To all those who are against reinventing the wheel, i will give you a simple illustration: Take these two apps: for those who have been around since the early days of mysql, remember "mysql front". this App was the main interface to the mysql database but thank God for Indians. they went ahead and developed "mysqlyog". years later mysql front couldn't compete simply coz these indian fellows reinvented the wheel and gave us mysqlyog. These two applications did exactly the same thing but mysqlyog capitalized on mysql fronts weaknesses. They turn to development on win32 api an produced a lighter and faster front end to mysql. eventually almost everyone stopped using mysql front and turned to mysqlyog. i dont thinks its in production any more @Peter I am afraid I still have to agree with Aki on this one... 1. you say Kenya produces software for intl market? eg isys and verviant. don't these guys have offices in Denmark/USA or rather they seem to be like local partners for these foreign companies? That to me isn't local software. 2. Even though code reuse is inevitable eg like in c++ I would use the STL which comes as part of the core language is one argument to that. I write an algorithm that does task X then when I need task X i would get that algorithm and use it. Is a better form of code reuse Code reuse however doesn't mean downloading an entire app and choosing your favorite theme and pluggins and using them. That is simply using software, period!!! don't need to be a genius to do that. code reuse simply means bundling code into classes or reusable objects and not entire applications. 3. One thing you should note is that the international software market isn't hard to penetrate coz what the international software market want to see is demo software or sample code. But the thing is Kenyan Software developers don't have original apps to even use as demos and that why Kenyan developers are having problems. You cant use a borrowed App as a demo. Then I have had the privilege of spending a lot of my time jumping between USA and today and with time you tend to notice differences. I noticed in USA (not just IT industry but all) the people want the government to stay out of the way. while in Kenya we want the government to do things for us. 4. How does one have the nerve to call themselves a software developer and yet they cannot develop anything from scratch? How can you be a developer when you cant even optimize your own code. When google adopted the code for mysql they modified it, fixed bugs, patched up the code and contributed part of it back to main code base. How many developers here fr example those that use Joomla or drupal a lot. how many of these have rooted out bugs or improved the code and sent the modifications back to the source. If any developer who uses those apps does that let us know. I will start with myself. many years ago I used to use phpcollab and found very many bugs. I went in fixed them and sent the changes back to the developers. Kenyan developers need to step up the plate to earn the 100% Kenyan made mark. SKYPE: sobbayi US: +1 202 297 6831 +1 202 470 0525 KE: +254 722 627 691 http://blog.sobbayi.com http://sobbayi.blogspot.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Karunyu" <pkarunyu@gmail.com> To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 3:33:26 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Kebs targets makers of software with quality rules My point: concluding that Kenya does not produce software for the local or international market simply because of the prevalent use of FREEWARE, is, for lack of a more polite word, a fallacy. Aki, you are making one large assumption: That the reason Kenya does not produce software for the local or international market is because of code reuse. Here are my thoughts; 1. Kenya does produce software for the local and international market, two outfits come to mind, iSys and Vervient 2. Code reuse is inevitable, unless you want to start by writing your own BIOS, device drivers, OS, compiler, web server etc. Assuming you drive a toyota camry, can not the same argument you are making be applied to it? (they tend to reuse the same powertrains) 3. Finally, the fact that Kenya does not produce software for the international market can be attributed to several variables, not just FREEWARE, for example: a. The local software market is still relatively 'virgin' such that the few companies that do produce software for it are satisfied b. The international software market is relatively hard to penetrate such that local companies find it easier to stick to the local c. Kenyans have peculiar coding habits d. "Tunaomba serikali itusaidie" e. FREEWARE f. etc _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general