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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JC Jaros who wrote (49692)	9/22/2000 10:43:39 AM
From: Rusty Johnson	Respond to of 74651

Africa: The Linux Continent? by Nick Wachira wired.com At the heart of Githogori's quest is the explosive politics of proprietary versus free, open-source software. In Africa, even with its few computers, this debate is now boiling down to a clash between Microsoft Windows (MSFT) and Linux OS. "The free software model makes sense for Africa. It puts Africa and the rest of the world on an equal level," Githogori says. "Under the proprietary software model, Africa is just investing in unattainable dreams because we cannot afford to pay all this money that the continent is paying proprietary software." Robert Bunyi, a research analyst with Equity Stockbrokers, attributes the high cost of proprietary software to be a major contributing factor to rampant software piracy in Africa. For instance, the Windows operating system costs around US$100 and the Windows Office Suite applications may cost as much as US$800 in Kenya. In a continent where the average annual per capita income is less than US$250, proprietary software -- with its accompanying licensing difficulties -- is a major drawback for would-be Windows users.