The Linux4Afrika development help project that is active in a number of east African countries has released the next verson of its software distribution. The donated used hardware will be expanded by new functionality.

In today's world, we have a "digital divide," wherein some people have the means and tools to exploit technology and others do not. In most developing countries, people still pirate software because they cannot afford to pay for it.

$100 for a laptop for a child in the poorest countries is still too much for Nicholas Negroponte. The founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, and founder and current chairman of the One Laptop per Child project (OLPC) wants to give portable computers to all the children in developing countries.

Lines form at open-source software vending-machines.

There's a world food crisis right now, as we all know it. Man's most basic need is low on supply but high in demand. This recent global predicament may not be felt that much in highly developed countries like the US and Japan, but developing country like ours and underdeveloped countries like most of Africa are struggling for survival.

Developing countries are using open source technology to build educational initiatives that are impressive when compared to socially-devastating education policies in the United States, which is much richer and could easily afford to replicate these outstanding programs in countries like Brazil.

Nigerian schoolchildren no doubt appreciate the innovative little machines that are trickling into Africa via Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child program. But IBM thinks the developing world needs a little more processing power to cross the digital divide--about 14,000 times more, by the company's estimation.

Internet penetration in Africa is a paltry 6.7% of the population, compared to 27.7% outside of Africa. Moreover, Africans have very limited broadband options due to infrastructure.

"ACTA, a treaty designed to attack the rights of computer users in some 40-odd countries -- and others later -- is encountering increasing opposition. ACTA threatens, in a disguised way, to punish Internet users with disconnection if they are accused of sharing, and requires countries to prohibit software that can break Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), also known as digital handcuffs.."