[Ubuntu-PH] FOSS Bill (From the side of Ted Casino)

[Yolynne Medina]

http://www.chinwong.com/index.php/site/comments/fear_and_loathing_of_foss/

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Fear and loathing of FOSS

BACK when IBM was the de facto standard in computing, an engineer who
left to start his own company learned that market leaders do not
suffer competition lightly.

"FUD is the fear, uncertainty and doubt that IBM sales people instill
in the minds of potential customers who might be considering [our]
products," said Gene Amdahl, who founded Amdahl Corp. in the 1970s to
compete head-to-head with IBM. Thus was born yet another
computer-industry acronym to describe a marketing tactic based on
sowing fear and doubt.

As it was in those days, the point of any FUD campaign is to persuade
buyers to go with the safe, established brand rather than try
something new, even though the alternative might be cheaper, better or
both.

FUD campaigns warn of the dark consequences of straying from the
market leader, even when such fears might be unfounded or based on the
wrong assumptions.

>From the looks of it, the first shots in a FUD campaign have been
fired against Rep. Teddy Casiño's bill, which seeks to encourage the
use and development of free and open source software (FOSS).
The United Nations Development Program has endorsed FOSS as a good way
for developing countries to narrow the digital divide and develop
their own IT industries without breaking the bank—or condoning piracy.
All in all, a pretty good deal that has enabled a country such as
Brazil to save $150 million a year in software licensing costs.

But FOSS has powerful enemies—people who don't like the idea of losing
$150 million a year from Brazil, and who knows how much more from the
Philippine government if that darn Casiño bill passes.
Coincidentally, the first shots were fired almost simultaneously by
columnists who echoed the views of Microsoft and other big vendors of
proprietary software represented by the Business Software Alliance.
None of them, it seems, bothered to talk to Casiño.

To correct the imbalance, I interviewed the congressman and asked him
to respond to points raised against his bill. The responses are based
on the interview and e-mail exchanges.

On the charge that the bill was handed ready-made to Casiño by some
vested interest.
That really took us by surprise. We were expecting criticism of the
bill itself, but this came from left field. We were thinking, who
among the small players in the industry would have the capacity to do
that? We were very proud about the way the bill was developed because
we felt that we followed the principles of open source. We posted a
draft on the Web, solicited a lot of feedback and from there we
developed the bill.

The bill is anti-free market.
Our critics say the bill favors one technology platform over the
other. But FOSS is not a technology platform. You can call it a
business model.

We are not prohibiting the use of commercial, proprietary software by
the government much less the private sector. What we want to ensure is
that such expensive, overbearing and restrictive software products are
to be used by government only if there is no corresponding, viable and
dependable free and open source alternative.

The essence of free markets is a level playing field. In technology,
that means open standards and interoperability. That means products
that can work across various platforms and protocols. FOSS is actually
more free market and more laissez-faire than the proprietary model,
which tends toward monopolies.

The people who say this bill is anti-free market are the people who
want to retain the current, monopolized structure of the industry and
to equate the existence of these monopolies to a successful capitalist
model.

If you use FOSS as a business model, what will emerge are more
sellers, more buyers, more choice and therefore you have a freer, more
vibrant market that is not prone to monopoly. That's why I think it's
hypocritical—or ignorant—for people to say that this bill is anti-free
market.

Won't the bill kill local businesses that depend on selling
proprietary software?
People in the industry know that technology develops quickly and
understand what being obsolete is all about. They should know by now
that FOSS is an undeniable trend. It's time they consider changes in
their business models, just like any other business. For example, the
restaurant business used to be mom-and-pop and home-cooked meals, but
eventually the business model became fast foods and franchises. Same
thing with the software industry. Nothing stops these companies from
developing FOSS products. Software production, after all, is a matter
of choosing what language to use. The principles are the same.

Won't retraining cost a lot of money?
I look at this as a long-term strategy. The UNDP says the benefits are
not in the immediate but in the long term. The initial costs [for
migrating] may be relatively big, but if you look at the long term, it
will be better, not only cheaper.

We would like discussions to go into more long-term, substantial
issues – the development of a self-reliant industry and accessibility
of information technology. Because FOSS is easier to localize, more
Filipinos would use IT products that are designed for their needs and
locality, unlike proprietary software that tends to be a
one-size-fits-all solution.

***

Towards the end of the interview, I asked Casiño what were the
prospects that his bill would pass, given that there's a Microsoft
Competency Center right inside Congress. He smiled and acknowledged
that Microsoft has been very supportive of the IT projects of many
congressmen. On the other hand, he said, this was the same Congress
that passed the Generics Drug Act, so they know the benefit of open
standards. "There are open standards for drugs. Why not for IT?" he
asked. Why not, indeed?
Posted by Chin on 12/12/06 at 06:34 AM

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