Free and Open-Source Software for the Disadvantaged

Free and Open-Source Software, otherwise known as FOSS, is a kind of software which is mostly offered for free to the general populace. Emerging in the 70s, FOSS has gradually staked its claim as one of the leading types of software, especially in education. Furthermore, in our era where about 80% of the world's population live in poverty, software which offers its services for free is crucial to our development. As a result, FOSS has made such a big impact to our society, and as ITGS students, we must analyse its benefits and disadvantages, especially to the less-endowed areas in the world.

In disadvantaged areas where poverty and illiteracy rates are high, it is quite difficult for people in these communities to purchase and learn how to make use of commercial software. Schools belonging to such areas are unable to buy pricey multi-user licenses for Office Suites such as Microsoft's and other expensive commercial software which would greatly assist in students' studies. In stark contrast to this commercial software is the FOSS, which fixes all these problems in offering its services cheaply. Without a cost, FOSS can teach needy children to perform tasks they normally would need for their courses, such as word processing and making presentations. Office suites such as Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice are perfect examples of FOSS that assist in these examples.

In addition to this, FOSS has several coding experts around the globe combing through the source code to find any sign of vulnerability. As such, FOSS is frequently updated and has low maintenance costs due to the fact that these experts do this for free. This collaboration greatly assists schools in these localities, as they do not have to pay a lot of fees. Evidently, all these benefits have potential in bridging the digital divide. For little to no cost, FOSS provides quality services to developing areas, teaching children IT skills almost for free. Additionally, as developers all over the world work on the source code of FOSS, it is more likely to make use of FOSS in the local language of a particular locality. This is a feature which is generally lacking in commercial software and as such, FOSS appears to be a better alternative in this situation.

Evidently, FOSS offers a lot of benefits. Nevertheless, it is not everyone in society that can acknowledge them. Society in general lacks awareness of the benefits of FOSS and as such, tend to distrust it when compared to commercial software. This mindset is clear in less-endowed areas, where people are more likely to trust the 'foreign', expensive product, not the free, open one. Due to the resistance to accept it, FOSS may not make such a great impact on disadvantaged areas. Without having the willingness to learn a new technology, schools in such areas would not be able to enjoy the benefits it provides.

To conclude, FOSS offers several benefits, including its cheap cost, assured security and integration of local languages. Nonetheless, society in less-endowed areas needs to adapt their mindset to enjoy all these advantages for free, consequently allowing schools to use a better means of educating its future leaders of tomorrow.

Gianna T.

References

https://fsfe.org/freesoftware/education/education.en.html

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats

https://pctechmag.com/2011/02/potential-benefits-and-challenges-of-foss-in-developing-countries/