Open Source in Bangladesh

[FLMKane]

I dont know if this is the right place to post this thing, so sorry if I'm in the wrong place.

Where to begin...if you dont know what Bangladesh it is a small country in south asia. I was born there and I've lived there all my life.

If you do know what it is, lets get past the stereotype 'Oh yeah, it's that place with those floods and cyclone and the most corrupt country EVER!'. I'm getting tired of hearing that. It's got a massive computer industry, a hell of a lot of computer users and a government which at the moment seems hell bent on modernizing (cheap PCs, more software companies, increased internet speed, etc).

However.. we got problems. Lets get pas the fact that internet bandwidth is HELL expensive and slow(I have a 9kb/s connection which costs the equivalent of 15 dollars a month), fact that cheaper processors from AMD AND intel are hard to find, and the vendors are often dishonest.

The problem can be summed up in one word...Microsoft.

In all their old evil glory. It may be hard to believe but the story is just beginning.

Here in Bangladesh, we had NO laws against software piracy until 2006. That's when M$ came in. They forced the Govt. to 'crack down' on piracy. Did'nt work, and was'nt necessary after a while either as the un piratable windows Vista got released, then M$ seemed to lose interest in the pirated versions of their software.

May seem strange. However there is one important factor overhere.

All those laws that are at least supposed to keep MS in check in the USA and EU, the ones for which they got sued...are completely absent...

I am not sure. But I think MS is trying to con the government into locking the entire country in on their software. I cannot substantiate this claim. Yet while the EU and the US are at least superficially trying to control the beast our country seems to be walking right into its inviting jaws. I dont even want to imagine what would happen if we do develop a country wide computer network and computerized governance...if we are stuck on IIS, Windows,and M$ in general common will be people forced to buy hellishly expensive Microsoft operating systems (even I, a pretty well of guy, cannot afford Vista. As for the common man...$100 dollars is very nice salary for an RMG worker)

You may ask 'WTF is the open source community up to? Well they are there.
This is their website.
http://www.bdosn.org/

Since they exist, I have hope. Yet, as of this moment, I cannot see them accomplishing anything.

What I really want to know, from your point of view..should I hope without decieving myself?

Edit: More links
http://members.microsoft.com/partner/bangladesh/events/subsidiary_office.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/citizenship/giving/programs/up/casestudies/bangladesh.mspx

READ THIS ONE VERY CAREFULLY. They state that Open Source is a myth, and they will kill it in Bangladesh
http://bink.nu/news/microsoft-enters-bangladesh.aspx

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:j5qJIat0z7oJ:download.microsoft.com/download/8/2/b/82b2555c-b21b-4e91-bdd0-c5dbade46573/362_Bangladesh_Training_Final.pdf+Microsoft+in+Ban gladesh&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a

[Bölvaður]

Since they exist, I have hope. Yet, as of this moment, I cannot see them accomplishing anything.

What I really want to know, from your point of view..should I hope without decieving myself?


Well should they really be pushing them selfs onto others? I guess you could join them and pep them up to be more visible and talk to the government.
I think I will save this as a document as a witness of a.... terrible thing happening. Sounds awful to be honest.

[FLMKane]

Well should they really be pushing them selfs onto others? I guess you could join them and pep them up to be more visible and talk to the government.
I think I will save this as a document as a witness of a.... terrible thing happening. Sounds awful to be honest.

Easier said than done. I'll need some serious weight of arguments on my side, and I have to bring together the few media heavyweights open source advocates. Plus I'll need help from the open source initiative.

I guess I could start by mailing a few people

Not an easy task.

[ugm6hr]

Unfortunately, lobby groups in South Asia (I do not know Bangladesh very well) are generally ineffective against corporate government sponsors ;)

As I said, I'm uncertain of the level of development in comparison to India, but your description sounds like it is about 10 years behind from an IT viewpoint.

I would suggest targeting educational institutions first; higher education, then secondary. In time, the students will hopefully have an opensource background from where they will understand their options during whatever career they pursue.

Lobbying for government contracts to go to opensource firms (and software) requires nationwide Linux/FOSS support being available, which is dependent on trained individuals, and companies that are able to provide such a solution. Ideally, these would be local Bangladeshi owned firms, maintaining the service industry economy within your borders.

Perhaps the place to start is by visiting the IT department of a university? And speaking to the university Linux society (if there is one).

[FLMKane]

Perhaps the place to start is by visiting the IT department of a university? And speaking to the university Linux society (if there is one).

You have got a point there. And I know a few university teachers. There is one guy name Md. Zaffer Iqbal, who is the head of an IT dept. and is also a renowned sci fi writer, thus holds sway over the public. I'll start with him if I can, as the guy is an open source advocate(though not very vocal).

however...

http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/156264/microsoft_said_to_train_bangladesh_youths/

as honourable as the above link makes MS sound...they are a profit oriented company with a disgusting corporate history and it is all to apparent what they are trying to do.

Also, they too are targeting universities...

And as for the corporate muscle... nothing short off an opposing multinational organazition would work (Open Source Initiative? Free Software Foundation? The bangladesh open source dudes would need their help at the very least)

As for computer education... its not well thought out. I refused to study computing in my O levels because I was being forced into being locked into VB and MS. The course itself is Language and OS independent though.

Another interesting development though is the fact that general users came BEFORE programmers and hackers and other IT professionals. I'm still trying to figure out it's repercussions.

Edit There are more reasons for lobby groups being ineffective.

1. The dont have a critical mass of matured, skilled hackers(people like RMS and ESR, Torvalds etc).

2. They promote the USE of open source locally, however they don't really develop much themselves.

3. In Bangladesh specifically, the effort seems to be centred on the development of localized versions of existing software such a Bengali compatible version of open office to name a successful one. Their efforts are honourable, essential, deservedly praised. However they are not very innovative in anything else. If they tried they could easily make a local media player and distribute it internationally (and attract the support and attention of foreign hackers)


Besides that its hard to get open source software. With the crap slow internet its almost impossible to download Ubuntu for example. It rather buy it, yet there is nothing but Fedora on the market. Yet the BDOSN recommend Ubuntu. So I ordered the free CD and had to wait for a month. This kind of hassle turns people off. I can get along with ubuntu, but what happens if I wnat to switch to Slackware?

There should be a store or two selling open source operating systems. Or at least an easier way to get them (mail order over the web?)