[Fsf-friends] LINK: Selling India to Bill Gates
Frederick Noronha
fred@bytesforall.org
Sun, 1 Dec 2002 12:48:34 +0530 (IST)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/stories/2002120100100300.htm
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Selling India to Bill Gates
Archives
C. RAMMANOHAR REDDY * Datewise
* Issues
IN 1997, on his first visit to India, Bill Gates * Cuisine
met Prime Minister Deve Gowda in New Delhi. A * Travel
couple of days later, Mr. Gowda flew to Mumbai to * Gardening
attend another function in honour of the
Microsoft chief. In 2000, during Mr Gates' second News
visit, more than half a dozen Chief Ministers News Update
queued up to plead for investment by the software Front Page
giant. Now, in 2002, the coronation of Mr. Gates National
as the most preferred visitor from abroad has Regional:
been completed. * Southern State=
s
* Other States
The way we fete and fawn on Bill Gates each time International
he visits India should make any self-respecting Opinion
Indian wince with embarrassment. At the same Business
time, we are quick to show our displeasure Sport
towards Mr. Gates for speaking about AIDS in the Miscellaneous
country. We are naturally equally quick to accept Index
the money his Foundation had to offer, and want
more.
The AIDS mission apart, why was Bill Gates here?
Blinded by his fame and wealth, we failed to see
the pure commercial motive of advancing the
interests of Microsoft. With our uncritical
adulation, we may have ended up selling our
software market, our software talents and perhaps
even our soul to the world's biggest software
company. Hook, line and sinker.
The company Mr. Gates has built up is the biggest
and most profitable software firm in the world.
But it is also facing a threat from the most
unlikely of competitors - the GNU/Linux operating
system which has been developed by the larger
Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) movement
across the world. This "free" software has long
since ceased to be a cult operating system meant
for geeks. In terms of cost, reliability and
security, GNU/Linux has proved itself far
superior to the proprietary Windows in the market
for software that runs the internet. Some
independent estimates suggest that GNU/Linux has
even overtaken Windows here. The back offices of
several global companies are also increasingly
being run on this alternative operating system.
Businesses selling FLOSS are making money, and
organisations switching to FLOSS are saving
enormous amounts. (For a comprehensive survey on
GNU/Linux versus Windows usage on the internet,
in back offices and on the desktop, see
www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html)
Governments too are increasingly looking at
GNU/Linux as an alternative to Windows. Cost is
obviously one factor. For example, the United
States Census Bureau found that launching a web
site for provision of data, which cost $47,000
with Linux, would have cost as much as $3,58,000
had the proprietary Windows been used. A complete
dependence on proprietary Microsoft software also
raises security concerns. China recently launched
a version of GNU/Linux to eventually replace
Windows on all government computers. (That did
not prevent Microsoft from announcing a $750
million investment in China. This, incidentally,
is considerably more than the $400 million that
Mr. Gates has planned for India.)
During his visit last month, Mr. Gates bamboozled
uncritical reporters with jargon about GNU/Linux
not being a threat to Windows. The total cost of
ownership (TCO), he said, was higher for
GNU/Linux than for Windows. TCO is the cost of
software, training, maintenance and upgrades.
Now, most independent surveys say that the TCO of
GNU/Linux is a minimum of 25 to 30 per cent lower
than for Windows - quite the opposite of Mr.
Gates' claim. The world's richest man also
asserted that GNU/Linux is affecting software
companies like Sun and not Microsoft. This is
only half correct. GNU/Linux, positioned in the
middle, is rapidly eating into the market share
of both Sun and Micrsoft in server software.
From Peru to Japan, from China to the U.S.,
governments all over the world are looking at
GNU/Linux. There is one government though that is
missing in this list. In spite of India being
home to many of the writers of software who have
contributed to the development of GNU/Linux, the
Centre and the States seem to be more busy
chasing Microsoft than exploring the use of this
superior software. There have been reports of the
Centre launching a Linux India Initiative to
encourage universities and governments to move
away from Windows. But the Government seems too
scared to confirm such press reports. And of the
State Governments, only Madhya Pradesh and West
Bengal have been making some noises about
exploring the use of GNU/Linux.
Mr. Gates' interest in India is obvious. Computer
use in India remains very low, but is growing.
E-governance is just beginning to happen. Imagine
the future, as e-governance and other government
computer-linked services increase rapidly.
Imagine all government computers running on
Microsoft software - a potential market of
hundreds of thousands, eventually even millions.
No wonder it is so important to tie India to
proprietary software. There is another reason for
the Gates interest in India. Though a lot of
application software - like word-processors or
spreadsheets - is available for GNU/Linux, much
more needs to be written if open source software
is to completely replace Windows on the desktop.
India is believed to be home to 10 per cent of
the world's developers of software. If India's
software community can be chained to the
development of proprieatry software, then one
source of GNU/Linux-based applications will dry
up!
Bill Gates needs India more than India needs Bill
Gates. But we don't seem to want to see that.
E-mail the writer at crr100@india.com
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