JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) -- South African magnate Mark Shuttleworth has already conquered space. Now he's set his sights on cyberspace where he hopes to challenge Microsoft.

Shuttleworth made his fortune by selling an Internet company he started in his Cape Town garage. He then spent $20 million on becoming the world's second space tourist in 2002, and the first African in orbit.

Now, he is taking on U.S. technology behemoth Microsoft by pioneering free computer software that he hopes will revolutionize the way computers are used, and make the Internet accessible to millions in Africa and other emerging markets.

"Ultimately open source is the platform of the future," Shuttleworth told Reuters. "It's one of those enormous waves that is taking over everything -- like the Internet."

Shuttleworth's "Ubuntu" family of software programs is based on the Linux open source operating system, which works on the principle that software is free and can be modified at no cost by anyone to suit local and specific needs -- unlike rival Microsoft's proprietary software.

With quirky names for its programs like 'Hoary Hedgehog' and 'Warty Warthog', Ubuntu -- an African word that means caring for your community and humanity for others -- is meant to be simpler to use than other Linux systems.

PC World magazine last year named Ubuntu as the 26th best product of the year -- ranking it above Apple's iTunes media player which was in 34th spot.

Governments in Brazil, China, Spain, India and Malaysia are already using Linux-based systems and Shuttleworth argues free software could slash the cost of getting computers into schools, community centers and homes in Africa.

It could also cut the price of technology for small businesses in the world's poorest continent, where only a fraction of people are computer-literate.

Open source would work particularly well in Africa because countries are starting virtually from scratch in terms of technology and users are not already trained in proprietary versions like Microsoft Windows.

"Because open source is free, we can share knowledge much faster," Shuttleworth said. "If a kid learns to use a program at school she can take it and download it at home, show it to her parents and even her friends."

But Microsoft is fighting back in Africa.

The computer giant is funding IT centers in 284 of South Africa's municipalities in a project it says will reach half a million of the country's poor.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has dismissed arguments that expensive proprietary software can impede the rollout of computer access to poorer communities, arguing it is about "open choice not just open source".

South Africa -- Africa's richest country -- says it "firmly supports" open source software, but, delighted with Microsoft's pledges for IT centers and computers in schools, has stopped short of rejecting proprietary software altogether.

Microsoft upped the ante earlier this year when it launched a Zulu version of its main operating system Windows XP and said Afrikaans and Setswana versions would follow.

Then local managing director Gordon Frazer said the move was not aimed at heading off open source rivals, but conceded local language versions would curry favor with the government.

"We do recognize that in South Africa where there are 11 official languages, if we want to work with the state we need to work with these languages," he told Reuters.

Critics say the fractured nature of the open source community makes it hard for users to seek help while vendors of proprietary software are obliged to help solve problems.

Ubuntu says it provides comprehensive support services -- in fact that is how it makes money -- and argues that one of the big advantages of open source for Africa is that programs can be translated for free into local languages.

"Can you imagine learning to try and use a computer and having to do it in a language you don't necessarily speak -- not everybody speaks English," said Thoko Mokgosi, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard South Africa.

HP has backed Shuttleworth's campaign to promote open source software in South Africa, but continues to work with Microsoft.

Nhlanhla Mabaso, manager of the Open Source Center at South Africa's government-sponsored Meraka technology institute, says open source is about using Africa's scant resources wisely, and about systems designed for Africans by Africans.

"We missed the industrial age, now we are in the information age and we don't want to miss that too," Mabaso told Reuters.

"It is not possible for the one dominant company in the office space to customize the solutions needed to empower people in Africa."

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