[Fsf-friends] Arun Shourie, on FLOSS v.s proprietory

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

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URL :  http://www.linuxworld.com/2003/0401.indiaopensource.html

   India IT minister: No government edict on open source
   IT official says Indian government will not back open source to the
   exclusion of proprietary software
   April 1, 2003

     Summary
     The government is a key buyer of information technology in India,
     and backers of open-source software were hoping that the Indian
     government would throw its weight behind open source.

   By John Ribiero, IDG News Service 

   BANGALORE (IDG News Service) -- The Indian government will not back
   open-source software to the exclusion of proprietary software,
   according to Arun Shourie, India's minister for information technology
   and communications. The government is a key buyer of information
   technology in the country, and backers of open-source software were
   hoping that the Indian government would throw its weight behind open
   source.

   "In India we always like to think in terms of either-or. The formula
   we want to adopt instead is 'and also,' and encourage all kinds of
   software development in the country," Shourie told reporters shortly
   after the formal launch in Bangalore on Tuesday of the PARAM Padma
   supercomputer, designed by the government-run Center for Development
   of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune [see "[30]India agency offers
   build-to-order supercomputer" Dec. 17, 2002].

   "If there is an important security software that we need urgently, for
   example, we are more likely to buy it, than spend time deciding
   whether we should develop it in India in open source," Shourie added.

   Earlier in his address to the staff of C-DAC, Shourie said that in
   cases involving national security, it was wiser for government
   research agencies and laboratories to develop software in-house.
   However, Shourie clarified later that the decision to import software,
   or develop the software entirely in-house in open source or on any
   other platform, would be taken at the level of the specific government
   agency on a case-by-case basis.

   "Do not expect a general decision from government on this," Shourie
   added.

   Shourie's statement is the first categorical statement by a senior
   Indian government official in the debate about whether to adopt
   open-source or proprietary software. The controversy was sparked in
   November last year during a visit to India by Microsoft Chairman and
   Chief Software Architect Bill Gates.

   During his visit to Delhi, Gates announced that his company planned to
   invest US$400 million in India over the next three years in a number
   of areas, including computer literacy and localization of its software
   products. Gates's announcement was seen by analysts as an attempt to
   pre-empt the Indian government from making a formal decision to adopt
   open-source software.

   Gates announced that in addition to contributing software to schools,
   Microsoft will also assist in training about 80,000 school teachers
   and 3.5 million students in government-run schools in India.

   "This 'gift' is no act of generosity," said Richard Stallman,
   president of the Boston-based Free Software Foundation. Stallman was
   also in India in November to drum up support for free software, but
   found that media and government attention had shifted to Gates's
   high-profile visit. "Giving Microsoft software to school children is
   like giving them cigarettes -- it is a way to get them hooked, so that
   once they grow up, they will be a captive market for Microsoft."

   Microsoft has tried to win over the Indian government to its
   Government Source Licensing Program (GSLP), but there have been no
   takers yet in the government, according to informed sources. The GSLP
   was designed to give government agencies access to Windows source code
   to develop applications for their own internal use.

   Last month, Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc. in Santa
   Clara, California, also made a pitch to woo Indian universities and
   researchers by announcing $300 million in free software and training
   to promote key Sun technologies in India, such as Java and Sun ONE
   (Open Net Environment).

   Though the Indian government will not take sides, some government
   agencies and laboratories are already using open-source software. The
   National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) in
   Delhi is assessing the feasibility of using Linux for e-governance
   projects in India, according to Kiran Karnik, the association's
   president.

   "Linux can play an important role in spreading e-governance in India
   since there would be a need to develop low-cost local language
   applications," said Karnik. "It can also help in accelerating IT
   education in schools which today cannot afford high software costs."

   However, before Linux can be widely deployed, the services and support
   infrastructure around this platform will have to be developed in the
   country, according to Karnik.

   John Ribiero is a Bangalore correspondent for the IDG News Service, a
   LinuxWorld.com affiliate.