Tectonic: Africa Prepares for Open Source Launch in Geneva

"Africa will today take centre stage in Geneva with the planned launch of an organisation aimed at promoting the use of open source software throughout the continent. The launch, as part of the World Summit on the Information Society's Prepcom 2 meeting in Geneva is expected to take place late this afternoon.

"Preparations for the launch of an open source foundation for Africa started many months ago at the ICT policy and civil society workshop in Addis Ababa. At that meeting a task force was established to drive the initiative forward. The task force includes representatives from across the continent including Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda.

"In a recent Tectonic interview with members of the task team, Bill Kagai of Kenya said: 'It all started during the ICT policy and civil society workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when 82 participants from 25 different countries invited by the Association for Progressive Communications(APC), Article 19 and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) assembled to discuss ICTs in Africa. The workshop participants agreed that open source software is paramount to Africa's progress in the ICT arena, and began work on a coordinated approach to support open source development, distribution and integration...'"

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