who was totally misinformed or maybe just to ignorant to care.

Eric Aug 07 2007 08:54

My primary home desktop and secondary work desktop is Linux. 1.) Try use a webcam with an IM client in Linux? 2.) Patching, my Ubuntu machine as 90MB of patches this week waiting to be installed. 3.) What about central management? 4.) What about resources. I have one GIG of ram and life is slow!! 5.) Linux is not FREE. One has to look at total cost of ownership.

open$ourced Aug 07 2007 08:54

It is sad to see that our government was misled by the lie of open source being free. Surely they must know that nothing in life is for free, not even software. Did anyone bother to do some proper analysis here? It is common knowledge that open source software come at a premium of high support costs (compared to MS). Why? Because the open source movement is simply put unable to come together on a standardised platform. There must be different flavours to satisfy the software freedom fighters demands. Otherwise they are, God forbid, like Microsoft! And this will always be the Achilles heel. For every flavour there is the more difficult it becomes to support. So well done government: you might have saved a bit on licensing costs, but have a look at your support budget as it will definitely needs adjustment after this decision goes through...

Lizzie Aug 07 2007 08:53

Schools are already getting free products from Microsoft , so what is the problem?

G-man Aug 07 2007 08:53

Microsoft seems to be shooting themselves in the foot... every two years they change the operating systems and we must all change our systems - to provide them with a major income stream. I dont disagree with advancement - but build the advancement through patches etc.. once youve bought the system it should be good for the life of the computer.

Ben Aug 07 2007 08:53

I am an American but we are not all lovers of Microsoft here! Your government has made the right decision. Change is never easy or cheap but change always comes. When the PC took over from the mainframe it wasn't easy, when Windows replaced PCDOS it wasn't easy, and this won't be easy either but it will be worth it. Speaking of costs, when Microsoft supporters speak of TCO they rarely include the very real cost of buying and maintaining the Microsoft Office applications or Microsoft Exchange/Outlook, which are the Microsoft cash cows. These applications (office and email) are well covered by free (as in freedom as well as beer) applications on Linux.

omnus Aug 07 2007 08:53

How much is the re-write and integration of all the existing systems going to cost? Where will all the human resources come from to support all these specialized Open Source systems and Linux systems? Who will decide which flavour of Linux will be used and what version? What change control will be employed and who will keep track? How does the Cost of Ownership weigh up to existing Operating System and Existing Systems? How long will it take to re-develop all these system and who will pay for it and at what cost? How will you justify this cost to the citizens? What about all the functionality that is still not on PAR with that of Windows? Collaboration, XMLDOM, OFFICE application integration etc etc.. Interesting Stuff

academic2 Aug 07 2007 08:53

Concerning costs of IT solutions - all software needs support. We should to stare ourselves blind on the fact that current support for Microsoft products is currently more readily available. Software support have many facets e.g. training, installation, maintenance with updates and patches. The open source model offers even further software support possibilities - adaptation for local needs. Look for example at the work done and products available by translate.org.za. Products for our local language needs are only one type of local need for software adaptation. Imagine what it would cost a local company to convince Microsoft to adapt one of their products to cater for a specific need. The same company may probably still have to pay for adaptation of an open source product, but if it is done locally the revenue stays here and the adaptation may also benefit other local (even in the global village sense) companies. No wonder the Meraka Institute www.meraka.org.za has an Open Source Center.

AA Aug 07 2007 08:53

It may be that Linux and open source is not free but hopefully that money is all spent locally instead of lining Microsofts pockets. That means training and job creation in SA, (Hopefully).

tuskernini Aug 07 2007 08:53

I think it is a good move, MS systems also need support... Linux supporters do not ask less or more than MS support. I am not talkin about your friend next door the computer whizz... I try not to be skeptic. Change is good.

CBrunsdon.ZA Aug 07 2007 08:53

Well done! Linux will now find its place in the local market that it deserves. The debate about MS vs LINUX needs to be a relative debate. Too many people argue the performance on servers and the maintenance on desktops to cost of ownership. The reality is that most of our future IT professionals are being trained on Linux today at our schools. Our government will become less reliant on a foreign monopoly and rather give our IT sector the push it needs. And those that oppose Linux, just remember who has to renew annual Anti-Virus license fees - not me. Ubuntu for life

Gloom Aug 07 2007 08:53

Typical MS Trolls misunderstanding what the free means, its free as in speech not as in beer. We run opensource and we run MS software and I have to say I find the opensource guys far more willing to admitting there is a fault in the software ( and then patching it) than I have from Microsoft and other vendors using closed source.

Sproggit Aug 07 2007 08:53

Thats correct Microsoft fanboys, open source is not free. However the people that get paid for its use (consultants) will in this case be South African linux experts and not some overpaid under delivering monopoly in Redmond. Im sure you think that the governments in the other countries adopting OSS are also being short sighted???? The point here is openness, not cost. How would you like some multinational corporation being able to hold your government hostage via changing document formats? Think before spewing your evil empire FUD here.

dodger Aug 07 2007 08:53

Did everybody only read what they wanted to read. They will be training there own support staff, like most large companys do, to cut down on consulting fees. Good for them being proactive. Try quit the negativity. Despite the blunders, there is still some good.

