[India] Govt move on to let in Linux

["Irfan Khan" <khania2@super.net.pk>]

Govt move on to let in Linux
PRASENJIT BHATTACHARYA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2002 12:54:49 PM ]

NEW DELHI: The government of India has started taking precise, wide-
reaching steps to usher in a Linux wave in India.

And that cannot be good news for proprietary software vendors like 
Microsoft. Yesterday, the IT ministry had a meeting of around 70 
people, from companies like HP, IBM, Sun and TCS, government agencies 
like BARC and CDAC, state governments like Kerala, West Bengal and MP 
to evolve a level playing field for Linux vis-a-vis proprietary 
software (read Microsoft).

All the IITs too were represented at the meeting that went on for 4 
hours.

There was consensus in the meeting that Linux was a secure, robust 
and cost-effective system.

As far as concrete pro-Linux acts go, government tenders may soon 
stop specifying Microsoft or any other vendor’s name while floating 
software tenders, thus throwing open the way for Linux vendors to 
grab lucrative government contracts hitherto barred from them.

The government is also setting up special interest groups with 
officials of industry and academia to find out how Linux can be 
deployed in e-governance, defence, education and so on.

Since support to Linux is till a big issue, the government is also 
thinking in terms of setting up support and resource services, and 
call centres for Linux users. It is also looking at setting up pilot 
sites, where Linux applications can be “touched and felt”. A 
heartening fact for Linux-philes would be the enthusiasm for Linux 
shown by extremely security-sensitive agencies like Bhabha Atomic 
Research Centre and the National Information Centre (NIC).

Another aspect that came out in the meeting was the work on 
Indianisation of Linux that’s happening now.

C-DAC’s agency NCST and Red Hat have, for instance, developed a Hindi 
version of Linux, called Indix. IIT Mumbai too is doing pioneering 
research in Linux. 

Yesterday’s meeting of industry, academia and government 
representatives was chaired by IT secretary R R Shah. According to 
industry sources, companies like Sun and TCS were all enthusiasm for 
Linux, with the TCS representative claiming that the company was 
implementing the country’s largest Linux project in Chennai. The 
government, however, was at pains to bring out the fact that it was 
not against Microsoft or proprietary software and was only looking to 
leverage the strengths of open source software.

However, one official present at the meeting wisecracked, “Microsoft 
would have had a heart attack if it was present at the meeting. The 
interest in Linux at this meeting was palpable.”

One influential official told ET that many people were “violently 
against” computer textbooks in schools and colleges teaching  
Microsoft Word or Excel, instead of generic applications or 
technologies, like word processors. Industry sources also said that 
on the sidelines of the meeting, there were two views among those 
present about Microsoft’s reported move of sharing source code with 
the government. While some thought it was just “posturing” by MS, 
others felt that it was a “genuine” attempt by the Redmond giant to 
reach out.

However, sources said that it was the representative from Madhya 
Pradesh, who made a forceful case for Linux. He said that since MP 
had a paucity of resources, Linux seemed the best solution for the 
state. He, however, said that there was need to train people in Linux 
technologies. A member of the Linux user group sprang up to say that 
the MP government can take help of the extremely active Linux User 
group in Indore.

source: 
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?ar
tid=32354337