(Borneo Post; February 27th, 2004)

by Raynore Mering

KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr George Chan has suggested that cash rewards be offered to youths in Sarawak who can develop a useful computer software or application for the open source systems (OSS).

He asked Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS), a wholly-owned company of the State government, to consider offering the reward of between RM10,000 and RM20,000 and be the evaluator for the project.

Dr Chan, who is also the chairman of the State Information Technology and Resources Council (SITRC), hoped that the reward would stimulate young minds and get them to play an active part in the State's aspiration to become a knowledge-society (k-society).

He explained that the State government was trying to encourage youths, particularly students, to use the OSS which was a platform that promoted user involvement in its development and was also cheaper than proprietary software.

He believed that by offering incentives, youths would be keen to participate in the OSS, which offers popular applications like Linux, and in the long run, this might get hem interested in the idea of becoming software developers.

"This is just a reward. Who knows, maybe they can sell their programmes later for millions of ringgit. And maybe they will develop something that is not so sophisticated but is still a development," Dr Chan said.

Speaking to reportes after opening the 'Open Source Appreciation Seminar and Workshop' at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) near here, he said the OSS also provided a means to combat software piracy.

The reward was also in line, he said, with the State government's aim to build an OSS repository.

He described the repository as part of a "watershed policy and a bold approach for the future of information and communication technology (ICT) development in the State."

At the function earlier, Dr Chan said a local chapter of open source systems users, practitioners and enthusiasts called the Open Source Special Interest Group (OSSIG), would maintain the repository for open source software in Sarawak. SAINS would host the local open source website for the State.

"We believe that open source systems can play a vital role in the development of a knowledge-based society in Sarawak. Its low cost and free distribution means that more people can afford ICT," he said.

"If we were to be very strict and impose strict software licensing controls, many homeowners will not be able to afford to own and use computers. On the other hand, open source systems are free.

"There are training and support costs involved, but these are generally lower than the costs of proprietary software."

He explained that the source codes or programmes of OSS were made available to users and therefore, anyone could modify and customise its software and help in its improvement and evolution.

"If we are to move into a k-society, we must transform ourselves from being a user to a developer and contributor in ICT and software development. We must develop and promote a culture of producing software locally."

In this respect, he said it was important that school students were exposed to the open source movement so that they would learn and develop this culture of producing software instead of just using systems developed by others.

Dr Chan also said that the State government had long used the OSS in its applications and it was now using Linux and other OSS software in its ICT security infrastructure but of course, he said, there were some applications where proprietary software was necessary.

"Suffice for me to say that the State government now considers open source systems as a serious alternative to proprietary systems in our ICT agenda. We have used various open source systems for many years now and we feel that there are no major and insurmountable problems with OSS software."

Dr Chan called on all members of the public and local businesses to explore the use of open source systems as they would also be doing themselves and the State a lot of good.

"I understand that some businesses and home users are reluctant to use open source software and would rather use pirated software. This is not only illegal but also unhealthy. Open source has shown to be a cheap, viable and able alternative and should be considered seriously by all," he said.

"Not all proprietary systems can be replaced with open source software, but in many of the common applications such as office productivity tools and web application development, open source systems have shown that they are as good if not better than many proprietary systems."

The two-day seminar was organised by Unimas and the Malaysian National Computer Confederation in collaboration with the State ICT Unit, which is under the Chief Minister's department.

Also present at the function yesterday were Unimas Board of Directors chairman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Bujang Mohd Nor, Unimas Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Yusuf Hadi, Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn Bhd Head of Higher Education Client Services Unit Dr Yew Kok Meng, State ICT Unit Director William Patrick Nyigor and SAINS Managing Director Teo Tien Hiong.

Yusuf yesterday also received the MSC status certificate for Unimas from Dr Yew.