ASEAN Countries Increasingly Moving Towards Open Source

By Greg McNevin

February 15th, 2007: The momentum behind the open source movement is increasing every day, with more and more governments and organisations making the switch and not looking back.

According to the ANTARA News in Denpasar, Asian countries are the latest to migrate from Microsoft’s proprietary software to open source alternatives, with countries such as Japan already reporting 20 percent savings in expenditure.

The news has come during the 8th Asia Open Source Software Symposium (AOSSS), where it was also noted that countries such as Cambodia, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea, and Taiwan have also made the switch to OSS.

Other recent high-profile cases where proprietary software has been dropped in favour of open source solutions include the French Parliament ditching Windows late last year, and the Australian National Archives embracing Open Document Format.

Open source software is proving to be invaluable to countries with developing economies, helping them close the technological gap without pouring money into proprietary solutions, or (as is the case in Romania) having pirated software be the driver behind IT education.

During his symposium address, the Indonesian Information Technology and Communications director general Cahyana Ahmadijaya said moving to OSS was important to stamp out illegal software use.

"With a development in OSS, people can choose between expensive and free proprietary software, both of which are legal. So, the important thing is that OSS would be a smart choice," he said according to the ANTARA News.

The open source movement has a long road ahead of it, however, with support snowballing interesting times are ahead.

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