Wire Lunghabo James from Uganda is sometimes called an Open Source "pastor". He carries the message to anyone who's willing to hear, and explains why it makes sense to use Free/Libre? and Open Source Software.

James is general manager of the East African Centre for Open Source Software, and is coordinating a team that is translating computer desktop software to Ugandan languages, besides the Mozilla web browser into the local Luganda language. He's also a council member of the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA).

"In Uganda, Linux has just been growing all the time. It's mainly popular with corporates. That's where its impact has been highly felt. But it has also gotten inroads into government, though most of the government agencies don't even know they're using it. But it's there. Almost every ministry has at least one Linux server, at least," he said in an interview during his visit to Asia Source.

But there are problems too, as this coordinator of the team translating computer desktop software into indigenous Ugandan languages. (They've competed the Mozilla web browser into Luganda.)

The spread is not even. ICT, or information communications and technology is concentrated around urban areas. "When you get out of the capital city (Kampala), the concentration of computing decreases. That means the chance of running into Linux goes down too," says he.

LINKS

• http://fossfa.net/ Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa
• http://translate.or.ug/ ICT Translations Uganda
• http://translate.org.za/ South Africa translation project
• http://tectonic.co.za/ Africa FLOSS news and links

James is more into "advocacy, shouting and talking about it" since 1997. Says he, "Whatever opportunity I get, I'd talk about it. Whether that's at small fora, big fora, to students, or to parliamentarians."

Jokingly, he says his refrain became "a song". "I keep singing the same, same, same thing to anyone who cares to listed, and keep doing it like a pastor," says he.

UGANDA LUGs: Right now, the east African country of Uganda has one user group. University students are planning another. The existing one is "really big" by African terms, he says. It has about 300 members, over seventy percent of whom are locally based in Uganda. The rest being mainly well-wishers from abroad.

Says James: "There is a lot of activity within the mailing list, and a lot of follow-ups happening at the user levels. When we have problems, go out to help each other. This has a very positive impact. It helps to bring together the community of isolated people to Open Source activism. It is also a one-stop centre for support in the country. Anyone who has a problem finds someone to relate to and find a solution. Sometimes we go there to ask for solutions. Instead of going to google.com and spending two days to find out what exists, you get quick answers."

But one shortcoming of the Linux Uganda (LUg) -- which has its site coming up at http://linux.or.ug -- is the need for having regular physical meetings.

IN AFRICA: How does he see FLOSS, or Free/Libre? and Open Source Software, doing in Africa as a whole?

Says he: "In South Africa (the situation) is very bright. High end solutions are actually being implemented in the Open Source area. Companies like Obsidian Systems and SevenC have really come up with very good solutions which are worth good value for money."

James argues that when one sees what the others have done "you really get challenged, and realise that a lot can be done". Currently, South Africa has the leadership, partly becaus eof the level of the economy, he believes.

Then also you have countries like Namibia (known for its schools project), Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, even Uganda and Tanzania, where FLOSS activities are taking place there too.

GETTING STARTED: James' own encounter with FLOSS is interesting. He joined an ISP in 1997, and found a sys admin who was pro-GNU/Linux. Using proprietorial software then meant spending sleepless nights in keeping it running. But the management didn't want to risk a change-over to FLOSS and Linux.

So the sys admin secretely changed over the operating system, to the surprise of the ISP's managers, who found everything moving very smoothly. When they voiced their surprise over the drop of cyber-incidents, the sys admin let the cat out of the bag, and mentioned of the shift in software. Later, the ISP opted for Linux for operations in nearby Kenya too.

Says James: "That is when I really got a first taste of Linux and loved it from the word go. I've never looked back since then."

THREE MAIN CHALLENGES AFRICA: What would James list as the three main challenges facing the growth of FLOSS in Africa?

Number One he sees as the struggle for for survival by the developer and FLOSS evangelist. Says he, "It's so hard to advocate when you don't have bread and butter on the table. Advocacy doesn't bring in money. We do it because we simply love what we're doing. First you have to prioritise on earning an income. That effects on how far we can advocate. In Africa, you don't work, you don't earn. That's how hard the environment really is."

Secondly, he sees the government's attitude. "Many of the governments are not ready to consider alternatives. Even before knowing how good or bad they are, they simply don't want the status quo to be changed," says he.

Code, in his view, should be aimed at meeting local needs, with customisation to suit local demand. He points to the dangers of getting caught up within a proprietorial software system.

Says he: "You can image coming up with a national database say for health systems that is a proprietary format. Then tomorrow, the company goes bust -- these things happen -- and your're stuck. You can't get access to your information. Maybe trade relations go sour with the country that company comes from. There are things you can't rule out. In this era, where everything is going online, you can't be sure of security implications of some of these software. In matters of national security, you don't want to rely on software which does anything, without you knowing. We (in Africa) may not have the programmers now, but can't we have them tomorrow. We need computer programmers to come up with solutions that meet our needs and demands."

For him, the third challenge is the need for Capacity-building. "Most of the people who get any form of computer training get it on proprietary software. That's why they lean on it. That's what they know, what they talk about, what they advocate. There's a need for investing in training for open source software," adds he.