Open-source, not Microsoft, best suited to Indonesia

Open-source, not Microsoft, best suited to Indonesia

Vishnu K. Mahmud, Contributor, vmahmud@yahoo.com

There's been some interest recently regarding the news that
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono invited Microsoft chairman
Bill Gates to open a research center in Indonesia.

The world's top software company is well known for its Windows
operating system and Microsoft Office productivity suite that is
the de facto industry standard for writing and sharing documents.

In addition, according to Thomas L. Friedman in his new book
The World Is Flat, the Microsoft research center in Beijing,
China, has proven to be an excellent breeding ground for new
talent and innovation, making it a productive research arm for
the U.S.-based company.

This success is due to the fact that Microsoft hired the best
graduates from local universities, mostly through referrals of
top professors in their fields, and fostered a culture of
excellence and learning, making the center a highly desirable
stop for a professional career.

A reference letter from the center is said to be worth its
weight in gold and then some.

So having a research center is a great idea for Indonesia,
right?

Not so fast, says Onno W. Purbo. In an interview with
detik.com, one of Indonesia's top open source activists warned
against using public funds to set up a research center that would
ultimately profit the software maker. This then raises the
question, who will benefit the most out of this potential
partnership?

The answer can be seen in the proprietary, not to mention
costly, nature of Microsoft software. With prices of computer
components continually falling, Microsoft Windows remains a major
cost when buying a new PC.

And with police raids on software pirates and their users
becoming fashionable, it would indeed be advisable to have a
licensed operating system and applications. But Microsoft Office
2004 often costs as much as the computer itself!

Local software developers may be able to benefit from a
Microsoft research center, but considering the startup costs
involved -- the various licenses for Microsoft server software,
databases, and others -- perhaps only a select few will be able
to profit from this relationship.

So what about open source? It is free. Free to download, free
to use (depending on which Linux distribution you choose) and
free to customize for your home and business.

Practically everyone can obtain tools to make quality
software, with no hassles, no registration processes or serial
number verifications. And their products use low cost, industry
standard frameworks such as Java, PHP or MySQL, making the final
price of their software just as reasonable for their clients.

Of course, nothing is free nowadays. Some Linux distributions
require license fees but considering the quality of their
products, and their low cost, a small investment for
computerizing your home or business should be worthwhile.

As for after-sales service, many of the top Linux
distributions now offer corporate support. Industry titan Novell,
for example, offers two Linux systems with their Novel Linux
Desktop 9 and SUSE. Leading Linux company Red Hat just recently
appointed Computrade Technology International (CTI) as its sole
distributor in Indonesia, offering not only joint marketing,
sales enablement and customized solutions, but also local
customer support.

Major companies such as IBM and Oracle also offer Linux
support for their applications, allowing customers to find the
best possible industry solution while running low-cost desktops
that use open-standard web-based technology to access them.

And of course, considering the plethora of viruses, Internet
worms and spyware that affect Microsoft computers worldwide, some
are getting weary of powering up their PCs online.

The government should provide more support to its Indonesia
Goes Open Source (IGOS) program to move this country forward.
Windows and Linux are basically the same animal: they are
conduits for accessing the Internet, drafting documents, or
playing games.

It does not matter what type of application you use or what
system you install, in the end, computers are tools for you to
work with. We should not be inflexible in learning new things.

As governments overseas are switching over to Linux -- the
city of Vienna, Austria being the latest convert -- Indonesia
should back away from a relationship with a costly piece of
software that offers little benefit over viable open-source
alternatives.

Our minds and data files should be open to new innovations and
changes in the future, and not be dictated by a single company
lead by the richest man in the world.