[Fsf-friends] Re: [bytesforall_readers] Microsoft to share Windows code with India

[Frederick Noronha]

Is this another way of saying
that India was out in
the cold till all this time?

Below is something I had
written for LinuxJournal=20
recently.=20

If so, would someone clarify
why India was treated as
untrustworthy till recently,
and what has since changed? FN

--------------------------------------------
From=20an article published in early December in www.linuxjournal.com:

Microsoft has argued that its 'Shared Source Initiative' is "a balanced
approach to broadly licensing source code while preserving the intellectual
property (IP) rights needed to sustain a strong software business".

Interestingly, Microsoft's source code is "made available" only in some
countries worldwide, depending, the company says, on "national laws,
practices, enforcement policies and attitudes towards IP protection".

The Windows CE, Windows CE Academic Curriculum, and C#/JScript/CLI
Implementations Shared Source Licensing Programs are available worldwide.

But enterprise, systems integrator, government and OEM source licensing
programs are not available in India, according to Microsoft's official
website accessed November 30.

Neither is the Microsoft Research Source Licensing Program.

"I tried digging the m$ site on Shared Source," responded Mahesh T. Pai, on=
e
of those discussing the issue with strong views in the commons of the India=
n
cyberspace. =20

Complained Pai: "I digged and digged and digged and digged and clicked on a
link and clicked on another link which said 'more info' and clicked on link
which said 'more info' and clicked on link which said 'more info' and ...=
=20
there was more and more and more and more and more and more and more on
'benefits' of Shared Source; they told that you will get the access to the
source code if you 'agree' but the license was not available to read."

"Shared source is another way of saying 'my code is my code; your code is
our code'," Pai argued.

-------------------------------------------


On Fri, 13 Dec 2002, Ashish Kotamkar wrote:

> Microsoft to share Windows code with India
> The Economic Times, India   DECEMBER 13, 2002
> http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=
=3D3110
> 2968
>=20
> Microsoft is virtually doing the unthinkable in India =97 it is planning =
to
> share the Windows source code. Not with one and all, as Linux does, but w=
ith
> a specific government body which, in turn, will share it with others for =
the
> purposes of e-governance and education.
>=20
> Microsoft has already made a proposal to the ministry of information
> technology for sharing the Windows source code with one government body. =
The
> nature of the body has not been spelt out; it will presumably be worked o=
ut
> after discussions between the company and the government officials.
> Interestingly, the offer comes at a time when state governments are showi=
ng
> interest in rival Linux operating system as the latter's source code is f=
ree
> and downloadable from the internet.....
>=20
> When contacted by ET, Microsoft India president Rajiv Nair was somewhat
> cagey. Although he didn't deny the move, he merely said, "We are evaluati=
ng
> the idea (of sharing the source code)." However, sources in the company s=
aid
> that MS is already in talks with the government to work out the modalitie=
s
> of sharing the source code. It's learnt that MS worldwide program manager
> for shared source program, Jason Matusow, was recently in India to work o=
ut
> the modalities.
>=20
> Microsoft is exceedingly secretive about its Windows source code =97 the
> company has so far shared it with only a few big clients and developers. =
In
> Asia. MS has shared the Windows source code with select clients in Japan,
> Korea and Singapore. What appears to have persuaded it to extend the same
> privilege to the Indian government is the growing attraction here for the
> Linux OS, which is seen by some state governments as a cheaper alternativ=
e
> to Windows.
>=20
> Microsoft officials are, of course, playing down the Linux threat. They
> insisted that Linux wasn't a big issue while selling to the governments i=
n
> India. Says Peter Hayes, industry vice-president, Microsoft Government: "=
OS
> software is merely 1-3% of the total cost of an IT project, and studies h=
ave
> shown that total cost can be lower with Microsoft technologies compared t=
o
> Linux." The open source software has been grabbing headlines recently ast=
he
> debate on open versus proprietary software has gained momentum in governm=
ent
> circles here.
>=20
> Says MS boss for shared source program, Jason Matusow, "There has been a =
lot
> of hype about open source code in the software industry as well as in the
> media. Linux might grab headlines, but being able to look at source code
> doesn't bring any benefits to an average end-user, though it might increa=
se
> the trust level.=94
>=20
> The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When programmers can re=
ad,
> redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software, the
> software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix bugs. Wh=
ile
> open source community believes that this process produces better software
> than the traditional closed model, proponents of proprietary software arg=
ue
> that this model can't work in the commercial world.
>=20
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
> Ashish Kotamkar (ashish@mithi.com)
> Mithi Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (www.mithi.com)
> Communicate in your own language. Log onto www.mailjol.com.
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D