Country
initiatives
What follows is a
selective overview of developments in FOSS
policy and practice in developing and transition economy
countries. Developments reported are those that
have some relation to official ICT development policy or
involve a governement body. Developments in developed
countries have been left out as these are easier to find
and are better known as they typically receive better
press coverage. If you would wish to add to the list we
would be very grateful to receive your
proposal by e-mail, citing a publicly verifiable
source and url.
Argentina
The bill "Policy for Free Software Use for the
Federal State" was presented to Argentina's House of
Congress in April 2001 and called for mandatory government
use of FOSS. The economic crisis forced the Government out
before a vote could be taken. A similar bill was
re-submitted in March 2002 and was under review. The bill proposed FOSS as a component of the national
campaign against software piracy.
See www.lugcos.org.ar/serv/mirrors/proposicion/proyecto/leyes/#ref.#1.
The
National Information Technology Office and the National
Information Office announced in 2004 that they would promote
GNU/Linux in all applications in public administrations. The
same entities are the main partners in a Government body
collecting information related to experiences of FOSS in
public administrations. The national FOSS laws that were
proposed in 2001, 2002 and 2004, were not passed. Similar
bills have been proposed in cities and provinces.
See:
http://www.uta.fi/hyper/julkaisut/b/mannila-2005.pdf and
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/060627_open_source_policies.pdf
.
Benin
The Government
of Benin has identified the development of FOSS as a
strategy in its ICT plan and sees the promotion of FOSS
as beneficial for software availability in the country.
Civil society is encouraged to support the adoption
process. The plan also calls for the use of open
standards. A FOSS laboratory project called LABTIC is in
process of being established, supported by the Agence de
la Francophonie.
See:
http://www.bridges.org/publications/92
Brazil
Rio Grande do Sul was the first administration to pass
a law making FOSS use mandatory in both government
agencies and non-government-managed utilities. Four cities
in Brazil have passed legislation requiring preference for
"software libre" where an open-source option is
available. The national health care system plans to
release 10 million lines of source code. The first annual
Free Software International Forum was held in Brazil in
May 2000. In the province of Pernambuco, the world's first
law regarding the use of open-source software was passed
in March 2000 in the municipality of Recife.
See www.softwarelivre.org/index.php?menu=projeto
and www.pernambuco.com/tecnologia/arquivo/softlivre1.html.
Since
then, ten municipalities and seven states in Brazil have
evolved laws giving preference to, or mandating the use, of
FOSS in the public sector. The Rio Grande do Sul State law
from 2002 was suspended by the federal Supreme Court after
one of the parties in the state Government filed a petition
claiming the law being unconstitutional. The case remains to
be settled. The annual International Forum for Free Software
(FISL) has been held in Porto Alegre annually since 2000. A
federal technical committee for FOSS implementation was
instituted by presidential decree in October 2003, aiming
for 80% migration to GNU/Linux for public sector computers.
See:
http://www.softwarelivre.gov.br/documentos/ and
http://www.conei.sp.gov.br/software_livre_recife.htm .
Bulgaria
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the
Internet Society of Bulgaria (ISOC-Bulgaria) have launched
an e-government project using Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) applications aimed at helping the
municipal governments in South Eastern Europe use the
Internet to better respond to citizens’ needs. This is
the first e-government project in the region to use
Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) applications to enhance
government transparency and people’s access to municipal
services. Initially launched in Bulgaria, the project will
soon expand to include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. By starting
this program, UNDP hopes to show local and national
governments that the involvement of citizens in the
Information Society is critical for strengthening
democratic governance.
See http://foss.isoc.bg/
In 2004,
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the
Internet Society of Bulgaria (ISOC-Bulgaria) launched a
pioneering e-government project using FOSS applications
aimed at helping the municipal governments in South Eastern
Europe use the Internet to better respond to citizens’ needs.
This was the first e-government project in the region to use
FOSS to enhance government transparency and people’s access
to municipal services. The project was initially implemented
in Bulgaria and later expanded to FYR of Macedonia, Kosovo
and Turkey.
See:
http://foss.bg/foss.php
Cambodia
The KhmerOS project aims to assist Cambodians to learn and
use computers in their own language. The introduction of
Khmer script in the Unicode standard allows development
and support for Khmer in different platforms. This
will permit FOSS adaptation and localization.
See http://www.khmeros.info/vision.html
A master
plan for the implementation of FOSS in Cambodia was issued
by the National ICT Development Authority in February 2005.
A FOSS action plan is expected to follow soon. The
Government believes FOSS is the most direct and safest way
of reaching many of its social and technical objectives. The
KhmerOS project aims to assist Cambodians to learn and use
computers in their own language. The introduction of Khmer
script in the Unicode standard allows development and
support for Khmer in different platforms and would permit
FOSS adaptation and localisation.
