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No, says open source experts. According to them, the Government should discriminate OSS positively over closed, proprietary software. Although some claim that local IT businesses will suffer since OSS lack competent experts, Nah says it is simply not accurate. `The answer is that if there is a clear policy/direction and a clear implementation of this policy, it will be in the business interests of the local IT vendors to become competent in OSS.
I believe some major multinational software vendors are complaining that their businesses here have suffered due to some of the implementations of the public sector's OSS policy and in turn this will affect the country's economy as their local resellers/distributors (tend to) lose business.

While this may be true in the short term, in the long run, most of these local IT vendors and solution providers will be forced to shift to open source-type businesses and they will benefit then,' says Nah explaining that OSS enables developers to move up the value chain and become innovators rather than merely consumers of technology.

Nair agrees. `Software plays a critical role in the knowledge economy and only through the mastery of software will our technological dreams be realized. OSS provides a platform upon which we can build this capacity. It gives us an environment where we can learn about good software (development), participate in its design and development as well as customize it to create software, ' he argues.

`Open Source is a business, not a religion,' says Lee Boon Kok, chairman, Association of Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM). According to Lee, who is also the managing director of KE Systems Sdn Bhd, PIKOM's move last to review its 2001 OSS Whitepaper is aimed at updating its contents, in line with recent trends and emerging technologies in the open source arena.

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