[Interview] Benone Marcos, the creator of TI Angola

By the time I became an active member of the great web of information, I counted the contents generated in Angola or by Angolans.

So imagine content related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), it was practically null. I say "practically null" because some "revolutionaries" tried to encourage the community in Angola. One of them is the man called to the Minimal interviews. Your name is "Benone Marcos" or "Seckt0r”(For more specialized readers…)

Below is the little conversation we had with Benone, someone who really knows the ins and outs of Technology in Angola.

Menos Fios (MF): First, to locate some of our readers, can you make a short presentation, based on your work exposed on the web (forums, blogs ...)?

Benone Marcos (BM): I have idealized and implemented the TIangola, originally aimed at centralizing the Angolan IT community (regardless of geographical location). Among TIA's many original implementations, we had a technology-driven forum and blog. There I also presented the projects of mine and the other collaborators generally making use of the technology for the teaching / benefit of the country; as example had the to the (more on this below) the putonet - a Wanderley project, I don't know where he is going at the moment; among others.
Over the years and several incarnations of TIA I counted on the help of several friends who contributed in several ways - Azer (aka fir0n), Wanderley, Odoxio, to name a few.
At the moment I maintain a personal blog (www.benone.org) where I speak of anything that I consider relevant to me or to others ... always focusing on the country, but my main topics remain technology, education and photography.

MF: A question that does not lack: how long have you had contact with the Internet?

BM: I can not remember with exact date (month / year) that I had the first contact with the Internet but I believe it was something between 1994-1996. At the time it was dial-up internet with a modem USRobotics of 28kbps (external, just to complicate my life). I remember that when I went online for the first time (because it was dial-up) I thought that if I accessed sites from outside the country I would be charged an international tariff, so I tried to limit myself to national sites (Brazilians - where I was) like where is it, for example 🙂

MF: You are known to have created TI Angola (News site, Forum, Company…), what is the current situation of TIA?

BM: The TIAngola  today it is a formally constituted company. We work as IT service providers, selling equipment and. Formalization as a legal entity was a necessary step to be taken in order to provide support for social / community projects that are in the planning stage aiming to stimulate the technology sector in the country. I believe that in the coming months, we will be able to announce to the public more details about such projects, but whoever accompanies me online should already have an idea of ​​what it is about.

MF: A promising project (is) was aOS (Angolan OS), a Linux distribution made in Angola. Can you explain where the motivation for this project came from?

BM: This may be a little difficult to explain, but come on… Much of the motivation came from the desire that I always had to do something useful and share with others… The basis of the open source community concept.
At the time I was an avid student of Operating Systems and was fascinated by the texts of Tanenbaum, Torvald and others on implementations of various theories and algorithms in the various 'unices' (Minix, Linux, etc.). To have the main method of learning practice, I decided to combine the useful with the pleasant: to learn more about the dynamics of development and maintenance of a Linux distribution and at the same time to stimulate participation of our students and professionals, offering a robust solution for the most diverse uses.
Canonical (developer of Ubuntu) - another great source of encouragement - has proven for years that it is possible and works when you have strong support from the community; I think we should always learn from the good examples of others who have gone through the same terrain (or similar) as ours.

MF: We have not heard of OS for a long time, but in case of continuity, what to expect from OS as to:

• Costs (would it be a free or paid distribution?)

• Applications (Browser, email aware, instant messenger, music player, photo editor, custom office suite or generic?)

• Versions (desktop and Server Editions, 32-bit and 64-bit)

• Turned to what kind of user? Common Users (End-Users) or Specialists (PowerUsers)?

BM: AOS follows the model of all other GNU / Linux distributions licensed under the GPL (v3). It means that it would be totally free and open source. To better understand what would differentiate OS from other distributions, I need to explain a little of their basic concept.
See, there are currently 4 major GNU / Linux distributions: Debian, RedHat, Slackware and Gentoo. 98% of the other distributions are some variation of one of these distributions. What differentiates these 4 distros among other things is the package management system and the boot system. Each of them uses their own concepts or variations of existing concepts as a solution to the problem. For aOS I was developing my own package management system, different from apt (.deb), rpm, tgz or constant compilation (Gentoo)… whether it would be better or worse is another question :); but the idea was create a more optimized system and with own repositories kept in local servers (Angola) and mirrors anywhere else possible. This would also involve having a dedicated team to maintain the packages - compiling, checking dependencies, stability, etc. - full community involvement. GNU / Linux is all about community.
Being GNU / Linux, all applications that run on other distributions could run on aOS. At the time of launch there would be a package with 'standard' applications - which would be installed with the system - but the user would be free to install any other one according to the need. But with regard to applications, one of the objectives was make room for our programmers / developers create their tools / applications that meet the specific needs of our reality and our market. From my point of view, between our application and another from the outside with the same functionality and quality, it is obvious that I would choose ours. This could open the door for our developers to showcase their work internationally.
Version: 34bits and 64bits. It is trivial to launch in both architectures. Just a recompilation.
One of the great things about GNU / Linux is that it can be focused on both the common user and the expert on the same launch, and a desired profile choice system can be implemented, as many others did in the near past. There would also be the option to follow the Canonical concept and distribute the customized version of aOS (aOS-Professional, aOS-Design, aOS-Media, etc.).

