Business Usage of FLOSS Increasing in Kenya at Robert Pogson

Two small/medium-sized businesses in Kenya have evolved to use FLOSS extensively, saving money and having fewer headaches:
“Does open source have a place in the enterprise outside experimenters? find out how Radio Africa group is running almost entirely on open source and how Madison insurance has blended in the open "sauce’ to derive the best benefits of both worlds.”
see allAfrica.com: Kenya: Open Source

The story goes into the various choices available for infrastructure and production. Some users still use Macs for video-editing. Perhaps LightWorks‘ imminent release for GNU/Linux will change that.

Here’s a nugget.
“An average Dell laptop with Windows 7 costs KSh. 72,000 due to licensing. The same laptop supplied without an OS or with Ubuntu costs between KSh. 59,000 and KSh, 61,000. Every machine bought thus saves the company KSh. 10,000 to KSh. 15,000 due to licenses.
Further reductions in costs come from elimination of antivirus licenses. “Previous, I had an antivirus for every single machine on Windows. Here, I am bringing a system that is maybe prone to malware, but not prone to viruses,
Okech says managing the machines on Ubuntu from a central location is much easier. He is able to push security updates and patches, restore systems much more easier than he finds it under Windows. This he says he couldn’t manage with Windows and that the remaining Windows machines also need to be managed individually due to stuff such as antivirus updates. This he does using an OpenLDAP which provides authentication and policies for all workstations.” That’s exactly my experience with GNU/Linux versus XP/”7″ in schools. Could there be a fundamental truth that FLOSS is the right way to do IT if you care about price/performance? Clearly some people are able to buy Dells with GNU/Linux despite what the trolls tell us. These companies have hundreds of employees using GNU/Linux.

I recommend Debian GNU/Linux instead of Ubuntu GNU/Linux because Debian does not make random choices in UI for you but leaves every option open.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

2 Responses to “Business Usage of FLOSS Increasing in Kenya”

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1 A Concerned Citizen Mar 21st, 2013 at 9:18 am

Barack Obama should be very proud that technology is improving in his home country.
2 Robert Pogson Mar 21st, 2013 at 10:50 am

Obama’s family may have roots in Africa but Obama was born in USA. All humanity should be happy that Africa is emerging from many dark days. Pride is not the right word, though. I think meddling Europeans delayed that emergence by many decades. They got Africa involved in WWI and WWII for no reason at all and then left with arbitrary lines drawn on the maps dividing ancient tribal territories, causing no end of friction. Africans are solving the problems caused by meddling foreigners. M$ and “partners” are just one in a long line of meddlers.