Pakistan Government Looks to the Linux Users Group
1 - 2 min read
Jul 15, 2002
Technology Resource Mobilization Unit pursues GNU/Linux as a means of reducing software piracy. It must be quite flattering when a government sits up, takes note of the potential of a Linux-users group, and prominently features it in advertisements noticed nationwide.
This happened recently in Pakistan, where a small but growing band of GNU/Linux enthusiasts--and some senior policy planners working at another level--have understood the impact that this alternative computing operating system could have on their plans.
Sometime in June, the English-language newspaper The Dawn published from the port city of Karachi, announced: "The Government of Pakistan is committing itself to the reduction of piracy and the protection of intellectual property. Linux and open source technologies are the corner stone of this initiative."
Deploying GNU/Linux to avoid piracy might be unexpected logic. But in the subcontinent of South Asia--covering the populous regions of India, Pakistan and smaller neighbours--per capita income hovers around $300 US a year.
Affordability of software prices is a key issue, and faced by repeated charges of "piracy" of costly proprietary software, some are beginning to see GNU/Linux as an option.
(This is perhaps one reason why the many forms of "freedom" offered by GNU/Linux are also sometimes interpreted in terms of the "price freedom" and affordability it offers users here, though this may not be seen as too important an issue in the more-affluent world.)
Pakistan's Technology Resource Mobilization Unit has been established by the Government of Pakistan to enable groups of professionals to exchange views and coordinate activities in their sectors. One is to focus on GNU/Linux.
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