A funny news I read today:

“The Ministry of Information and Communications has issued an instruction on using open source software products at state agencies” - Vietnamnet

“100% of government servers must run Linux by June 30, 2009, and 70% of agencies must use OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Mozilla Thunderbird by the end of 2009.”- Slashdot

“Accordingly, by June 30, 2009, 100% of clients of IT divisions of government agencies must be installed with open source software; 100% of staffs at these IT divisions must be trained in the use of these software products and at least 50% use them proficiently.” - Vietnamnet

then 50% of those IT staffs don’t need to use them proficiently…

You can check for more details on Vietnamnet Bridge or Slashdot.

Wow, you see, how geeky Vietnamese government is!!!

Actually the idea of OpenSource is not bad at all. But I just wonder how Vietnamese government will handle with that. The plan requires 2 years for all staff at these agencies (ministries’ agencies and local state agencies) to be able to use opensource softwares at work. How much money, effort, time would be wasted during those 2 years? According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, Vietnam ranks 121 out of 180 countries and territories, which means that corruption is a very critical problem in Vietnam. It reminds me of 112 Project (e-government process - another IT upgrading plan of governement just several years ago) failed with the total loss up to hundreds of billions Vietnam dong (tens of millions USD).

Compatibility is another problem. What if my computer at home uses Windows and my computer at work uses Linux?

“Sounds like Vietnamese government is trying to take freedom out of free softwares.” A comment on Slashdot should be perfect for a conclusion. Well, totally agree! Any obligation will lead to some negative reactions. Let’s wait ‘n’ see.

Tags: gorvernment, opensource, Vietnam