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Free Software for NGOs Author: Mathieu Lutfy Abstract: The aim of this document is to familiarise decision makers and technology specialists about the impacts of software in their environment and why non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should work with Free Software.
What is Free Software What is Free Software? Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. The expression is used to designate software which are said to be “free” (as in “freedom”) because they are published with a license that does not impose heavy restrictions on the usage of the program and on the redistribution of modifications made to the source code. Under certain such licenses, there are restrictions to respect the author’s rights, some others do not (such as the public domain license). Free software is not necessarily free as in “free beer” because there are still costs related to administration, deployment, training or distribution (CD-ROM, Internet, etc.). Although in the general case, prices are effectively lower, because the nature of Free Software promotes decentralised structures and ensures more freedom to the users. Examples of Free Software include the GNU/Linux operating system, the Mozilla web suite, the Open Office suite, and many more. The Free Software community is a mix of enthusiasts, academics (universities), corporations. Groups dealing with open standards are not-for-profit organisations or foundations where members have elected functions (Todo: Add examples). The GNU Project and the Four Freedoms In early 1980’s, Richard Stallman first defined the meaning of free software. Free software is a matter of the users’ freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software: Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. In 1984 Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project. The GNU Project aims to develop a complete operating system which is free software. The GNU Project distributes its software under the terms of the well-known GNU General Public License. It provides these four freedoms, but also it protects them. This makes it the most widely used free software license nowadays. There are other licenses which share similar goals to the GNU Project, such as the “revised BSD license”, the X11 license, etc. Impacts of Free Software on NGOs
Many NGOs share common objectives of the Free Software community: bridging the digital gap between countries or communities, providing better access to information and education, democratising tools, etc. The following points will provide an overview of how this is possible. Transparency and independence Non-governmental organisations often have to find a balance between minimal resources and maximal accountability. The costs of licensing for proprietary software (such as Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office) are often prohibitive. Also, licenses often include hard to understand clauses that are hard to decipher and most organisations do not have the financial resources to hire lawyers to determine whether their usage of the software is legal or not. The auditing of activities can easily become an impossible task for small or medium organisations. Confiscation of office computers is usually a legal consequence of using pirate software. This issue is particularly sensitive, and could be used as a political action against activist NGOs who are doing civil society statements against governement decisions. Free Software breaks the dependence between an organisation and the software company since the organisation has access to the source code of the software they use. It can also turn to other organisations, to university research departments or to communities connected via Internet. Local communities and long-term development The purchase of software from a monopolistic corporation is a one-way road. Money is sent to one company, usually operating in the United-States, and the “consumer” receives the “permission” to use the software on his computer. The only knowledge transferred between communities are the basic necessary information on how to use the software in the way that the company allows it. With the Free Software model, anyone is free to study, modify and adapt the source code of the program to their needs (Freedom 1). This means that local institutions can not only teach how to use software, but also how to create or modify software, using existing Free Software as a foundation. This leads to a whole new development model: instead of being simple consumers of large corporations, communities can actively participate in the information economy by contributing to existing Free Software projects, adapting software to their local needs, or even becoming the next leaders in software development. Examples: The development of a famous movie player for Linux, MPlayer,
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Preserving cultural diversity and protecting minorities A recurrent cultural problem with software is the lack of availability in non-English languages. Translating software is not a complex task, but the costs of translation may be more expensive compared to the size of the “market”. This is even more problematic when monopolistic companies are not interested in the small profits that they could make from such translations. After all, a large portion of people working ICTs have a basic knowledge of English and accept to work with software that is not available in their native language. There may also be political issues. Governments may object having software translated into the language of unofficial minorities. Such practices deepen the digital gap. Not only must users learn how computers work, but they must learn a new language or abandon their alphabet by using phonetic equivalents. Free Software, on the other hand, encourages users to adapt software and manuals to their needs. The main desktop projects, such as Gnome / KDE (desktop environments), Mozilla (web navigator) and Open Office (office suite), all have active translation projects in an impressive array of languages.
Internationalising development, localising results Quality software can take days to create, but more often, they are the result of years of efforts with mathematical and architectural challenges. Linux, for example, is actively being developed for more than 13 years (since 1991) with the help of thousands of developers from all over the world. The Debian GNU/Linux distribution has been active and growing since 1993, with more than 900 official developers who prepare and test applications to make sure that they are easy to install by normal users. Software has always been complex and technical realisations, but their adoption and diversity of use has never been more flourishing, leaving behind those who cannot adapt. Therefore, the NGO sector and social movements have basically one choice: either to encourage and depend on a large corporation with centralised knowledge and decision making, or either to participate in a global community to localise the results.
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