Pakistan's Technology Resource Mobilization Unit (TReMU), has created a task force it calls "Linux Force". This new unit should explore the possibilities of open source software and decrease the level of piracy in the country.
Pakistan is currently on the list of countries with a high piracy level and the country thinks it can lower level by adopting Linux and projects like StarOffice. These software packages are cheaper or even free, in contrary to the e.g. widely used Microsoft OS and Office.
Pakistan, along with India, has repeatedly been charged with heavy piracy of significantly expensive software by the BSA (Business Software Alliance), which has said that as much as 83% of Pakistan's software is pirated. "Their current paradigm is simply to count the number of computers shipped, and multiply this by five, on the assumption that each computer needs five pieces of software. |
This is a ludicrous way of estimating things," states Pakistan Ministry of Science and Technology advisor Salman Ansari, who is also chairman of the peer review committee of all IT projects. Ansari is keen to push forward with GNU/Linux deployments, as proprietary software is far too expensive for developing countries such as Pakistan. He states that government projects can still utilize branded (proprietary) software, provided it comes in at a highly competitive price and is not pirated.
Well this is of course also a good way to decrease your level of piracy, finding alternatives. I'm currently an user of OpenOffice.org. and I must say I'm really satisified with it.
This also means countries have to spend less of their tax money on software.
Source: Geek.com
