Fwd: [Bukas] Pirated software rampant among Philippine govt

[Rj ian Sevilla]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Al Alegre <alal...@fma.ph>
Date: Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 11:12 PM
Subject: [Bukas] Pirated software rampant among Philippine govt
To: bu...@lists.ph.net


Pirated software rampant among Philippine govt

By Joel D. Pinaroc, ZDNet Asia on June 29, 2010 (1 day 42 minutes ago)


Summary

Local IT agency raises alert on rising use of illegal software among
government bodies and reiterates call to adopt open source as cheaper
alternative.


The Philippine Commission on Information and Communications Technology
(CICT) has warned about the rising use of pirated software among
government bodies, and reiterated its call for "open source" to be
deployed as an alternative.

The CICT disclosed in a media forum last week that several government
agencies have resorted to using illegal copies of software tools instead
of spending millions of dollars for licensed software.

The country's policy-making body, which is tasked to promote technology
use in government, did not name the government agencies, noting only that
the Philippine government should seriously look into open source as a
cheaper alternative.

According to the CICT, illegal copies of the most popular operating
systems are often used in the public sector because these applications are
easily available.

Antonette Torres, iSchool project manager at the CICT, told local media:
"[Open source software] could drastically bring down the cost of
computerization of public schools and government offices in the country."

The CICT previously revealed that it was "working on" several Linux-based
applications in preparation for government deployment, and is also urging
the use of a Linux-based OS "Edubuntu" or Ubuntu Education Edition.

Software piracy continues to plague the Philippines with the piracy rate
unchanged at 69 percent, according to a Business Software Alliance report
in May.

In March, a coalition of local law enforcement agencies launched a
nationwide campaign against software piracy, focusing primarily on
business districts in the Philippines.

Joel D. Pinaroc is a Filipino freelance IT writer currently based in Saudi
Arabia.

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RJ Ian S.Sevilla
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