Malaysia moves to OSS - Will it help the economy?

With the OSCC MAMPU success of the MyGOSSCON 2007, lots of government OSS projects have started to be highlighted. This year's MyGOSSCON 08, will be held on 5-6 Nov 2008 at the PICC, Putrajaya.

Economy and jobs for OSS

Will all this move to OSS help the economy? Malaysia is a country surrounded by Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand and depends a lot of its revenue from trades. Malaysia have a modest broadband availability and quality of service with a largely open Internet policy.

In regards to any ICT procurements, the cost can be reduced by;

1. Preference of alternative/cheaper software
2. Preference of software that reduces maintenance and security
   

Currently Malaysia buys too much of software. This leads to:

1. Lost opportunity of exposure to building enterprise/advanced applications
2. Preference of foreign systems to local ICT solutions when making procurement decisions
   

If more OSS is introduced;

1. Malaysia can be a net exporter of ICT solutions (increase in jobs, more revenue)
   
2. Increase in skilled ICT workforce (increase in local and foreign jobs)
3. Collaborative work on a global level (increase job opportunities)
4. Nature of OSS is productivity (a wider number of solutions will be available, more busines/jobs)
   
5. Increase in home based workers. Freelance, home makers, students, retiree and those with lots of free time can take part in many more business as the barrier entry is lowered. Cheaper software on any platform can be easily accessible for Internet based business.