MF: How do you evaluate the “Open Source” community in Angola, is it active, shows work…?

BM: The 5 thing years ago there was a very interesting initiative to create the Free Software Association here in Angola. Headed by Márcio Cândido, it had the support of individuals with considerable relevance in the IT area in Angola. When I was invited by Márcio to be part of the ASL, I did my best to make my contribution, which included technical explanations, classes and lectures, but unfortunately over time it was noted: 1 - the lack of trained technical personnel at the bases in the association; 2 - key members of the association with objectives different from those established by the body. This and perhaps some lack of organization ended up letting the project die.
Other than the above case, I have not had any more no experience in Angola related to Open Source at organizational level. At the moment I am not aware of any effort in this regard - if anyone has, please let me know 🙂
I continue to be of the opinion that if we had our academics more focused on open source research and development, we would generally have a stronger area.

MF: We tried to move forward with the “Angolinux” project to promote digital inclusion. In your view, what failed in that project?

BM: I have not followed the Angolinux project so closely and therefore I do not think it is adequately qualified to point out any mistakes or failures in it. I remember however that at some point I was handed a copy of the CD distribution and from what I saw, it was the Mandriva distribution (ex-Conectiva + ex-Mandrake) with a 'national' wallpaper. I think that changing a distribution's theme or window manager is not enough to define itself as a new distribution. On the other hand, I don't know to what extent the delivery was in accordance with what was defined in the project… In any case, there was a failure in the development or in the project itself, but as I said, having no further information, I cannot point out failures constructively. .
In any case, another point that may not have been well attacked is the communication (marketing) of the solution developed.

MF: Already at 2008 alerting programmers to the issues of digital licenses, do you see free software as a solution to this problem?

BM: At the corporate and government level,adoption of free software would considerably reduce the costs I imagine to exist with the licenses of proprietary systems and applications. At the academic level, it would make it possible for academic institutions not only to redirect the money spent on licenses to other resources of greater importance to students, but also to provide the possibility for a deeper study of existing systems and applications by the same students, expanding and strengthening the sector in the country.
Brazil and its centralized and organized effort to develop platforms to support the public service has served as an example in this case. Under the tutelage of the federal government, there is work to encourage the adoption of free software in public agencies (city halls, administrations, public schools, etc.) ... and it works.
Answering your question: yes 🙂

MF: Advice for new programmers?

BM: First of all I want to make it clear that I am not a programmer / developer. Eventually I write code to meet some particular need (projects, etc); but this does not define me as a programmer.
To new programmers: always remember the first subject / chair you learn in school or whatever programming course they did: Programming Logic. Writing code is nothing more than applying programming logic using a vocabulary of your choice that can be learned and mastered at any time.
A programmer must be able to write code in the language that is most appropriate for the project at hand and not be limited to 'knowing how to program in 'so was trained. It is necessary to know the technology to be able to implement it as and where it is needed.

The world market has a lack of programmers. The concept of Apps and Apps Market is already consolidated and to be part of it, we have to understand and know how to use the available platforms and present quality work (code, in this case). It is necessary that we start to produce content internally and lose our dependence on external ones… and that is something that fortunately depends only on us. Be it the programmers, creating apps and / or platforms, or the general public to make use of such apps and platforms. The model works anywhere in the world, see India, China, USA or any other country regardless of financial condition. We still need to open our eyes and get our hands dirty (or fingers on the keys).

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The team MenosFios appreciates the availability of the Benone Marcos, who took the time to share his views on the current state of ICTs in Angola, focusing on Free Software.

It also remains to be Cláudio Gonçalves contribution in the interview.

The interview space will continue, with other personalities, other themes ... stay tuned.