Updates: Spring 2005
2005-08-10
地元の 作品
At the beginning of June this year one of the most important 会議／協議会s 関心ing 解放する／自由な and open-source ソフトウェア, the Sixth International 会議 on 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア (F?rum Internacional ソフトウェア Livre, or fisl), took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil. I was fortunate to be there along with hundreds of other （衆議院の）議長s and thousands of 関係者s, who 範囲d from students to 政府 大臣s to hackers to 使用者s to 商売／仕事 people. 解放する／自由な and open-source ソフトウェア, FOSS, or the more comprehensible 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 used in Brazil, ソフトウェア livre, has come of age: most of the パネル盤s were about successful 移住s, 計画（する）s for the 未来, and discussions not about whether ソフトウェア livre should be （軍隊を）展開する，配備するd or supported, but how; not if, but when. And everyone understood that now is the time.
That 感情 is perhaps strongest in Brazil and India, whose 政府s have shown 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の perspicacity and 決意／決議, but it is also 現在の in many other 地域s and countries throughout the world. From February to April 代表者／国会議員s of OpenOffice.org 現在のd or 展示（する）d at 会議／協議会s in the US, India, Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Australia, Russia--and I’m probably 行方不明の some; we’ve been busy. (And as I 令状 this, LinuxTag just ended.) Every 地域, every nation and language is of course unique: the 問題／発行する of fonts in the Indic language groups is not 特に 関連した to the Brazilians. 国家の 優先s also 明白に 異なる; one 推論する／理由 Brazil has chosen so 堅固に to 支援する FOSS is because it is much cheaper--gratis--a consideration that did not 影響する／感情 Munich’s 最近の choice for 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア.
But 関わりなく the 地域の, 経済的な, and linguistic differences, there is a simple unanimity in perceiving 解放する／自由な and open-source ソフトウェア like OpenOffice.org as the 論理（学）の and even necessary 戦略 for this century. This is not blind 楽観主義 on my part. It has to do more with the rhetoric of 政府 and the 活動／戦闘s of 商売／仕事s. 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア is 伸び（る）ing 速く, OpenOffice.org in particular, and it is 伸び（る）ing in areas that were long seen as the 要塞／本拠地 of proprietary ソフトウェア (read: Microsoft): 政府, 企業s, education. What has made the difference?
The Logic of Cycles
In part, it’s the logic of cycles. Now is the time for many 長，指導者 （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） officers (CIOs) to 選ぶ for 代案／選択肢s. After first learning of it and then 評価するing 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア for years, 実験（する）ing to see if it really 作品 同様に as others have 報告（する）／憶測d, and whether it is 平易な to use, many are 選ぶing out of 満了する／死ぬd license 協定s and 選ぶing for 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア and its 安全 and 柔軟性--both 財政上の and technical. If 警告を与える is in order, it only makes sense: for many, this is the first time that they had any choice in the 事柄. Until very recently, CIOs could only buy the flavors of ソフトウェア 許すd them by a monopoly. “Choice” was not a word that made sense. “支配（する）／統制する” over one’s own work also made little sense. And 草案ing an IT 政策 that 現実に served the 国民s of a country by 確実にするing they have 解放する／自由な to 接近 to public 国家の 文書s--that is, without 要求するing them to 購入（する） expensive proprietary ソフトウェア--certainly made no sense at all.
解放する／自由な and open source ソフトウェア is changing the status quo by giving 使用者s and CIOs a 現実主義の 代案／選択肢 on the desktop; it has been doing so now, with 増加するing 勢い, for the last few years. OpenOffice.org 2.0, 予定 out later this year, exemplifies the move toward making 解放する／自由な and open ソフトウェア (FOSS) more usable, more 使用者-friendly, more interoperable, while 保存するing the things that make it strong: it's open source and, ますます, open 基準s. (Open 基準s have no necessary 関係 to open source, but they 反映する a 類似の thrust toward ソフトウェア that is 完全に open.)
