The main feature that distinguishes free from non-free software is not price, but freedom. So even if you are not paying for a particular software it doesn’t mean that it is free software. To clarify this issue let get some definitions going… Proprietary (Non-Free) Software A proprietary software is… Read More »
IBM is hoping to catch a portion of the free and open source pie by intending to deploy it’s cutting-edge LinuxONE mainframe/cloud sever to Africa, Johannesburg to be precise. It seems that many players in the tech world are beginning to see a promising tech potential for the African continent. Especially now that the amount… Read More »
I received an email from Web4Africa, yesterday and in it was a news announcement that it has launch the “first FOSS mirror in west Africa at miror.ng”. The happy thing about it is that the project is physically hosted (located) in Nigeria. For those of you who do not know, Web4Africa is a reputable domain… Read More »
It is no longer news that Linux is not a popular operating system (OS) in Nigeria – at least to me – especially going by the data provided by the Statcounter website on computer OS usage in the country as at June. There wasn’t even a tab for Linux on the graph! Damn. I have… Read More »
It was about the time, august 28 1991 to be precise, that the great Linux was released into the world and what a great live has been lived during this time. For those of you that don’t know, Linux is the kernel [or you could say brain] of every distribution out there – – it… Read More »
Microsoft (MS) has open-sourced the Windows command line scripting tool, PowerShell. Alpha versions have been released for Linux (Red Hat, Ubuntu, CentOS) and MacOS on GitHub. Especially when a core component (the .NET frame work) that it depends on have already been opensourced by Microsoft. Either as a means to court the open source community… Read More »
there are many areas around that is now swarmed with imported PCs. Whether it is as result of the economic system or not, at least it is serving as avenues for Nigerians to get access to cheap computer systems. This is a sort of blessing in disguise for Linux. Why would I say that? Let… Read More »
The OpenVR (short for Open Voter Registration) is a biometric software that was introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) into the Nigeria electoral system in the year 2011, to serve as a viable platform to be able to capture as many possible voters. The Software The OpenVR is an open source program that… Read More »
Though I have written severally on the principles behind the free and open source philosophy (which is the entire mission of fossnaija) and how they can help or be applied to Africa as a continent and Nigeria as a developing country. In this article I’m going to examine the aspect of FOSS that can help… Read More »
Though Skype has been available for Linux since 2014, but it was abandoned – sticking in version 4.3 or there about. The present (just released) Skype client is both in the native Linux app (installable) and web client (i.e. access through browsers like chrome on Linux). And it is just in alpha phase, which means… Read More »
