Feasibility of using open source operating systems and software in the Kenyan public universities

Abstract

Open Source Software offer diversity of benefits such as lower Total Cost of ownership (TCO), scalability to customize the software to local languages. Africa is a relatively poor continent with meager Information Communication and Technology (lCT) infrastructure. For this reason, it is not easy to start any meaningful IT project, Open Source Software (aSS) being one of this projects. Proprietary software more extensively despite its myriad hurdles such as high Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), vendor lock-in, limited scalability capacity e.t.c. Despite all this, few tertiary level learning institutions are using ass solutions for a variety of applications. This project therefore aims to (i) Explore the feasibility of using ass as an alternative to proprietary (commercial) software in the tertiary level institutions. (ii) Provide a feasible framework for ass adoption in the tertiary learning institutions.