To give one example of the greater usability of FOSS 作品 that I 証言，証人／目撃するd in Turkey, let's look at the work of the Ulusal Da??t?m 事業／計画（する）, a quasi-独立した・無所属 organization whose members all have positions in a 政府-sponsored 企業. As part of my visit to Istanbul, where I 現在のd at the 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア and Open Source Days in Istanbul, 組織するd in part by the the Turkish Language 事業／計画（する）, led by G?rkem ?etin, I was 申し込む／申し出d the Pardus Live CD 1.0, which 含む／封じ込めるs LInux, the KDE desktop, 加える the necessary desktop 使用／適用s, 含むing, of course, OpenOffice.org, all localized to Turkish. As with other 類似の 成果／努力s, the CD de-mystifies Linux and FOSS 科学（工学）技術; 平易な to use and 平易な to 分配する, the CD brings 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア to na?ve 使用者s in a familiar form and in their language.
the Ulusal 事業／計画（する）'s goal was simple: make Linux usable by all and make it in Turkish. They 後継するd.The importance of having the ソフトウェア in one's native tongue cannot be underemphasized. But who has localized OpenOffice.org to so many languages? Mostly, it’s the 地元の communities, who want OpenOffice.org in their native language. Working in, say, an English 見解／翻訳／版 when your native language is Brazilian Portuguese is not just disorienting, 混乱させるing, and difficult, it’s also a casual 思い出の品 of a 肉親，親類d of cultural 帝国主義, in which one’s language is regarded in 純粋に market 条件 by a remote (always remote) 会社／団体.
Developers in Brazil, Turkey, Russia, and どこかよそで, have created （一定の）期間- and even grammar- checkers that make OpenOffice.org that much more usable not only by individuals but also 政府 offices and 会社／団体s, and they have done so 公正に／かなり 独立して. While I was in Istanbul, last March, where we 発表するd the availability of OpenOffice.org 2.0, I was 知らせるd by ?etin that the Turkish spellchecker had just been 完全にするd.
In Russia, last April, I 設立する a 類似の story, where the St. Petersburg company of Linux 署名／調印する 示すd it would 寄付する to the community a ロシアの （一定の）期間 checker. (For more （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） on OpenOffice.org in Russia, see the ロシアの Language 事業／計画（する）, led by Rail Aliev.) And in Brazil, for the 最近の fisl6.0, Carlos Menezes 論証するd a nearly 完全にする and やめる elegant grammarchecker for Brazilian Portuguese. At 現在の, an 概算の two million Brazilians use OpenOffice.org (見積（る）s come from Claudo Filho, of the Brazilian Portuguese Language 事業／計画（する）). All these, and many more, are essentially 地元の 成果／努力s, 利益ing the 地元の community (and anyone who uses the 関連した language), 行為／行うd with 極小の central 支配（する）／統制する but using and 追加するing to the 資源s of the 全体にわたる community. 地元の independence does not mean 大混乱 or anarchy, however; it means rather that 率先s and 解答s 影響する／感情ing the totality can come from the locality; or even just 演説（する）／住所 the needs of that locality without やむを得ず touching on the totality. The model here is rhizomatic: a 非，不，無-hierarchical 網状組織 …に反対するd to a tree-like 階層制度.
The Rhizome
The rhizome 強調するs 地元の work and 配当; it 暗黙に grounds 力／強力にする in the locality, and FOSS 開発 would seem to be 自然に rhizomatic. And for 事業／計画（する）s such as Linux (at least, in the abstract), Perl, and 非常に／多数の others, the rhizome metaphor (which was coined by the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and F?lix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaux 井戸／弁護士席 before Raymond's more 商業の "bazaar") would 得る, as would its 破壊分子 consequences. But for 事業／計画（する）s such as Openoffice.org, whose source is monolithic and large (around 10 million lines of code), and whose licenses encourage commercialization of the code, a balance between tree-like central 階層制度s and 地元の 成果／努力s is 望ましい. Else--and to a degree this has already happened--one could 想像する the 増殖 of manqu? 見解／翻訳／版s of OpenOffice.org, some better than others, 非，不，無 やめる 公式の／役人 and all 混乱させるing to would-be individual, 法人組織の／企業の, and 政府 使用者s. Each would be a more or いっそう少なく 孤立するd fork and the 広大な／多数の／重要な 知識人 資本／首都 of the 事業／計画（する） would be 減らすd. What is 手配中の，お尋ね者, and what we have 努力する／競うd to 達成する, is the reliable 生産／産物 of ソフトウェア that 使用者s of all sorts, 含むing individuals, 政府 offices, and 会社／団体s, can 信用.
