Free softwares in Vietnam2009.rmll.info/IMG/pdf/Vietnam_rmll2009_EN-2.pdf · Free softwares for more than a decade: National conferences on Open Source Softwares every two years since

8 juillet 2009 RMLL 2009 : Free softwares in Vietnam 1

Free softwares in Vietnam

Present status and

perspectives

Vu Do Quynh([email protected])


Aimof this presentation

Mainly to introduce

The status of Free softwares in Vietnamfrom the end-user

viewpoint

Without emphasizing the technical aspects !


Outlineof the presentation

Some historical background about Vietnam

Legal framework for Free softwares

Present status of Free software's use

GNU/Linux

OpenOffice.org

Mozilla Firefox

Community of Free software users in VN

Perspectives


Historicalbackground (1)

30th April 1975 : End of the Vietnam War

December 1986 : The VIth Communist Party of Vietnam decides to undertake profound reforms of the national economy

February 1994 : End of the US embargo against Vietnam

November 1997 : Opening of the internet in Vietnam


Historicalbackground (2)

December 2001 : US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement

July 2001 : National Program 112 for the use of information technology in the Vietnamese administration

October 2004 : Vietnam signs the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works

November 2006 : Vietnam becomes memberof the World Trade Organization (WTO)


Keygovernment bodies

Ministry of Information and Communications (in charge of softwares management)

Ministry of Science and Technologies (policy for the deployment of Open Source softwares)

Ministry of Planning and Investment (planification)

Ministry of Finances (budget)

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (intellectual property rights)


Legal Frameworkfor Open Source softwares

●Decision 235/QD-TTg (2 March 2004) of the Prime Minister on the use and the development of OSS in Vietnam●Decision 169/2006/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on the purchase of softwares from state budget, with a priority to use Open Source softwares●Decision 08/2007/QD-BTTTT (24/12/2007) of MIC on the Free and Open Source softwares that can be used in government offices.


Legal Frameworkfor Open Source softwares (2)

●The Order 07/2008/CT-BTTTT (30/12/2008)● Mid-2009 : 100% PCs of IT departments installed with

FOSS, 100% IT staff trained with 50% with training potential

● End 2009 : 70% PCs of government offices installed with FOSS and 40% of office workers able to use FOSS

● End 2010 : 100% of PCs and 100% of government office workers are using FOSS

● PC stores should sell computers installed with softwares under legal licenses.


Some deploymentof Free softwares (FOSS)

●1/3rd of the 3000 servers of the Communist Party of Vietnam (PCV) are using FOSS●14 000 computers of PCV, still running Windows, have migrated towards OpenOffice.org●50% of PCV's computers in Khanh Hoa province are running Ubuntu●Moodle is widely used in some 70 Vietnamese universities●Sacombank has deployed OpenOffice.org


Some statisticsgathered in April 2008

%15 88,2%

Apache 1 5,9%1 5,9%

17

Web server used on governmental web sitesWeb server Number

Microsoft IIS

OthersNumber of visited web sites

%62 59,0%

Apache 39 37,1%4 3,8%

105

Web server used on companies's web sitesWeb server NumberMicrosoft IIS

OthersNumber of visited sites

The visited web siteshave been picked out

from the VDC and FPT portals:http://home.vnn.vnhttp://www.fpt.vn

The Firefox extensionDND

(Domain Details)has been used

to gather those statistics

http://home.vnn.vn/

http://www.fpt.vn/


Statistics (2008)on universities's web sites

%66 64,1%

Apache/Linux 29 28,2%6 5,8%2 1,9%26129

Web server NumberMicrosoft IIS

Apache/WindowsOthersNot respondingNumber of sites

IIS Apache76,8% 19,6% 3,6%

VN-Centre 73,3% 26,7% 0,0%37,5% 62,5% 0,0%

Web server used in Vietnamese universitiesOthers

VN-North

VN-South





The Firefox extensionDND

(Domain Details)has been used

to gather those statistics

http://home.vnn.vn/

http://www.fpt.vn/

http://home.vnn.vn/

http://www.fpt.vn/


Poll made bythe National program 235

The web site of the National Program 235http://www.oss.gov.vn

polled its visitors from March 2005 til April 2008.

80,1% of answers indicatedNo use of GNU/Linux

neither on servers nor on working stations.

