Shuttleworth boosts Open Source

A project funded by IT billionaire, Mark Shuttleworth, promoting the use of Open Source Software (OSS) was launched in May this year. To date, those involved with the ‘Go Open Source’ campaign have been satisfied with its impact in South Africa.
In the first two months of Go Open Source, over 3000 users have requested a copy of “The Open CD’ (contained OSS) promoted by the campaign. Thousands more copies of the CD, however, have also been distributed to schools, government offices and to the public at shopping centres and exhibitions. The CD contains the Open Office suite (including a word processor, spreadsheet programme, e-mail client, and browser), graphic editing programmes, utilities and some games. Thomas Black, Open Source Program Manager at The Shuttleworth Foundation, says that Go Open Source’s aim is to help South Africans to understand why the early adoption of open source software gives them an advantage in the global economy. Mark Shuttleworth is optimistic and believes that Open Source is the future of the software industry. “In just a few years OSS will become the standard for computers around the world.”