FOR Cebu to become the next information technology (IT) hub in Asia, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the province should invest heavily in free or open source software (Foss), said a party-list representative suggested.

Foss is a software that has made its source code free and public, allowing users to change it and redistribute the derivative software.
If Cebu is positioning itself as an IT hub in Asia, it should see the significance in the use of Foss. It’s a legal alternative,” said Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño.

Casiño added that Cebu is a potential market for Foss especially with the burgeoning growth of SMEs in the province, which he says contributes to the healthy economic landscape of Cebu.

Casiño said the use of Foss will assure enterprise players “100 percent savings in the acquisition of the software” since it can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

“Well, it’s not entirely free because you spend money in the retraining of your people,” he said, adding that Foss will be a “good investment.”

While Casiño understands that using Foss is a challenge among SMEs, which have grown accustomed to popular software such as Microsoft and MAC, he believes that Cebuanos will soon learn to “appreciate” its advantages.

“It takes time to get away with one’s comfort zone,” he said, referring to the hesitancy of many Filipinos on the use of Foss.

Casiño identified popular Foss like Open Office, Mozilla Firefox and Ubuntu as among those that are currently being used among SMEs today.

In a press conference at Kan-irag Hotel yesterday, Casiño stressed the importance of House Bill (HB) 5769 or the Foss Bill, which mandates the use of Foss in all government agencies and encourages the use and development of Foss in the private and public sectors.

Casiño, who authored the bill, has identified the importance of Foss, such as reduces imports, enhances national security, lessens copyright infringements, and enables localization.