Editor's Note: A Mile in Someone Else's Shoes

By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor

The first thing that set me off this week was the Microsoft comment about free software in Africa. You may have heard them, where Gerald Ilukwe, the general manager of Microsoft Nigeria, claimed that cost of software is not an important issue in the developing world. Gee, according to the message Microsoft is shoving down our throats here in the US, cost is the most important thing.

Would someone explain to me how in a society where money is relatively plentiful, cost is the most important thing, and just the opposite is true where the average person makes US$160?

I will almost agree with one thing the execs at Microsoft coughed out: that training in IT skills is the most important issue in emerging markets. I would not say it is the most important (because that would be cost), but it is important. Training and skill sets are very important, because they provide workers with knowledge that will be transferable within their business culture. And, as such, these skills should be as open as possible. People should be trained on how to use a word processor—not how to just use Microsoft Word. (That argument is not new, but it gets a lot more traction with me with the advent of OpenDocument formats.)

For a company with more money than a lot of developing countries, I found their remarks to be offensive. But what else is new? (Oh, and to find out what the Africans think about this latest gaffe from Redmond, read the Tectonic story coming up later tonight in the LT feed.)

Another story that got me revved up was the Debian/DCC Alliance story. There, the Debian Project is apparently embroiled in a trademark dispute with the consortium of Debian-based commercial companies. Initially, my reaction was "you have got to be kidding me." While I understand the need for the Project to protect itself and its brand, is this really important enough to make such a big deal? Let's face it, whatever you think about Linux, there is no need to add one more obstacle to its adoptive success. Again, someone else has articulated much of my initial reaction, in this case Steven Vaughan-Nichols over at Linux-Watch.

But later that same day, I got a lesson in perception that made me wonder if my knee-jerk reaction to the Debian/DCCA situation was just that--knee-jerk, with emphasis on the jerk.

It is very easy for any of us to make value judgments and form opinions based solely on our own experiences and prejudicial notions. I did it myself this week, both with Debian and then with Open Source Victoria, the Australian consortium that announced they were working on a Microsoft Office plug-in that would let Office users use files in the OpenDocument formats.

In total honest, my initial reaction was not printable. I could not believe what I was reading:

"Software industry group Open Source Victoria has teamed up with NSW technology company Phase N to develop a plug-in for Microsoft Office users to view documents in the Open Document Format."

Hello? What?

Here is what went my brain: on the one hand, we have Massachusetts, an entire US state, about to adopt a technology that Office doesn't have. This is the domino, I believe, that will start the topple towards OpenOffice.org adoption. Now, on the other hand, we have a project designed to relieve the very pain point computers will feel using Office and OpenDocuments?

For this one, I e-mailed Con Zymaris of OSV. Because here is a guy that has been consistently against Microsoft and I hoped he could either explain this, or tell me the meds he was on.

"I don't mean to sound cynical," I wrote, "but what is the advantage for Linux or open source if OSV enables MS Office users to handle the OpenDocument formats? Isn't that taking away a pain/pressure point for them to switch to OpenOffice.org or another OD-compliant application?"

Thanks to the lateness of the hour, I got a reply back from Con in less than 10 minutes.

"Nope. Not even in the short term," he replied. "What this does is reduce the barriers to users who are presently stuck with DOC (etc.) files. The more you lower the barrier which keeps people using DOC, XLS, etc., the more you will allow migration to alternatives, thus establishing a free market."

And with that bit of reasonable thinking, I sat puzzling and puzzling, until my puzzler was sore. Maybe I had a point, but my thinking was limited by my focus. I was concentrating on the short-term. Yes, maybe they were making things easier for Microsoft users, but by opening up access to OpenDocument files, OSV was also promoting that free market and free exchange of information. Get the Office users saving in OpenDoc formats, and their migration later would be that much easier.

Con even elaborated more after I e-mailed him back to get permission to quote him.

"What we are doing here isn't focusing on OpenOffice.org per se," Con added "What we are doing is working on technologies which can provide document format freedom to those who have no such freedom at present. Paradoxically, this does end up benefiting OpenOffice.org in the medium-long run, while benefiting Microsoft Office users in the short term too."

Does this change my opinion about Debian? I am not sure--but it has re-taught me to try to see things from the point of view of the other person. It could be a lesson for all as we watch Linux transition into major league acceptance around the world.