Published on January 31, 2005

The Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) is working with the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) to encourage the widespread use of open source software, hoping that local versions of open source suites can be brought into widespread use in both the public and private sectors – especially among small and medium-sized enterprises.

Sipa president Manoo Ordeedolchest said that the collaboration between Sipa and Nectec is based around the use of Debian GNU/Linux as a core engine to develop a new operating system, middleware and applications.

Debian is a high-quality Unix-compatible operating system, with a complete suite of applications. As it’s open source software, developers have the freedom to distribute copies of the software and work with the source code.

Sipa expects that locally developed open source software based on the Debian operating system will be produced within the first quarter. Sipa itself does not develop the software, but outsources the development to private companies.

“We hope that within the next three months there will be locally-developed applications base on Debian, including e-mail, scheduling, accounting and firewall software,” Manoo said.

Nectec will convert its existing client and server operating system – Linux TLE and Linux SIS – to Debian as part of the collaboration.

Sipa will also establish a support centre to provide services for users and to interact with the Debian community worldwide.

So far, the use of open source software in the country is not widespread, as there was little incentive in the past to develop complete solutions, including operating systems, middleware and applications. Previously, only Nectec promoted open source software, focusing on operating-system development, and not addressing the need for middleware and applications.

Manoo said Sipa would encourage the use of open source software in the national logistics sector and collaborate with universities to adopt Debian in learning programmes, as it needs to encourage familiarity with the technology.

“Mahasarakham University is the first university to join us in adopting a Debian-based learning programme in order to develop human resources for the industry,” said Manoo.

Manoo said internal communications and office software based on the open source concept would offer considerable cost savings.

The agency plans to work with universities to create open source training courses to develop human resources in the area.

It is ultimately hoped that the percentage of open source software usage in the country can be raised from 0.5 per cent at present to 1.2 per cent by 2007.

Asina Pornwasin

Jirapan Boonnoon

The Nation

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