Open Source Relevance

Kevin Shockey, of SNAP Platform, told The Jenius that over at SourceForge, the virtual laboratory for open source software development, SNAP was ranked 77th. Not impressed? Okay, try 77th out of over 101,000 potential projects. That's right: SNAP Platform ranks in the top one-tenth of one percent of all projects in terms of user activity in a worldwide community of over 101,000 projects. If the current level of growth continues, SNAP could rank in the Top 50 very soon. Which leads The Jenius to the following:

The world leader in open source adoption, at the government level, is Brazil. With roughly 14% of its population able to afford a computer and abundant natural resources (including a population of some 186 million) without equal, Brazil leads the way in targeting technology as an economic engine at the individual level. Rather than invest in software licenses and potentially limited growth (an argument too complex to cover here, but worthy of discussion), Brazil seeks to leapfrog monetary barriers and quickly develop a nation-wide community of technology users. The strategy is now being implemented by China--yes, 1.3 billion-strong China. Close on their heels: India, with 1.1 billion in its population. Obvious users of this strategy: African nations, desperately mangled by colonialism and internecine warfare, incapable of competing globally without massive infrastructure development, making free software the only choice. And Asian nations needing to compete with the Tigers (Japan, South Korea, Singapore) and the rising Behemoths (India and China.) Upshot: over 4.4 billion people targeting open source software right now, roughly 70% of the world's population. Sure, they are the "poor" 70%, but the battle isn't for money, it's for users. Who will lead these users, the upcoming--inevitable--global majority? The open source programmers of platforms and software that make user-tasks efficient.

Not impressed by 77th place? In a world of six and half billion people, The Jenius would take 77th place over being irrelevant any day of the week. Admit it: so would you... unless your name is Microsoft.


Addendum: "Our legislature" (forget capitalizing that wasted word) has definitely gone beyond the pale. The Jenius recently compared The Pathetic Fools to monkeys flinging poo. Due to the inherent disrespect of the comparison, The Jenius wishes to apologize to monkeys. And to poo.

The Jenius Has Spoken.