Socialization of Vietnamese open source software - When?

Joining the WTO, the selection of technologies and products and services to meet Vietnam's international integration commitments and its modest financial capability must be taken into account. In that trend, the application and socialization of open source software applications, especially popular office applications, is considered an important solution and should be a top priority.

Problem Software copyright: Nan resolution!

Software copying is a problem that most countries in the world encounter. For developing countries like Vietnam, where low per capita income makes software a luxury item, of course, software piracy rates are always high level. According to the report of the Commercial Software Alliance (BSA) and IDG Group in 2005, Vietnam is one of the world's leading countries in software piracy at a rate of over 90%, while the rate The general violation of the world is 35-40%.

And the implications of the weaknesses in enforcement of intellectual property rights protection are less attractive to foreign investors. In addition, the domestic software industry has also suffered serious harms when domestic programmers have no incentive to build native software.

Dr. Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics, said: " One of the factors related to the investment environment, especially in the field of IT and high technology is the rate of copyright infringement. If we take steps strong progress in implementing software copyright is certainly, the costs for reducing piracy rates will be offset by indirect benefits in improving the image of the country, attracting foreign investment ".

By signing the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement and becoming an official member of the WTO, strict enforcement of Vietnam's intellectual property rights in general and software in particular is a factor. Prerequisite. This fact has put Vietnam ahead of an extremely difficult problem: It must reduce software piracy rates but do not have abundant funding to buy software copyright.

The answer to this problem can only be open source software. Open source software is strongly developed, bringing to the countries after the opportunity to master the technology, promoting creativity and ensuring openness of the information system. Mr. Nguyen Long, General Secretary of Vietnam Informatics Association said: " Currently, the price of commercial products is very high. The minimum cost for a normal computer is US $ 400-500. For other technologies more complicated, the cost can be up to thousands of dollars, however, with open source software, product prices can be dozens of times cheaper . "

"Open source software gives Vietnam an IT engineer class who can understand the system part. In my opinion, this is a very important factor. The system is the foundation. In IT systems, who Understand the technology foundation, he will win, so Vietnamese open source development facilitates access to source code for Vietnam, through which we can grasp the nature of the whole system This is completely different from just using closed source, "said Le Trung Nghia, Director of Nhat Vinh Company.

The 21st century is determined to have dramatic changes in the trend of globalization and transition to a knowledge-based economy. In order to quickly integrate and stand firm in the fierce competition of integration, each country must create its own capacity for ICT, not only able to withstand strong and strong impacts. of competition but also rise, affirm and develop. For developing countries like Vietnam, open source software is considered the weapon of this competition. So how is open source software in Vietnam?

Vietnam opened with . open source?

The first Linux open source operating system was introduced to Vietnam quite early. Since the early 90s, a number of different Linux versions have in turn put into test applications in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by many ways. In the context of the starting point for IT in general and open source software in particular of us is still low and slow, the Government of Vietnam has advocated actively participating in OSS activities in the region and the world through the Workshops, forums . The process helps us take advantage of and access the knowledge and intellectual property of OSS community in the world quickly and effectively. At the same time, the experience of other countries can be inherited and learned in order to plan for implementation in Vietnam.

Mr. Dang Minh Tuan, Team Leader of Vietkey group said: " Vietkey is one of the pioneers in the open source movement. In the past we have focused on a number of specialized products, also with Vietkey operating system, soon we will release a new version ".

" What we've seen over the past few years is that Linux and open source software are being used more and more ," said Adam Jollans, IBM. " Linux is the fastest-growing homepage operating system, more than any other system." "Other systems and open source software are starting to be used, opening up the possibility of improvement between IT product sellers, universities and individuals. I think the moment of this idea has come ."

Open source software is the intellectual property of the whole community on a worldwide scale and freely shared, this is one of the advantages that latecomers like Vietnam have the opportunity to develop. Although it is predicted to be one of the strong development trends in the IT field in the world. But for many reasons, open source software in Vietnam has not been interested in many people and has not had a worthy position in the software industry in general.

Sharing this view, Mr. Le Trung Nghia, Director of Nhat Vinh Company said: ' The open source issue has been mentioned since 1999-2000. growing as you want ". According to TS. Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Minister of Post and Telematics: "The number of enterprises specializing in open source software in Vietnam only counts on the fingers ".

It is not difficult to find the cause of this situation. It is a cognitive problem, when many people do not yet understand, the benefits of using open source software are not known and therefore not mindful of it. The second difficulty belongs to manpower, when there must be a certain level to use open source software, let alone develop it. The next obstacle is the problem of current open source software applications in Vietnam is still low and less compatible, few documents, instructions, little technical support. However, the biggest difficulty, is the problem of user habits. People are hesitant about the new and shy of change . "We have decades of using closed source software, when we switch to the new source, the mentality is afraid to change. The second second is the fact that change also has difficulties that we need to have time, budget, and energy, it is also a barrier, the third is the source software business itself. opening it is not completely superior quality or can completely replace closed source software, "said Dang Minh Tuan.

Socializing open source software - ever?

According to Mr. Dang Minh Tuan, Vietkey group leader: " Open source software really promotes power when it has to be socialized, it must be developed by the community. If there are only a few organizations, some companies are closed source models and it does not focus on the power of the collective, the power of the community ".

At the ceremony to announce the Action Program and Calendar of Events in 2007 organized by the Vietnam Association of Informatics, one of the activities was specially emphasized and attracted the attention of the press and others. Participants are 'Open source software socialization scheme'. The issue of raising awareness and awareness of the whole society about software copyright protection in the roadmap of implementing integration commitments is not only a concern of the Vietnam Association of Informatics but also a concern of all people interested in the future of the country's IT background. Mr. Nguyen Long, Secretary General of Vietnam Informatics Association, said: " The initial goal is to raise awareness and disseminate popular information to people. Expose copyright software as open source software as a way to save. get funding in the context that we are quite difficult on investment capital ".

" The goal is very good, very appropriate but the implementation stage is always a step that requires a lot of effort. We also think that the Vietnam Computer Association and the IT community in the country must be aware of the scope. Important of this project to have very good organization steps, it will contribute well to the rate of copyright infringement , 'said Dr. Vu Duc Dam, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Public Security.

According to Mr. Le Trung Nghia, Director of Nhat Vinh Company: " In the history of Vietnam, our predecessors have done the job of converting the Han Nom character that the instruments write into Latin that they I am writing now, I think it is much harder, I think there is no reason why we tell us because we are so familiar with Microsoft Office and cannot convert to Open Office I think this is ridiculous. It can only be said that we for some reason A, B, C, D, we are too determined, we cannot do it, but the transition is not painful at all we don't do it ".

It is too early to confirm when Vietnam can socialize open source software, but it is no longer early to have more research and wide application of this type of software in Vietnam. The advent of open source software has created opportunities for many developing countries to access the achievements of IT in the context of respecting copyright issues, but the opportunity will not come without effort. both the government and the business community. In it, the most important thing is changing the perception and habits of using " pagoda " software products that have been formed for a long time.

Nguyen Bich