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Re: [OpenEconomies] Greetings From Ghana

• To: openeconomies(at)cyber.law.harvard.edu
• Subject: Re: [OpenEconomies] Greetings From Ghana
• From: Jim Youll <jim(at)media.mit.edu>
• Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 12:22:59 -0500
• In-reply-to: <1912.127.0.0.1.1016040004.squirrel@ldev.law.harvard.edu>
• References: <1912.127.0.0.1.1016040004.squirrel@ldev.law.harvard.edu>

Send a photo or two!

>I am sitting here writing this at Mark Davies' Sony laptop, looking out at
>the trees behind BusyInternet (Busyinternet.com).  The outside temperature
>at 5:00 PM is in the 80s fehrenheit, with a golden sun still well up in the
>equatorial sky.  Downstairs the cybercenter is, as usual, completely packed
>with people, at a capacity of about a hundred at a time, and with many
>patiently waiting.  LCD monitors in rows, people hunched over doing all
>manner of experiencing, making their place in the global culture, mediated
>by the web. Ben Walker has been interviewing users in the center, 24 hours
>a day.  There is a daily ryrthm in the cybercenter, students after school
>ends at 3pm, people in their twenties in the evening--and after midnite,
>when the price goes down--journalists doing research for stories in the
>papers.  Early morning business people checking in before work.
>
>Open Economies Legal Director Sarah Guerrero and I have now been in Ghana
>for almost a week, and a wonderful, if sometimes difficult, time it has
>been.We have been catching up with friends in the entrepreneurial
>ccommunity, seeing the world through their eyes.
>
>Lots of issues:
>
>Scarce financing, of course.
>
>Delays in connecting to the undersea cable that sits just off-shore, ready.
>
>Training, tech support are issues everywhere.
>
>Interestngly, the value of Linus and Open Source seems not mainly the lower
>acquisition cost of software, but because of higher reliability--important
>in a world with fewer technical folks--and the somewhat more "geeky"--in
>the positive sense--culture of these particular technical folks.  Not a
>surprise for most of us, but interesting given that the "Open Source for
>development" case is usually made in terms of avoiding license fees.  The
>reality here is that support is the much bigger issue.
>
>Must go, more later.
>
>Regards, Jim
>
>
>
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• References:
  • Greetings From Ghana
    • From: <jmoore@cyber.law.harvard.edu>

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