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

[Raju Mathur]

>>>>> "satish" == satish jha <sjha@vsnl.com> writes:

    satish> i know fred and a host of friends do not agree with me on
    satish> this issue but i do believe that open source is not the
    satish> most important issue in putting ict to development
    satish> projects any more than knowing the recipe of coke will
    satish> make a developing country rich.

    satish> what is important and critical is to understand how to
    satish> envision, architect, design, develop, test,...and
    satish> implement integrated systems in as much as is feasible
    satish> with an understanding both of the needs and the technology
    satish> and in that order.

Agreed.  These are important factors in development and should be
understood and nurtured.

    satish> open source debate is but a minor piece of the puzzle. of
    satish> course the debate should continue. but just as making coca
    satish> cola the plan of its government's policy did not help the
    satish> first non-congress government in india (we lost another 14
    satish> years until a certain prime minister decided to open the
    satish> economy instead) and the nation much, open source will not
    satish> do very much more either.

Not a sociologist or an economist, so unable to predict the effects of
properly-deployed Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS)
technologies on the level of development in India.  Maybe deploying
Linux nation-wide will have no effect at all on the poverty in the
country.  Nevertheless, I DO have enough insight to predict that if my
country keeps buying and deploying software they don't need from a
foreign corporation more of my country will be below the poverty line
sooner rather than later.

Maybe it's a personal failing, but I can see no way by which using
proprietary, locked-in software can do anything but widen the gap
between haves and have-nots, make the poor more poor and act as a
ever-widening conduit to leak money and resources from India.

In short, even if you don't accept FLOSS as a means to bridge any
divides do accept it as a means to minimising those divides in the
first place.

[I personally believe that appropriately-deployed FLOSS technology can
actually help enable development and benefit every class of person in
India.  However I don't have facts and figures to back that up, so
won't press the point.  You are welcome to have your own take on it.]

Regards,

-- Raju

    satish> [snip]

-- 
Raju Mathur               raju@kandalaya.org      http://kandalaya.org/
                      It is the mind that moves