Local open source software company Breadbin Interactive will drive its mobile open source kiosks, branded as Freedom Toasters, to the rest of the continent.
Jason Hudson, co-founder and director of Breadbin Interactive, says the Cape-Town based company is looking to sell its Freedom Toasters across Africa to educational institutions and government departments.
Hudson says Breadbin Interactive has sold 72 Freedom Toaster units in total within a two-year period and has received a further 40 orders.
The mobile Freedom Toaster kiosks, built with a touch-screen interface, allow users to burn information, music, video, documents and software tools onto CD or flash drive, giving people access to a wealth of free information they did not have in the past.
Hudson says open source, coupled with the power of the Internet, mobile technology and innovation, brings great opportunities for sharing free content: "It`s about educating people that there is an alternative [to proprietary software]. There are so many people in the country who don`t have Internet access and are being excluded from the wonderful things coming from the Internet."
According to Hudson, the Freedom Toasters are changing that by giving people who do not have access to a PC the ability to download free digital information to use at their will.
Breadbin Interactive`s primary business focus is on academic institutions, and it has received contracts from Unisa, the University of Cape Town and the MTN Science Centre.
Hudson says Breadbin Interactive has received a lot of interest from the South African government.
The offering has also generated a lot of interest from the Kenyan government, and a unit has been donated to the Ubuntu Loco Team in Zimbabwe.
He notes that the next phase in the company`s business strategy is to sell the mobile units to businesses.
Keep on walking
Hudson points out that while open source software has experienced giant strides in the country, it still has far to go. "Some of the biggest barriers facing open source is awareness and bandwidth limitations."
He notes that the upcoming Seacom undersea high-speed broadband fibre-optic cables will allow for more bandwidth-intensive applications to be used on the units. He predicts this will drive awareness and adoption of the technology.
"It`s truly South African technology from the ground up. In the near-future, we will also be looking at incorporating Bluetooth technology into the units."
Breadbin Interactive, born from the Shuttleworth Foundation in 2006, received two Technology Top 100 awards earlier this year. Its partners are the Shuttleworth Foundation, CVP, The Cape Information Technology Initiative and the MTN Science Centre.
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