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Tifatul causes new stir in Twitter
Communications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring shook the very basic of the software industry on Wednesday describing an “open source” as “software that is domestically developed using local language”
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ommunications and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring shook the very basic of the software industry on Wednesday describing an “open source” as “software that is domestically developed using local language”.
Tifatul’s description was posted on his Twitter account, which can be followed under the user name of @tifsembiring.
Following Tifatul’s tweets, numerous Twitter users re-tweeted (re-posted) his statement.
Most of the re-tweets questioned Tifatul’s knowledge on a basic term in the software industry, because his description was different from the one that has been commonly known or found in software-related literature.
For example, a Twitter account under the user name of @binaliabinalia replied to one of the re-tweets and asked, “Does this mean that the minister has no clue about open sources? Oh my God!”
A quick search on Google using the string “define: open source” shows that a definition made by www.geemultimedia.com, saying “open source refers to software products that are freely available and offered by development communities online. They come with no warranty but are usually very well tested by development groups.”
Legislator at the House of Representatives Commission I on Information Roy Suryo, also an IT practitioner, told The Jakarta Post that open source software were operating systems whose programming code could be easily modified by its users without the fear of facing possible legal implications.
When asked about Tifatul’s description on the open source term, Roy laughed and said the minister might have been approaching it from a “different point of view”.
The stirs caused by the definition had apparently made Tifatul clarify in his later tweets the same day.
In Tifatul’s next statuses, he clarified that his statement was not meant as a definition of “open source”, rather his explanation on the “Open Source 2010 Award” event, which aims to reward local software developers.
Tifatul also said in another update there was no need to debate the definition of “open source” because people could easily find it on Google.
In Tifatul’s final tweet on the issue, he finally described open source in a much more popular way for the common public.
“Open source is open software, and can be developed, it is free, using programming languages such as C. Java, etcetera. The application can be in Indonesian. Satisfied?” Tifatul said.
Previously, Tifatul, one of the few politicians who maintains an active Twitter account, had also caused numerous stirs with his controversial tweets.
Tifatul was once engaged in a debate with human rights activist Fadjroel Rachman when he refused to greet Christians during Christmas in his capacity as a minister or as an individual. Tifatul also raised eyebrows when he quoted Adolf Hitler, who is known in history as the perpetrator of one of the most horrific genocides, posting it the quote on his Twitter account.
