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To help protect intellectual property rights and reduce
costs, the State Ministry for Research and Technology is urging state
institutions, and small and medium enterprises to adopt open-source
software for their computers.
"Not only could we restore our bad image arising from rampant piracy by
using this open-source, legal software, the government could also save
on its IT budget, and by itself develop software using local experts,"
Richard Mengko, a senior IT advisor to the ministry, said Monday.
Citing a thesis by a University of Indonesia student, he said that the
government could save up to 60 percent of its IT budget if it were to
use open-source software.
Open-source software allows the downloading and use of software for
free.
He cited as an example how the Information and Communications Ministry
had saved on its IT budget after deciding to migrate.
"We can save a lot of money using open-source software that is offered
for free compared to if we choose proprietary software that costs about
US$200 to $300 per program for the total of 100 computers that we have
in our office," the director general for information and communications
technology at the Information and Communications Ministry, Cahyana
Ahmadjayadi, told The Jakarta Post.
Not only would open-source software save governmental institutions
money. Budi Wahyu Jati, Intel Indonesia country manager, said that it
could also benefit cash-strapped businesses, such as SMEs.
"The usage of open-source software by SMEs can provide a huge
multiplier effect as the country's economy relies heavily on them,"
Budi said.
According to the latest figures from the International Data Corporation
(IDC), an independent research institute, businesses account for 78
percent of software usage in Indonesia, with 60 percent of these
businesses being SMEs. Figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS)
show that the total number of SMEs in Indonesia stood at around 42.4
million in 2005, representing an increase of 28 percent from the
previous year's 33 million.
To increase the availability of open-source programs, the State
Ministry for Research and Technology launched the Indonesia Goes
Open-Source (IGOS) Nusantara 2006 package Monday, which can be
downloaded for free at www.igos-source.or.id.
IGOS Nusantara 2006 is a desktop software based on Linux Fedora Core 5,
which has the capability to operate applications such as Open Office
for text documents, Firefox for internet browsing, Thunderbird for
e-mail and Gaim for chatting.
On the website, the ministry also lists a range of open-source software
websites, both domestic and foreign, from which material can also be
downloaded for free.
Open-source software enables users to develop and modify the system and
create new kinds of software.
Also on Monday, the ministry announced the establishment of a
laboratory to test the quality and reliability of new kinds of
open-source software.
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