Monday, July 26, 2004
Affordable computing
It is becoming increasingly clear that Linux, OpenOffice and other free software have become feature-rich, reliable and performant enough that they are alternatives to the commercial platforms in the American market. But in the developing world, they are in fact the only option, because even $100 and $150 are not viable price points. Selling Microsoft's Office or Windows software for $200 in India makes even less sense than selling refrigerators in the land of the Inuit. There is simply no market. A market-based approach is probably not going to be enough to bridge the enormous problem of differences in digital access and literacy in India.
In his letter to Arun Shourie, Rajesh Jain mentions server-based computing, open-source software and free hardware as part of the solution. His letter is worth a read.
1. Develop a 5-year vision for India's IT and Telecom Infrastructure
2. Promote use of server-based computing and open-source software platforms
3. Remove Anti-dumping duty on import of old PCs
4. Standardise Indian language computing efforts
5. Provide a level-playing field for alternative hardware and software solutions
6. Open up the wireless spectrum
7. Change the way we fund Research in India
8. Start a Weblog
FREE SOFTWARE As OpenOffice, Linux and other free software move towards feature-complete product sets, I am moving to a model where I run Linux most of the time, and use Windows only on occassion. That seems to be a good long-term model that tackles the issues of excessive system maintenance, frequent reboots, increasing memory requirements and frequent security updates - problems that have plagued Windows for many years, and ones that I don't see being solved any time soon. I am reasonably tech-dependent, but I haven't yet gotten into a situation where I need an application that I can't get for free on Linux, or on my old version of Windows (I have a copy of Windows XP sitting in a little booklet by the side of my computer. I could upgrade any time I want, but I have simply decided not to). I would think that OpenOffice, Linux and a few other pieces of software alone would prove to be tremendously useful in bringing the computer to the masses .
OPEN SOURCE AND OPEN CONTENT There is no commercial market for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word or other application software in developing countries, but there is huge demand in terms of the number of people who want to benefit from software and technology. A way I see Microsoft succeeding in a market like India is by proprietarizing content and creating unportable (or unportworthy) applications on their platform for the Indian market, thereby preventing the emergence of free or other low-solutions. This is a strategy that they have executed well in the past, and there is no reason to doubt that they will try to do so in India but such a strategy will, of course, affect the digitally underprivileged adversely, since a machine with $200 software on it probably represents a couple of years of savings for the average person. The solution then is to encourage the use of open content and open-source software, and to contribute to the software and content.
'FREE' HARDWARE The solution could also involve free hardware, something that could piggyback onto the problem of e-Waste in the developing world. There are tens of millions of computers being discarded every year. According to estimates, the United States alone had about 41 million onsolete computers in 2001, with a projection of about 500 million units becoming obsolete in the period from 1997 to 2007. China discards around 5 million computers every year. The developed nations would probably be happy to have the computers taken off their junk yards, and garages, so that somebody can put them to use. This one is a win-win.
In his letter to Arun Shourie, Rajesh Jain mentions server-based computing, open-source software and free hardware as part of the solution. His letter is worth a read.
1. Develop a 5-year vision for India's IT and Telecom Infrastructure
2. Promote use of server-based computing and open-source software platforms
3. Remove Anti-dumping duty on import of old PCs
4. Standardise Indian language computing efforts
5. Provide a level-playing field for alternative hardware and software solutions
6. Open up the wireless spectrum
7. Change the way we fund Research in India
8. Start a Weblog
FREE SOFTWARE As OpenOffice, Linux and other free software move towards feature-complete product sets, I am moving to a model where I run Linux most of the time, and use Windows only on occassion. That seems to be a good long-term model that tackles the issues of excessive system maintenance, frequent reboots, increasing memory requirements and frequent security updates - problems that have plagued Windows for many years, and ones that I don't see being solved any time soon. I am reasonably tech-dependent, but I haven't yet gotten into a situation where I need an application that I can't get for free on Linux, or on my old version of Windows (I have a copy of Windows XP sitting in a little booklet by the side of my computer. I could upgrade any time I want, but I have simply decided not to). I would think that OpenOffice, Linux and a few other pieces of software alone would prove to be tremendously useful in bringing the computer to the masses .
OPEN SOURCE AND OPEN CONTENT There is no commercial market for Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word or other application software in developing countries, but there is huge demand in terms of the number of people who want to benefit from software and technology. A way I see Microsoft succeeding in a market like India is by proprietarizing content and creating unportable (or unportworthy) applications on their platform for the Indian market, thereby preventing the emergence of free or other low-solutions. This is a strategy that they have executed well in the past, and there is no reason to doubt that they will try to do so in India but such a strategy will, of course, affect the digitally underprivileged adversely, since a machine with $200 software on it probably represents a couple of years of savings for the average person. The solution then is to encourage the use of open content and open-source software, and to contribute to the software and content.
'FREE' HARDWARE The solution could also involve free hardware, something that could piggyback onto the problem of e-Waste in the developing world. There are tens of millions of computers being discarded every year. According to estimates, the United States alone had about 41 million onsolete computers in 2001, with a projection of about 500 million units becoming obsolete in the period from 1997 to 2007. China discards around 5 million computers every year. The developed nations would probably be happy to have the computers taken off their junk yards, and garages, so that somebody can put them to use. This one is a win-win.