See:
http://www.nida.gov.kh/activities/foss/MasterPlanFOSS.pdf
,
http://www.khmeros.info/drupal/?q=en/about/vision
and
http://www.tacticaltech.org/node/219 .
Canada
In 2003, the Secretariat of the Treasury Board of Canada
has recognized that open source software and methods,
like other licensed software, are part of the corporate
standards-based, IT infrastructure of the Government of
Canada. Their acquisition and use must align with the
government's Federated Architecture Program, and serve the
following principles: reduction of integration complexity;
security, confidentiality, privacy and protection of
information; proven standards and technology; and
maximizing the value of government IT investments and
opportunities.
http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/fap-paf/oss-ll/oss-ll_e.asp
(English version)
http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/fap-paf/oss-ll/oss-ll_f.asp
(French version)
China
The Government-supported China Academy of Science together
with Government-owned Shanghai New Margin Venture Capital
established Red Flag Linux, a Chinese-language Linux
distribution. The Beijing Software Industry Productivity Center was established by the Beijing municipal government
and has launched a project named "Yangfan" to
improve the performance of local distributions of
GNU/Linux. The strong presence of international FOSS
developers, including Turbo Linux, Red Hat and IBM, is
notable. In 2004, the State Council of China decided on a
new software policy whereby all ministries and public
entities are required to acquire on a preferential basis
domestic software products, including FOSS developed and
distributed locally.
See www.redflag-linux.com/eindex.html
, www.bsw.gov.cn and
http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf
.
Croatia
The Croatian
Government adopted a pro-FOSS policy in July 2006 and
issued guidelines for the development and use of FOSS in
Government institutions. The guidelines include choosing
and/or developing FOSS solutions as much as possible,
supporting locally produced proprietary software with
open standards, and supporting FOSS outside its
institutions and in the educational sector. The policy
prescribes that students be equally presented FOSS and
proprietary technologies and solutions.
See:
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/08/11/1855229
and
http://www.e-hrvatska.hr/repozitorij/dokumenti/downloads/OSSpolicy_Odrednice.pdf
.
Cuba
In July 2001, a FOSS workshop was held in Havana, sponsored
by the Government of Cuba and UNESCO. The workshop
recommended the development and use of FOSS. In 2002, a
strategy for FOSS use was prepared by the Ministry of
Information and Communication, aiming to promote increased
FOSS usage in public administrations and education.
See:
http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf
Djibouti
The
National Information and Telecommunications Plan of Djibouti
was approved in 2003. One of the identified strategies was
to do research on, and test FOSS, in particular Linux,
through a new FOSS laboratory. A "Linux team" was suggested
to help install Linux and Linux networks in schools in
Djibouti.
See:
http://www.bridges.org/publications/92
Ethiopia
No
official FOSS policy has been adopted, but a group at the
Addis Ababa University is developing a FOSS content
management application to be used by the local and central
Government. The Ethiopian FOSS Network (EFOSSNet) is an
active advocacy group, among others aimed at creating policy-level
awareness.
See:
http://www.bridges.org/publications/92
and
http://www.efossnet.org/
India
A growing attraction to GNU/Linux in India has persuaded
some proprietary software vendors to share source code
with the government. The Simputer was developed by a group
of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science and
Encore Software and runs on FOSS. Government agencies
promote the use of localized solutions such as
Indian-language computing. The Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing and the Department of Information
Technology are supporting the development of a Hindi
GNU/Linux distribution called Indix. A
National Resource Centre for FOSS has been established at
the Anna University and is funded by the Government.
The Department of
Information Technology has expressed an intention to
introduce Linux as the de facto standard in academic
institutions; research establishments will develop
distributable toolboxes; central and state governments
will be asked to use Linux-based offerings. The West
Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corp Ltd., the
state's nodal IT body, has formed a Linux cell to support
various government IT projects inside and outside the
state. Talks with major FOSS industry players on joint
projects are in progress.
See www.zdnetindia.com/techzone/enterprise/stories/74137.html
;
http://www.au-kbc.org/nrcf/index.htm ;
www.simputer.org/simputer/
; http://rohini.ncst.ernet.in/indix/
; http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?artid=24598339
;
www.zdnetindia.com/news/national/stories/71697.html
; and http://ebb.antville.org/stories/362705/
.
Indonesia
In
June 2004, five ministers issued a declaration related
to the launching of the "Indonesia Go Open Source"
project. Through this project, the Government intends to
disseminate FOSS usage, prepare guidelines for use and
development, establish training centres and business
incubator centres, and foster optimum utilisation of
FOSS in the country. The action plan of the project
covers the period 2005-2010.
