Software for developing countries: Major issues in the 1990s
Abstract
Information Technology for Development Volume 5 Number 2. © 1990 Oxford University Press. Software for Developing Countries: Major Issues in the 1990s Robert Schware* This special issue on software concerns for developing Introduction countries emerged from a realization that in developing countries interest in both the production and the use of software is becoming more intense. The countries that are particularly interested are those that are seeking a share of the burgeoning global information technology industry, and these are promoting the development of their software industries through a variety of policy and institutional measures. A dramatic increase in the production, availability, and use of software raises fundamental questions about guiding human resource development, transferring technology, strengthening firms' software development capabilities, protecting intellectual property, keeping up with technological change, adopting industrial standards, and identifying 'appropriate' software applications. The 1990s will present difficult and complex problems to developing countries. Resources are limited; the debt burden persists; and poverty is widespread. Many developing countries have been slow to realize and to adopt the new 'techno-economic paradigm' in which computers and software affect most branches of the economy and research, education and training systems. These countries are geared to a pattern of production