9,5% were using GNU/Linux on the servers and the PCs 6,5% were using GNU/Linux only on servers 3,9% were using GNU/Linux on some PCs

http://www.oss.gov.vn/


A favorablelegal framework !

●Open support of the Vietnamese government for Free softwares for more than a decade:

● National conferences on Open Source Softwares every two years since 2000

● Programme national pour le déploiement des logiciels « open-source » sur la période 2004-2008

●Legal framework encouraging the use of Free softwares●Links established between the government and the community of users.


However, a difficultdeployment of FOSS

●Strong habit of users and IT technicians with Microsoft Windows●Weak or no material incentives to use FOSS (high level of software piracy)●Missing of concrete and adapted procedures for migration from proprietary to free and open-source softwares.


Although computersare often sold with GNU/Linux

Almost all computers on the market are PCs

PCs are usually delivered with free OS like FreeDOS, GNU/Linux

A complete desktop computer costs can start at around 220 $US (June 2009)


But, for a few dollars more...

CDs full of varied proprietary softwares, like Photoshop etc.,cost less than one US dollar (0,40 euro)

Common practice:

cloning a full hard diskinstalled with

Microsoft Windowsand a bunch of

other proprietarysoftwares

to any buyer of a newPC with

FreeDOS orGNU/Linux


So, a very weak penetrationrate of Free softwares

Technical support for FOSS practically non existing:

● GNU/Linux not supported by PC vendors● Training manuals, training centers are centered on the

use of Microsoft Windows and related proprietary softwares

● Support from the FOSS user's community still weak

A large gap between governmental decisions and their local implementation can exist.


A situationbound to evolve ...

Starting 2004, linked to the membership request to the WTO,the Vietnamese government

start to strengthen the pressure on the respect of intellectual property rights

by raiding eminent PC vendorsto check for illegal softwares


Pressurefor the respect of licenses

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

78% 80% 82% 84% 86% 88% 90% 92% 94% 96% 98%

Taux de piratage logiciel au Vietnamselon BSA (source : vnexpress.net)

Taux de piratage

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

0 50 100 150 200 250

Nombre de PC confisquésaprès contrôle des licences

PC confisqués

Vietnam'sOMC

membership

Number of confiscated PCsduring controls made

from 2004-2008

Software piracy ratein Vietnam

from 2001-2008according to BSA


Pressures... pushing for an evolution...

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

78% 80% 82% 84% 86% 88% 90% 92% 94% 96% 98%

Taux de piratage logiciel au Vietnamselon BSA (source : vnexpress.net)

Taux de piratage

- 12 %

Results of an online Poll on vnexpress.net (August 2004)


towards GNU/Linuxin Vietnam...

Several localized distributions based on Redhat appear in the early 2000's :

LinuxVN (2001)

CMC Linux (2001-2002)

Vietkey Linux (2002-2004)

The Free bureautic suite OpenOffice.org 1.x is also localized in Vietnamese

However : these early companies will abandon soon after 2004


GNU/Linuxin Vietnam (1)

Vietkey Linux(2002-2004)

(2001-2002)

The first Vietnamese distributions were based on Redhat 6.2, 7.0, etc.

One of the key applications was OpenOffice.org in Vietnamese


A renewed interestwith newer distributions

GNU/Linux distributionbased on a localization

of Puppy LinuxStrong popularityamong end-users

of theGNU/Linux distribution

UBUNTU

AsianuxChine, Corée, Japon,Vietnam, Thaïlandewith local support

in Vietnam


Survey on thepopularity of Free softwares

1613043751952167

Catégory surveyed Forms returned ClassificationMedecine students Hai Phong (North)

Province (146)Students University of Dalat (Centre-South)Students University of Pedagogy – FOSS Hanoi

Hanoi (189)Students/Users of CNF at Hanoi (AUF)French teachers, several universities from HanoiStudents University of Hanoi (Foreign languages)IT students, University of Dalat Dalat-TIC

451523476427467405

Questions asked Answers1. Which is your main operating system ?2. Which is your main web browser ?3. Did you ever heard about GNU/Linux ?4. Have you tried or use GNU/Linux ?5. Did you ever heard about OpenOffice.org (OOo) ?6. Have you already used Ooo ?

Period :

October2008

toMay 2009


The mainoperating system...

