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COLTRANE
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Posted: Saturday March 18th, 2006 00:53 |
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By DULUE MBACHU
ap
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Peddlers of pirated software now hold sway on the very streets where drug dealers and prostitutes plied their wares a decade ago in Nigeria's biggest city.
Otigba Street. Ola Ayeni Street. Even in the adjoining Pepple Street - where renowned musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti had the popular venue where he smoked pot on stage. Every building in the Ikeja district is now packed with computer and cell phone ware, and business is also done on the streets.
The Computer Village of Lagos is Nigeria's response to Silicon Valley, a chance to get in on the digital revolution on the cheap.
"This place is the biggest computer market in the entire West Africa," said Kazeem Adenuga, a computer engineer and specialist dealer in laptops and their accessories.
"People come from Ghana, Senegal and even Congo. And they always say they get the cheapest prices here," he added proudly.
On the average 80 percent of all software in use in Africa are pirated copies, according to the Business Software Alliance of the world's leading software-makers and their hardware partners. Only wealthier South Africa, at 37 percent, has a piracy rate close to the global average of 35 percent.
Gerald Ilukwe, manager for Nigeria and Ghana for the world's leading software-maker Microsoft, says creating an awareness of intellectual property laws is a major challenge of doing business in West Africa. He said only a core of multinational companies and government agencies use licensed software.
"There are those who don't know it's a crime (to use pirated software) and there are those who are out and out cheats," said Ilukwe. "It's this last group we are ready to go all the way with to make sure they comply with the law."
People may use illegal software because they cannot afford licensed copies. Software makers argue the intellectual property system is necessary because protecting investments stimulating the digital revolution safeguards the interests of society as a whole.
Traders at the Computer Village say many of the cheap information and communication products on sale in Computer Village are from Asia, mainly China, Malaysia and Taiwan. Cloned computers and cheap mobile phones are the most popular products.
Pirated copies of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop software sell for as low as 150 naira (US$1.05; 85 euro cents).
Cell phone handsets, both clones of popular brands and originals, are big sellers in the face of the country's rapidly expanding mobile network. Some new and used Nokia cell phone brands go for as low 3,000 naira (US$20; 17).
More people are using computers in business and the popularity of the Internet has grown. Some of the demand for computers, phones and Internet access in Nigeria have been fueled by organized crime, especially the Internet scammers who have become notorious around the world.
As in large parts of Africa, much of the digital access has been limited to cities and major urban centers and yet to reach rural areas. Official figures show that while mobile phone usage has reached wider penetration, that of the Internet is still less than five percent.
Dial-up Internet access in Nigeria at an average of US$80 a month is still prohibitive for the 70 percent of the population estimated to live on less than US$1 daily. The same goes for most of the continent.
But more and more people are getting online through cybercafes that largely depend on increasingly cheaper broadband connections.
Internet use across Africa is estimated to have risen more than 100 percent in the past three years, according to Balancing Act Africa, a South Africa-based Internet consultancy. It is expected to rise another 81 percent in the next three years as monopolies and the exclusive agreements of current providers give away to further deregulation and prices crash, the group says.
Recognizing that an efficient communication system is key to development, Nigeria created a new national communication policy in 2000 committing the government to ensuring that public telecommunications services reach all communities in the country.
A special levy charged from the profits of telecommunications companies was introduced to provide a pool of funds for use in facilitating the deployment of services to rural areas by firms that would otherwise restrict their operations to more lucrative cities. Companies are now being given licenses that permit the convergence of telephone and Internet services.
"Today, Nigeria is rated as one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world," said Ernest Ndukwe, head of Nigeria's National Communications Commission.
African governments in meetings to forge a common position ahead of the World Summit on the Information Society last November were concerned about access to information and communication technology.
Apart from calling for assistance to remove barriers to crossing the digital divide, a joint declaration of 52 African governments on the emerging information society called for the promotion of open source software to reduce cost.
They also worried about the continent's poor presence in the production of digital content.
Microsoft, which opened an office in Lagos in 2000 and has seen sales grow 40 percent there since, is taking a long term view of Nigeria's potential and that of similar African countries.
