Social and Economic Technology - 7.4. Technical Aspects. (What needs to be done.)
Open Source is there to be adapted.
The open source movement has created software every bit as good as Microsoft. Yet it targets only the self same centralized business scenario, and in general it requires more specialized skills to run than Microsoft products. As it stands, open source offers even less of a solution to the rural problem than Microsoft. Except where it has won grants in the public interest, the movement lacks a proper business model to directly financially reward its creators. The creators are 'geeks' who already have a satisfactory income because they are working from the centralized business environment, and it stands to reason they show little sign of tackling the chronic problems of the rural community. However, the software building blocks they have literally given the world are all but the last stages of what is required for the software part of rural life, and there is complete freedom and co-operation to modify those blocks as required. Furthermore the legal framework upon which open source operates is also a complete solution to any problems in that area. Yet the fact remains that only people directly involved with the rural economy will have the understanding and incentive to create what is required, and there are practically no interested self supporting 'geeks' currently in the rural economy like there are in the centralized business world.
Therein comes the crunch. What needs to be designed is an Information Technology infrastructure that is equivalent to the road system that exists in the rural countryside. It is as important, if not more important to the survival of the rural countryside as the road system. Yet it would in practice be a great deal cheaper to set up and maintain. Like the road system, it is not a plausible project for either an individual to undertake or a suitable project for a bottom line company to invest in. To succeed it must be regarded as a means to an end, a public service just like providing the rural economy with roads, public health, libraries, education, etc. That is the only basis on which Information Technology will ever make a serious impact into saving the rural economy. Although the costs will not be trivial and they will be to a certain extent on going, the return for money invested would be much greater than most of the other publicly funded projects designed to enhance an economy. Indeed, an economic revival would make the investment much better than investment into most other public services and, could pay for itself by introducing savings in other services. Yet the investment must be into an integrated software product, infrastructure, and support system that is specifically targeted to be in the public interest of the rural economy. There is nothing like that already around, and it will not be created any other way.