SE

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

100,0%

Principaux systèmes d'exploitation (SE)(451 réponses)

WindowsMAC OSGNU/LinuxDual Boot

Without surprise,Microsoft Windows

is the largely dominantoperating system

Among GNU/Linux usersmany are using dual-boot


The web browser...

Province Hanoi Dalat-TIC

0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

Main web browsers used

MS IEFirefoxAutres

Navigateur w eb

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Main web browsers used(523 answers)

MS IEM FirefoxAutre

The web browserMozilla Firefox

is ahead ofMicrosoft Internet Explorer (MSIE)

especially in large cities

However,in provinces MSIE

looks dominantas it comes along withthe operating system


Awareness aboutGNU/Linux?

Linux? Linux use OOo? OOo use

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Awareness of Free softwaresGNU/Linux and OpenOffice.org

( > 400 answers)

OuiNon


0,0%

20,0%

40,0%

60,0%

80,0%

100,0%

120,0%

Surveyed persons having heard about GNU/Linux

NonOui

Province = Dalat et Haiphong

The surveyed persons have more heardabout GNU/Linux

than about OpenOffice.org

It is less likely to have heard

about GNU/Linuxin provinces than

in large citieslike Hanoi (and HCMC)


and OpenOffice.org ?


0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

Surveyed persons having heard of OOo

OuiNon


0,0%

10,0%

20,0%

30,0%

40,0%

50,0%

60,0%

70,0%

80,0%

90,0%

Surveyed persons having tried OOo

OuiNon

As it has been found for GNU/Linux,you are less likely to have heard about OOo

when you live in smaller citiesor when you are not in the IT field

It seems more easyto find OpenOffice.org

in Hanoi than in provinces


Communities of Free software users

Usually initiated/registered by :● Vietnamese persons living abroad (Viêt Kiêu)● Vietnamese persons going abroad for study or for the

work● Expatriates living/working in Vietnam

Only recently have Vietnamese users from Vietnam joined or created communities/projects

Especially since the generalized public access to the internet and ADSL use, around 2004-2005.


Community'sactivities

Online forums and discussion lists● Often created at the initiative of Vietnamese abroad

Participation to Free software projects● Translation and localization of softwares like :

– GNOME, KDE ...– OpenOffice.org– Mozilla Firefox– Ubuntu, Fedora, ...

User's groups (Lugs)


The main forumsand discussion lists

7476 members37932 posts 6176 members

51123 posts

4115 members8712 posts

Many forums existwithin universities's web sites

example : Can Tho


Increasingthe public's awareness...

Software Freedom Days, Distribution of CDs,Install-Parties, Stands, TV documentaries, etc.


HanoiLUG2004 - ...

Mailing list with 248 email addresses

Managing one FOSS repository: Virror

Increasing the public awareness: workshop, training, LIP,...

Localization projectsOpenOffice.org, Ubuntu (MOST),...

Ceremony (Christmas2007)of the donation of Intel's server

for establishing theVIRROR

FOSS repository at Netnam


Problemsto be solved

Improving the translation quality of localized free softwares: OOo, Firefox, Thunderbird and Ubuntu in Vietnamese, for a larger public adoption.

Write or translate user's manuals for FOSS in Vietnamese.

Increase more the awareness of the public towards open formats and free softwares.

Important role played by the educational sector and the entrepreneurs in training and offering support and services, to be emphasized.


The future(as a matter of conclusion)

The existing legal framework is favorable for a large adoption of free softwares

Economic pressures can only push for a larger use of Free softwares, especially those running under the Windows operating system

The user's community base in Vietnam is still young but it is organizing itself and will receive a stronger support from the government

Ongoing localization projects will help in a wider acceptance and use of GNU/Linux


Acknowledgements

For facilitating the IT survey within their university:● M. PHAN Gia Anh Vũ (Université de Dalat), M. TĂNG Bá

Hoàng (Université de Hanoi)

For reading and providing suggestions:M. NGUY N Chí Công (Ễ http://dongtac.net/), M. NGUY N H ng Ễ Ễ

Quang (IFI, Hanoi)

For having made this presentation possible:● L'agence universitaire de la Francophonie

(http://www.auf.org),● and the 10th RMLL of Nantes

http://dongtac.net/

http://www.auf.org/

Documents

Free softwares in Vietnam2009.rmll.info/IMG/pdf/Vietnam_rmll2009_EN-2.pdf · Free softwares for more than a decade: National conferences on Open Source Softwares every two years since