Sri Lanka is, apparently, famous - or infamous - for its use of unlicensed software. There are many shops where you can buy any kind of software that you want. Whether it is an operating system like Microsoft Windows (keep your eyes open for the Bill Gates Edition), or applications like Adobe Photoshop and CorelDraw, or games, you can probably find it for the low, low price of Rs.150 (about USD1) for a CD, or Rs.250 (about USD2) for a DVD.

This has led to people using lots of unlicensed software. It is not uncommon to find a home computer with the equivalent of thousands of dollars of software installed. All of it unlicensed.

However, with the BSA and the Police cracking down on the sellers, as well as the BSA cracking down on organisations that use unlicensed software, it is becoming more and more difficult and dangerous to use things like Microsoft Office and Norton Antivirus and other software that requires a licence to use.

According to the Computer Crime Act of 2007, use, distribution, sale, and even download of unlicensed software can be punished with a fine ranging from Rs.100,000 to Rs.300,000, and a prison sentence of 6 months to 3 years.

There are, however, alternatives. One is to buy Licensed Software. To pay Rs.30,000 for a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium. To pay Rs.40,000 for Microsoft Office. Rs.100,000 for Adobe Photoshop CS. Rs.300,000 for Maya3d. To buy all that, that is, if you can afford it.

There is, another alternative. Move to Free Software.

Start using software that is available for free off the internet, or for a nominal cost from the many Free Software providers in Sri Lanka. Software that is stable, reliable, impervious to viruses and spyware, and most of all, free to use, free to modify, and free to redistribute.

Free Software such as GNU/Linux, and the software that runs on it, can do almost anything that licensed software can do.

There are are office suites like OpenOffice developed by Sun Microsystems, creators of the Java programming language. Contact management and email tools like Evolution developed by Novell. Web browsers like Firefox from the Mozilla Foundation, creators of Netscape, one of the best and most popular web browsers of its time.

If you are into graphic design and artwork, you can always try The GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program - a full-featured graphic manipulation software. There are also such tools as Inkscape and XaraLX for vector graphic manipulation, and Blender for 3D rendering and animation.

You also get your choice of desktop environments. From the minimalist and lightweight like XFCE, to the complete and full-featured like KDE and GNOME. All of which provide better usability and require less computing power than licensed software.

And free software is compatible with most licensed software. OpenOffice can read and write Microsoft Office files. The GIMP can create and edit files from Adobe Photoshop. With constant development happening, there is increasing compatibility between Free Software and Licensed. If there is some Licensed Software that you absolutely have to use, and it is not available for GNU/Linux, it will probably run on WINE a Free implementation of the Windows API that allows you to run most Windows software on GNU/Linux.

There are other advantages to Free Software.

Security

While there is no such thing as a completely secure operating system, GNU/Linux and other free software tools have consistently proven themselves more secure than Windows. In the past 15 years GNU/Linux has been threatened by only 6 viruses, as opposed to the many millions for Windows.

Support

GNU/Linux and other Free Software are supported both by internet-based knowledge bases, as well as by support teams in Sri Lanka. Many of these teams work for free or for a nominal sum.

The Free Software Community in Sri Lanka is made up of diverse individuals, companies, and organisations. We feel that Free Software is not merely and alternative, but is, in many ways, a better choice than the licensed software available in the market. We also believe that it is unfair to use unlicensed software, even if the price of using the software is prohibitively high for a developing nation such as ours.

We recommend you try Free Software. After all, you have nothing to lose but your chains.