Sitthichai received the Colombo Plan scholarship and studied at the University of New South Wales, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in 1972.
During his time at KMITL, Sitthichai developed a rice moisture monitor based on electrical capacitance.
At the time, General Surayud Chulanont was in charge of the army's rice promotion project, and the two men met.
The government forced everyone to buy these machines and they lay unused at the rice mills because nobody educated them about the system.
[4] A military junta headed by Generals Sonthi Boonratkalin and Surayud Chulanont overthrew the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra on 19 September 2006.
Surayud appointed Sitthichai, who he had previously known while working for the Army's rice project, as Minister of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
If nobody can make money from it, there will be no development and open source software quickly becomes outdated... As a programmer, if I can write good code, why should I give it away?