See:
http://www.igos.web.id/english/english.htm and
http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf
Iran
In February 2003, the Sharif Advanced Information and
Communication Technology Centre in co-operation with the
High Council of Informatics began the design of a Farsi
localization of GNU/Linux. Current work is aimed at Farsi
Linux desktop and graphical environment development and
resolving Farsi Linux problems in Mozilla Software.
See http://www.iosn.net/country/iran/project/OpenProjects
Jamaica
The Government of Jamaica has identified the need of
having a credible choice of software when its deal with
a large proprietary software vendor expires in 2007. The
Central Information Technology Office was therefore
assigned the mandate of implementing a FOSS pilot
project. The pilot aims to test migration of desktop
applications and of operating systems for desktops and
servers. The main areas of analysis are costs and
interoperability.
See:
http://www.cito.gov.jm/cms/index.php?id=83
Malaysia
The Government committed in November 2001 to using FOSS in
key agencies, such as the Treasury, and in areas such as
e-procurement. The Malaysian National Computer
Confederation operates an FOSS special interest group. The
Prime Minister launched the Komnas (Komputer Nasional)
Twenty20 Personal Computer, built on FOSS by the private
sector. The Malaysia Institute of Electronic Systems, the
ICT advisor to the Government, is pushing the shift
towards FOSS, including an attempt to build a low-cost PC
based on GNU/Linux.
In
July 2004, a public-sector FOSS master plan was officially
announced, developed by the Malaysian Administration
Modernisation and Management Planning Unit. Earlier the same
year, an Open Source Competency Centre was established to
guide, facilitate, coordinate and monitor the implementation
of FOSS in the public sector.
See http://asia.cnet.com/newstech/systems/0,39001153,39071821,00.htm
;
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2002/9/9/technology/09oss&sec=technology
; www.mncc.com.my/oscc/oscc-main.html
; http://opensource.mimos.my/
and
http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf .
Morocco
The Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development
and Sea Fisheries signed a deal on operating system
migration with a GNU/Linux vendor in 2006. All its
servers have been migrated, and it is considering the
migration of its desktop machines.
See:
http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?src=rss&id=1055
Namibia
The Namibian Government has entered a public-private
partnership with a large proprietary software producer, but
at the same time, the Ministry of Local and Regional
Government and Housing, and the Ministry of Higher Education
are piloting FOSS applications and are beginning to roll
them out internally. Since 2000, the NGO SchoolNet Namibia
promotes FOSS for computer labs in schools, and has provided
hardware, training and Internet to over 300 schools. It is
often used as an example for the use of FOSS in education,
being the organisation that have installed the largest
number of FOSS school labs in Africa.
See :
http://www.bridges.org/publications/21
and
http://www.schoolnet.na
Pakistan
The Government Technology Resources Mobilization Unit has
created a "Linux Force" task force that is
expected to help Pakistan move toward FOSS. This would
include funding for R&D programmes for client
software, training and local-language application
development. In July 2004, a FOSS Special Interest Group
(SIG) was formed by the Computer Society of Pakistan.
Additionally, the Pakistan Software Export board set up
the Open Source Resource Center. The Resource Center
brings together the technology community and IT users to
jointly explore new opportunities for FOSS deployment.
See www.tremu.gov.pk/task/Linux.htm
and http://www.csp.org.pk/foss/
Peru
Congressman Edgar Villanueva has introduced Bill 1609,
"The Use of Free Software in Public
Administration", to mandate the use of FOSS in all
government systems. Congressman Villanueva's open
confrontation with Microsoft Peru has earned him and Peru
the reputation of being the developing world's FOSS
radical.
On September 22nd 2005, after three years of "negotiations", Peru
passed pro-FOSS legislation - Ley No. 28612 that aims to establish measures
governing the acquisition of software licenses by the public administration.
The law became official with its publication in El
Peruano, the main Peruvian daily newspaper, on October 18th 2005.
See http://odfi.org/archives/000004.html#4
, http://apesol.org.pe/news/197
, http://apesol.org.pe/news/199
, http://www.elperuano.com.pe/edc/2005/10/18/inf_legal.asp
, http://www.pcm.gob.pe/portal_ongei/banconormas1.asp
The
Philippines
Bayanihan Linux, developed under the Open Source Project
of the Advanced Science and Technology Institute of the
Philippines, has had its fourth release and is bundled
with the latest office suite, image and text editors,
Internet and networking tools and multimedia applications. Bayanihan is a single-CD installation tailored to local
demand.
A
bill mandating the use of FOSS and open standards in all
Government projects, was filed in September 2006. The
International Open Source Network ASEAN+3 centre is
located in Manila.
See http://www.bayanihan.gov.ph/
,
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=interactive01_sept11_2006
and
http://www.iosn.net/asean-3 .