Thus, the 必要物／必要条件 that builds 解放（する）d by the 事業／計画（する） using its 群島 of servers must 従う with our やめる strict 質 保証／確信 (QA) 基準s, 同様に as be in license 同意／服従. In this manner we 目的（とする） to 確実にする that code produced by any 地元の community is of the same 質 as all other 解放（する）s. This 過程 was 始めるd more than a year ago but is still 発展させるing, in part because nothing in IT is ever as simple as 事業／計画（する） 経営者／支配人s would like, and there are always problems of communication to を取り引きする, in part because OpenOffice.org is 特に 複雑にするd, in part because Sun's needs introduce vectors that alter 地域の logic.
Those needs can be 要約するd by the simple fact that Sun Microsystems sells StarOffice, the proprietary derivative of OpenOffice.org, in, as of this 令状ing, 11 languages. Who does these translations? The short answer is that the 成果／努力 is collaborative, in the sense that for the StarOffice languages Sun outsources the translations to select vendors and then makes those translations 利用できる to the community. From there, it's up to the 関連した community to その上の 精製する the localizations, QA them, etc. For those languages for which there is not native-language community, such as Swedish (公式文書，認める, we just created that one, see http://sv.openoffice.org/), there are no その上の changes.
For those languages for which Sun does not 供給する localizations, i.e., those that are not 含むd in the StarOffice 11, the work is 完全に up to the community. By "community" I do not mean only volunteer hobbyists. Most of that community is 現実に composed of professionals who rightly see in OpenOffice.org 商売／仕事 and social 適切な時期.
If the logic of Sun 支払う／賃金ing for 契約 work seems to you to 反抗する sense when the 地元の community is more than willing and more than able to do the same (if not better) 職業, then you are not alone. Within the last year, OpenOffice.org 学校／設けるd the 操縦する 過程, which 目的（とする）s to rationalize the localization to the StarOffice 11 languages, 供給する the necessary 道具s, and to 設立する a formal collaborative structure. For the 11 languages, Sun will continue to 支払う／賃金 for 請負業者s, and their work will be reviewed and 追加するd to by the communities. No one is taking advantage of anyone else; there is no 法人組織の／企業の 開発／利用. The idea is to be truly collaborative and to 妨げる 混乱 and duplication of 成果／努力.
But what happens when the 地元の community comes in 衝突 with Sun? Say that a 地元の community (one of the 11) prefers its own translations and would rather they became the 公式の／役人 build? In such a シナリオ, there would then be 平行の localizations, one 運命にあるd for StarOffice, the other for OpenOffice.org. This is 明白に not a 望ましい 解答; it's not really a 解答 at all. It is however, what can and probably will eventuate in a few communities, where the goals of the groups are 相違する.
In the most direct sense, the 目的 of the 操縦する 過程 is 正確に to forestall this シナリオ. The 即座の 解答, then, would be to 確認する that problems of communication are not in fact 動機づけるing the 分割. But if there is no miscommunication, then the 訂正する answer should be: so be it. OpenOffice.org 栄えるs by relying on 地元の groups--that's why we have so many localizations of the ソフトウェア--but it also 需要・要求するs that 地元の 解放（する）s be of the 質 that all have come to 推定する／予想する. Therefore, the only 規定s should 論理（学）上 be those that 確実にする 質 and reliability: that any 地元の 解放（する） be of equal 基準 and pass the 受託するd QA 実験（する）s, that it 従う with our license 計画／陰謀, and that patches, etc., be committed to the central repository.
政府 Support
First, this was my experience at the 最近の fisl6.0: As I について言及するd at the start of this article, 非常に／多数の パネル盤s on OpenOffice.org, its 配当 and 拡張, and on the 移住 from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org took place at fisl6.0. All the パネル盤s were packed, 特に those 詳細（に述べる）ing how this or that 政府 機関 had migrated to OpenOffice.org or was planning on it. The Brazilian 政府, 地元の, 地域の, and 連邦の, is 政治上 and in fact committed to open source, and OpenOffice.org is 重要な to that かかわり合い.
Now the 事例／患者 of India. As with Brazil, India 代表するs a 決定的な field for OpenOffice.org. The 推論する／理由s are not surprising: India 誇るs what is likely the largest technologically educated labor 軍隊 and a strong 願望（する） for 国家の independence. FOSS is taking off in India because it 満足させるs a need for 科学（工学）技術 that is 解放する／自由な to 修正する 同様に as to use.
