Freedom Toasters - Who Knew?

I’ve come across them, Frank. Mark Shuttleworth, a local boy working from home, sold his company Thawte for a couple of billion ZA Rands, took a trip into space, and came back to promote Open Source. Okay, so he now lives overseas (less chance of getting mugged, raped, shot, etc.), but the Shuttleworth Foundation does incredibly good work promoting Open Source into schools through Tux Labs, to kids through Hip2B2, and to anybody who wants it through the Freedom Toaster.

Many other initiatives have been launched and, with Shuttleworth’s and other backing, have taken off. The site speaks of our “incredibly restrictive telecommunications environment in South Africa” (the most expensive in the world) so, while it’s great to get software out there, it’s going to be far more difficult to get people online. Not many are prepared to budget a large portion of their income to reading the likes of Paynter, Locke, Scruggs, et al. Why not? I’m buggered if I know. I am, after all, an ardent subscriber of said scribes.

Another problem is access. I don’t like to whinge about crime (the Minister has it in for people who do that), but Freedom Toasters are located in places where most buy their laptops, iPods, and wi-fi stuff, i.e., they have money to burn. For most South Africans, it’s out of reach. However (and it’s a big “however”), Shuttleworth’s people have blazed trails and opened new roads. The source is with us and it’s getting to more and more people.

An interesting aside. Given our lousy telecommunications, cellular technology is booming in Africa and around 10 percent of all Africans carry a cell phone. So the ad on TV that cracks everybody up (wherein the roadside vendor turns away to answer his cell) reflects reality more accurately than it does income disparity. Cell phone companies have made huge inroads into Africa and are profiting greatly from expensive airtime.

Umm, so in one sense, we’re out of the loop but, in another, we’re kinda on top of things (so to speak and as it were). Damn. Where was I, Frank? Help me out here.

As far as the Web’s concerned though, we’re functionally illiterate and no matter how much good work is done by the Shuttleworth people, not much will bridge the divide until we sort out our telecoms infrastructure. And I (and millions of others) don’t see that happening any time soon. Sadly for South Africa, Africa, and the rest of the world…