Republic
of Korea
The local company HancomLinux signed a deal in January
2003 with the country's Central Procurement Office to
supply the Government with 120,000 copies of its Linux
desktop office productivity software, HancomOffice. The
open-source software, which is compatible with Microsoft's
Office applications, including Word and Excel, is expected
to save the Government money in the long run and stimulate
business for local companies competing against Microsoft
in the software industry.
See http://en.hancom.com/index.html
.
South
Africa
A Government council convened to consider the use of FOSS
published an official recommendation promoting the use of
open-source applications when proprietary alternatives do
not offer a compelling advantage, and highlighted the
necessary strategic steps. In January 2003, the Government
declared that it would use FOSS and set up a council for
scientific and industrial research to help develop
programming skills.
An
awareness campaign was launched in 2004 and included a
FOSS TV series. FOSS has been widely used in computer
labs and telecentres, and been distributed through free
CDs and special "vending machines". Large-scale
localisation has leas to FOSS being translated to all 11
official South African languages. A multi-stakeholder
conference in 2005 called for the adoption of an action
plan to accelerate Government implementation of FOSS
policies. South Africa has taken the lead in
regional collaboration on FOSS, including the Free and Open
Source Software Foundation for Africa.
See www.oss.gov.za/
,
http://floss.meraka.org.za/ ,
http://www.go-opensource.org/ ,
http://translate.org.za/ and
http://www.freedomtoaster.org/
.
Tanzania
Challenges facing the Tanzanian ICT sector were
identified in the national ICT policy adopted in 2003.
One of the noted strategies were the "Development of
local and open source software". GNU/Linux,
OpenOffice.org and Mozilla Firefox have been localised
into Swahili through the Kilinux project, lead by the
University of Dar es Salaam. Computer experts,
linguistic experts and volunteers participated in this
ICT-award winning project. Public and private entities
are supporting the Tanzania FOSS Association (TAFOSSA).
See :
http://www.bridges.org/publications/92 ,
http://www.stockholmchallenge.se/finalists.asp and
http://www.tafossa.or.tz/partners/index.php .
Thailand
The Government-supported technology development group
NECTEC has developed a GNU/Linux distribution for schools
and government desktops and servers - the Linux-SIS
(School Internet Server) for servers and the Linux TLE
(Thai Linux Extension) for government desktops. The
project aims to narrow the gap between use of pirated and
legal software, and to promote local business development.
See www.nectec.or.th/linux-sis/
.
Tunisia
In
July 2001, the Government of Tunisia defined a FOSS
policy. The objectives included encouraging migration to
FOSS, including FOSS in school curricula, providing
incentives to FOSS company start-ups, and ensuring that
public procurement policies are not biased against FOSS.
A Secretariat of State for Informatics, the Internet and
FOSS has been established under the authority of the
Ministry for Communication Technologies to implement an
action plan.
See :
http://www.unjiu.org/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf
.
Uganda
There
is no official FOSS policy in Uganda to date, but much
activity in the field. A large scale migration was carried
out at the Uganda Martyrs University, commencing in 2002,
and a report from this project has been published. The East
African Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS) was opened
in 2004 as a regional centre specialised in FOSS training.
See:
http://www.bridges.org/publications/92 ,
http://www.iicd.org/articles/iicdnews.2005-10-31.8101387989
and
http://www.eacoss.org/
.
Venezuela
In October 2005, the Government of Venezuela government announced
plans to mandate the use of FOSS in its public administration,
in collaboration with the IT Office of the Ministry of Science and
Technology which has been promoting the use of FOSS through a series of workshops.
The Decree 3,390 prioritizes the use of FOSS over proprietary systems in government entities.
This was followed by the Plan of Migration of Free Software, which states that the National Public Administration
should primarily use FOSS. Within Venezuela itself, the
state of Bolivar is noted for having a number of its institutions
leaving proprietary software for FOSS with the support of the
FUNDACITE organization for the Development of Science and the Technology.
See http://www.eud.com/2004/12/30/eco_art_30111A.shtml
, http://www.gobiernoenlinea.gob.ve/docMgr/sharedfiles/Decreto3390.pdf
, http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1439
Viet
Nam
Government delegates to a software seminar in Hanoi
concluded that Viet Nam could save hundreds of millions of
dollars annually and better guarantee information security
by switching to FOSS. Vietnamese IT companies are working
on FOSS projects by subcontracting with foreign companies
and FOSS was included in the National Program on
Information Technology.
In
March 2004, the Government of Viet Nam approved a plan
for the implementation and development of FOSS in the
country for the period 2004-2008.
See www.idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/unidlookup/21744381DA98B64148256CA80007772E?OpenDocument
and
http://www.mpt.gov.vn/details_law_e.asp?LawDoc_ID=100138
.
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