[Fsf-friends] Low-cost [GNU]Linux gaining on Microsoft in India
Frederick Noronha (FN)
fred@bytesforall.org
Sat Aug 16 15:44:22 IST 2003
The usual misunderstanding between the kernel ("Linux, created by
Finland's Linus Torvalds...") and the operating system. But some pointers
do come up. FN
Low-cost Linux gaining on Microsoft in India
Reuters
Bangalore, August 11
Vijay Shekhar, who runs a team of 60 people sending scores to
cricket-crazy fans through India's booming cellphone networks, feared
that using cheap Linux software for his business could cause problems.
Instead, Shekhar says he loves the Linux operating system after paying
only a tenth of the Rs 4,00,000 cost of the competing Windows package
from Microsoft Corp.
About 10 per cent of India's personal computers will be sold with Linux
rather than Microsoft operating systems by March, 2004, says Linux
distributor Red Hat Inc, up from nothing in January.
Besides the plain switch of desktop operating systems to Linux, analysts
say the bigger worry for Microsoft is the growing use of Linux among
India's pool of an estimated 400,000 software developers, many of whom
churn out code for giants such as General Motors and American Express.
Linux could use India as a back door into the lucrative global business
software market as Indian programmers, hunting for low-cost programming
tools, use it as their basic system and introduce it to customers.
Indian programmers are at the epicentre of a global boom in outsourcing
of business software programming, back office and call centre services.
India now has 60 per cent of the offshore IT services market, which
consultant Gartner estimates is worth $16 billion.
"India is a key battleground for Microsoft as it tries to get a pool of
developers loyal to its computing platform," said Partha Iyengar,
director at market researcher Gartner India.
But analysts say it will be tough for Linux to take a stranglehold in the
key software of big firms.
Microsoft cites the ease of use, security and support as key factors that
give Windows dominance of personal computers and servers, while Linux
still has a small percentage of the global market.
Once a fringe interest for programmers and professors, Linux, created by
Finland's Linus Torvalds, now has a market share of about 20 per cent of
servers -- the workhorse computers that feed websites, email and other
data to desktop PCs.
"Commercial users have moved from a stage of pilot runs and experiments
to doing serious business on Linux systems," said S Sabyasachi, analyst
at industry researcher IDC India.
Linux advocates say open-source software is ideal for India, whose
population of more than one billion means labour is cheap but personal
computers are a lot less affordable. New versions of Windows often
require newer computers with more memory and speed.
GOVERNMENT BACKING
Linux already drives the National Stock Exchange, where day traders have
taken the top slot from the Bombay Exchange. Linux is also the favourite
of the national agency making supercomputers and Bombay's Breach Candy
Hospital.
"Linux is so reliable that it helps our department give an impression we
have all the time in the world," said Dilip Desai, IT manager of the
seaside hospital which serves affluent clients.
Linux enthusiasts are upbeat.
"We are not seeing large replacements of Microsoft's software with Linux,
but it is happening in bits and pieces," said Atul Chitnis, a senior
adviser to the Bangalore Linux Users' Group.
Linux users say a four-day visit to India last November by Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates, who announced $400 million in local investments,
drew attention to Linux.
The cash-strapped federal government has launched a "Linux India
Initiative" to use the system in schools and state agencies. "Open source
fits perfectly with India's needs," said S Ramakrishnan, director at
India's IT ministry.
Seventy per cent of India's 1.05 billion people live in rural areas, and
the nation has only eight million PCs.
Companies like Red Hat, which sell standardized versions of Linux, are
thrilled. "We see an immense opportunity here," said Sachin Dabir, who
heads enterprise sales at Red Hat in India
Source:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_335799,00030001.htm
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