[wos] (Fwd) [idlelo] African hackers gather in Namibia

[Volker Grassmuck]

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From:           	Bildad Kagai <bill at circuitspackets.com>
Date sent:      	Wed, 17 Mar 2004 10:41:32 +0100
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African hackers gather in Namibia
 
Alastair Otter

March 16 2004 - Open source developers from across the African continent (and 
some from further afield) descended on the small Namibian town of Okahanja 
this week to further their own skills as well as promote the use of free and 
open source software across Africa. 
 
 The five day developer workshop is being organised by Amsterdam-based NGO 
Tactical Technology Collective and includes more than 60 developers from more 
than 25 countries, including Benin, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania 
and Zimbabwe. 
 
 Key items on the agenda for the wokshop include the development of OSS 
developers neworks to facilitate the greater co-operation across the 
continen. Some delegates even called for the creation of an "African Silicon 
Valley". Other items on the agenda include the role FOSS (free and open 
source software) can play in improving education and aiding NGOs. 
 
 But the heart of the workshop - and the reason most of the delegates have 
travelled here - is the opportunity to share experiences and skills. 
Everything from PHP, Zope and Pyhon, to working with the Linux kernel, to 
building GTK applications. Training sessions offered in day one and two 
include translating open source applications, python, building content 
management systems and security fundamentals. 
 
 Key issues already emerging from the conference include the need to improve 
the communication of NGO and educational needs to developer commuinities. NGo 
delegates highlighted that they often require role-specific applications but 
are unaware are who to approcach to develop the needed tools. 
 
 Other delegates highlighted the need for open source advocates to better 
explain the benefits of open source software to end user organisations. In 
one workshop it was highlighted that many organisations do not have the time 
to "experiment" with open source software and require stable and familiar 
software. Often this leads them to use proprietary software because they are 
familiar with the tools. and still feel support and usability are issues of 
concern. 
 
 
 
 
 

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   Wizards of OS 3, 10-12 June 2004
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   home:   http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Grassmuck