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c.dric · 06-03-2007

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... Linux, and the open-source movement in general, somehow missed Africa. It’s slowly gathering momentum in places like South Africa. But across the rest of the continent, Bill Gates owns the desktops and servers. All these internet cafés where criminal Nigerians mail their scam letters from, they all run on Windows. And they’re all infested with key-loggers, trojans, viruses, mass-mailers and all the other software tools a scamster might need. Daily system crashes are the norm. I avoid using these cafés, and fortunately, EFCC began a crackdown last year on internet cafés that tolerate these criminal activities.

The place I used to go to often had server issues and a lot of the workstations where unavailable due to problems caused by key-loggers and people arbitrarily downloading spyware-infested software from the internet and installing them. I told the admin he’s better off installing Linux on the server and workstations. Linux comes with KDE, these days, so usability shouldn’t be a problem. Most people use internet cafés just for browsing the web and sending emails. So, it shouldn’t be that difficult a transition for the customers to make. Maybe a short ReadMe on the desktop that explains how to launch things like the web browser and IM software.
And most importantly, Linux is immune to viruses, and how many of these guys would know how to install a key-logger or mass-mailer on a Linux desktop? User management would help prevent these issues. The admin agreed, but said he had no real Linux administration skills and his boss wanted Windows anyway. I offered my services, but again I was waved off. It seems they’d rather accept all the downtime and the accompanying loss of revenue that comes with running a Windows-based internet café in Africa. ...