Through its "partnership-in-learning" program, it has set up computer training centers in parts of the country.
"Nigeria still has a very low penetration of information technology," said Ilukwe. "That is why we are emphasizing computer education and training."
He believes that the more people use information technology, the more local content will be created and the better for the market.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
03/14/06 04:37 EST
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umbrarchist
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Posted: Saturday March 18th, 2006 23:32 |
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If they switched to Linux they can be legal and cheap. They just need file comversion from Macro$cam.
umbra
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defyfear
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Posted: Tuesday March 21st, 2006 02:19 |
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China is pushing Microsoft product faster and cheaper than Microsoft company to the "people" than Microsoft company ever did alone. That's a real shame.
Microsoft, which opened an office in Lagos in 2000 and has seen sales grow 40 percent there since, is taking a long term view of Nigeria's potential and that of similar African countries.
Through its "partnership-in-learning" program, it has set up computer training centers in parts of the country.
"Nigeria still has a very low penetration of information technology," said Ilukwe. "That is why we are emphasizing computer education and training."
Microsoft what are you doing for the "people". Even your president for Microsoft Africa says "[w]e are sharing our expertise, particularly with governments in emerging markets"
Microsoft: Africa doesn't need free software
Ingrid Marson
ZDNet UK
October 17, 2005, 16:30 GMT
You can give people free software, but they won't have the expertise to use it, says Microsoft Nigeria's manager
Microsoft has claimed the cost of software is not an important issue in the developing world.
In response to a question on the role of open source software in Africa, Gerald Ilukwe, the general manager of Microsoft Nigeria, said that cost is not important, even though he admitted that the average annual salary in the West African country is only $160 (£91).
"It's easy to focus on cost and say how much is a product, but at the end of the day it's the total impact that's important. You can give people free software or computers, but they won't have the expertise to use it," he said. "Microsoft is not a helicopter dropping relief materials; we're there in the field."
Neil Holloway, the president of Microsoft for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that training in IT skills is the most important issue in emerging markets. Microsoft is involved in a number of training activities in Africa, including the Partners in Learning programme, which helps train teachers in computer skills, and the Nepad eSchools project, which supplies schools across Africa with computers, software, training, networking, connectivity, maintenance and support.
"It's not about the cost of the software, it's about how you take your expertise to people. We are sharing our expertise, particularly with governments in emerging markets. Cost is not the barrier here — expertise is," said Holloway.
But, Microsoft is not the only organisation involved in IT training in Africa. There are a number of organisations that run open source software training projects across the continent, including SchoolNet Namibia, The Shuttleworth Foundation and the East African Centre for Open Source Software.
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umbrarchist
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Posted: Wednesday March 22nd, 2006 03:03 |
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If Africa adopts Open Source software then it won't become an emerging market to serve Macro$cam's purposes. The users and IT professionals will have to become proficient in computer concepts and software anyway so what gain is there for Africa to not go open source. We know where Microsofts interests lie.
umbra
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Shemsi en Tehuti
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Posted: Wednesday March 22nd, 2006 15:52 |
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umbrarchist wrote: If Africa adopts Open Source software then it won't become an emerging market to serve Macro$cam's purposes. The users and IT professionals will have to become proficient in computer concepts and software anyway so what gain is there for Africa to not go open source. We know where Microsofts interests lie.
umbra
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You are right. It is not like they are building or migrating from an existing infrastructure already integrated in Nigerian society. If African countries want to show the world their business acumen while leveraging technology, then open source is definitely the best way to go. African businesses could get off the ground faster by eliminating all the software fees of Windows that smaller businesses simply cannot afford. For example, my work computer is "worth" about $40,000 when you include all the hardware and software licenses to run on Windows. Now multiply that times however many engineers or employees you have doing similar work. Then every couple of years the software gets antiquated, and you have to buy all new licenses again. This is one of the steps Africa can use to become an emerging leader in the world.
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umbrarchist
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Posted: Monday March 27th, 2006 00:39 |
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Any ideas how we can promote Linux and Open Source among Diasporan Africans. I feel like Rodney Dangerfield talkin' about this stuff.
umbra
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