J.T. Aug 07 2007 08:53

It seems that some of the posters here dont know open source software at all, just misinformed. Talking about total cost of ownership, you still need support for Microsoft stuff plus licensing fees. For Linux, the software is free as in free beer, but Linux consultants can charge for service fees. With Linux you have the source code to work with to boost local IT. With Microsoft softwares, youre in the dark and at its mercy. For training cost, for every new piece of software, you always need training and consulting, even with Microsoft software.

pogson Aug 07 2007 08:53

I have installed hundreds of Linux systems, and I do not see the downside. Sure there is a little pain walking up the learning curve, but it is not that bad. Most users read, click and type. Linux is perfect for them. I have introduced many people to Linux and all they need is a little intro and they are off. The computer geeks install stuff and the users use it. After the transition, the continuing costs are very small. The last system I set up had 700 accounts, 130 seats and I could upgrade any software package in a minute or so from any seat in the system, for the whole system. Large organizations like government will use server-centric computing that requires only a few machines to be upgraded to upgrade the whole system, If SA is short of computer geeks, they can grow some. That is part of the plan, I beleive. This is good news for SA.

lordshipmayhem Aug 07 2007 08:53

Linux is free as in beer - but free as in speech as well, because you can modify the code to do what YOU want/need it to do, a point seemingly lost on many of the panicky posters above. So far the comments Ive seen on it seem to indicate the posters think itll take as many sysadmins to administer Linux as Windows - sorry, thats not the case, you dont need nearly as many. Also, the Ubuntu patch issue? How many are for applications used with Ubuntu? And how many of those are simply bugfixes and not security patches - Open Source advances incrementally, not in Microsoftian Great Leaps Forward, which is why so much Open Source software has advanced so much in just a few years. Give it a try, you might like it.

demon Aug 07 2007 08:53

Well I am sure we will read about the IT scandal shortly in the paper. Keep an I out for your stock prices.

Mark H Aug 07 2007 08:53

But Microsoft is far worse. I write as one who spends most days fixing broken Windows machines - Windows does not fix itself. Even in the Microsoft-funded TCO studies, Linux only loses out due to support costs - which in these studies presume that staff are paid in US dollars. Given that South African IT salaries are lower (makes sense as houses, food, etc. are cheaper), Linux wins in a SA context. Not only that, we stop shovelling money back to the US and circulate more of it in the SA economy. As far as consultants go, I have never seen so many consultants descend from the skies as when my employer switched from Novell Netware to Windows NT.

Hans Aug 07 2007 08:53

Can those who whine about the cost of OSS please go and read up about it first. OSS is not about money (as in buying the software). Its about freedom of choice; Something the world lost 20 years ago to MS. Even if it costs more now it WILL be cheaper if MS has competition - Governments is about longterm, not short term TCO that bugs companies with stock holders that only sees the bottom line. Gov can train people to support whatever OSS they are going to use. Even if the TCO is the same - that money stays in SA. Its not a simple calculation.

Educator Aug 07 2007 08:53

Amazing how Linux techie nerds can persuade government officials who swallow this nonsense so readily without doing due diligence research. All one needs to do is read the countless reports of how most organizations have blown their budgets and ruined their users trust after installing the free software and paying exorbitant consulting fees trying forever to patch the sinking ship.

Anymouse Aug 07 2007 08:53

Everyones made mention of the "its not actually free". But then neither is Windoze. Theyll still need IT staff, and theyll still need to be competent. What it _does_ mean is that they can lock things down a bit more tightly, therell be less chance of virus outbreaks, and its easy enough to set up a central patch/installation server so that stuff can be put in one place and then just rolled out internally. I think they are fully aware that there will be TCO issues, and one wonders how theyll port some of their apps to linux, but on the whole I think its a good idea! I work with these guys every day, and trust me, theres a lot of stuff that theyd like to overhaul and this is a good time to do it!

Dark-Elf Aug 07 2007 08:53

It is nice to see that this article has only just appeared, and alraedy the comments get spammed by Microsofts goons. Either that, or by people that actually believe the rhetoric provided by MS. Instead rely on more informative sources like the study the EU just did. Which basically says "Open Source is good for your country and you" http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=70769D40-ABF7-4A08-9667-08370E14EF53

academic Aug 07 2007 08:53

Some of the readers commenting here lose sight of the long term benefits of going open source. Local IT skills development can really get a boost with this model. Educational institutions already use some open source software, but training for Microsoft and other software vendors products seems necessary in order to secure career paths. With current and prospective students now knowing that THEY can become the support base for making open source work in commercial and government institutions they will realize the advantages of using open source software in their training. It is true that nothing is totally free (money) but the freedom and lower cost of entry makes a lot of sense to grow the South African IT skills base.