[Fsf-friends] [News] Madhya Pradesh Opens Window to Linux

[Raj Singh]

MP Opens Windows to Linux by ANIL SHARMA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2002 01:42:20 AM ]

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh has shut the door on Bill Gates. The state
government schemes will use Linux software. Chief minister Digvijay Singh
personally conveyed this to Microsoft boss Bill Gates during an interaction
last week in New Delhi.

"For us it is not a question of Microsoft versus Linux. It is just a matter
of choosing between a free software and a monopoly. We feel that when we
are putting public information out in the open, then it should not be
through a proprietary software," Mr Singh told ET.

Nor is it merely a public vs private ideological battle. Germany and Latin
American countries, particularly Peru and Brazil, have opted for Linux
rather than proprietary software to bring down costs, which keep mounting
with successive upgrades in the case of proprietary software.

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