If only last year the 進歩 toward open source seemed slow to those of us in the 先導, the pace in this spring has decidedly 加速するd. That said, there are still 重要な technical, logistical, and political 問題／発行するs to 競う with. But also is a real enthusiasm for and belief in the notion that FOSS is the ticket to make India (and for that 事柄, other nations, such as Brazil) technologically self-十分な and a leader in ソフトウェア 革新 and （軍隊などの）展開，配備 this １０年間. I 自白する my （危険などに）さらす to FOSS in India―まず第一に／本来 at the Linux Asia 2004 and 2005 会議／協議会s―gave me a rosy 見解（をとる） of the 状況／情勢. But i do not think it was 不確かの. I learned there of consortia forming to 演説（する）／住所 the font and localization 問題／発行するs, of 地域の （軍隊などの）展開，配備s の中で those さもなければ unable to engage in “office” activities; and of real 政府 利益／興味.
That 利益／興味 was most manifest recently in April, on the occasion of the Tamil New Year, when the Indian 政府 公然と--and with a lot of マスコミ ニュース報道--分配するd thousands upon thousands of 解放する／自由な CDs of Tamil-localized (translated and configured) 見解／翻訳／版s of Firefox and OpenOffice.org, の中で other 解放する／自由な 使用／適用s. At the 就任の event in Chennai, there was even a 近づく 暴動 of excitement. Who made these CDs possible? The OpenOffice.org team: Bharateeyaoo, a group of C-開発援助委員会（経済協力開発機構の下部機関） students and 研究員s operating with 限られた／立憲的な support but limitless enthusiasm. On 21 June, Bharateeyaoo その上の 解放（する）d, once again まっただ中に 広大な／多数の／重要な ファンファーレ／誇示 and 政府 attention and 利益／興味, the Hindi 見解／翻訳／版 of OpenOffice.org, along with other useful 解放する／自由な ソフトウェア, in a CDROM, to thousands of excited 使用者s.
The Tamil and Hindi localizations are but two of OpenOffice.org's 成果／努力s to make the 使用／適用 利用できる in the many 公式の／役人 Indic languages. There are also Gujurati, Kannada, Bengali (led by Sankarshan Mukhopadhay of Red Hat), and 非常に／多数の others on the way. These 事業／計画（する）s are but a start. What is needed is an apparatus--political 同様に as 財政上の and technical--that will 許す the 成果／努力s to continue and 解放（する） not just 1.1.4 but 2.0; not just 2.0 but 2.5, and so on.
In India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey--really, throughout the world--the 開発 and （軍隊などの）展開，配備 of OpenOffice.org is 訴訟／進行 with the benevolent 利益／興味 of 国家の 政府s. Some nations 表明する more, others いっそう少なく. 政策s are 存在 written, monies 配分するd, political rhetoric （手先の）技術d. OpenOffice.org stands to 利益 tremendously from this 利益／興味, but only if we 始める，決める up efficient 過程s for 共同. To a large degree, those are already in place and 範囲 from the l10n 操縦する 過程, which is designed to encourage 共同, to the Native Language 連合 事業／計画（する）s, which give 地元の 成果／努力s the necessary 自治. But more needs to be done: We need to 改善する communication, for starters, between the 地元の 成果／努力s and the central 事業／計画（する）. The 利益／興味ing and excellent work, either in the form of patches or 拡張s to OpenOffice.org, 存在 done now in Brazil or Russia or India or anywhere else needs to find its way into the central repository, so all can 利益. We need その上の to 改善する the developer documentation so that developers throughout the world can 現実に start working on OpenOffice.org more easily. And we need--and this has already begun-to 改善する the build 過程 and 最終的に to make the source more modular, more 利用できる to developers.
In the end, the point is to create and 支える a 事業／計画（する） that 反映するs the work of those who 参加する in it and that 実行するs the （人命などを）奪う，主張するs of our vaunted 使節団 声明. The stakeholders today in the 事業／計画（する） number in the thousands and if they are not 独立した・無所属 or students are 支援するd as much as by 政府s as by 会社／団体s: they have each 地元の 協議事項s, needs, 関心s. But they （不足などを）補う a working 網状組織, a community that is also rhizomatic. The 未来 of OpenOffice.org is thus everyone's.
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