[Fsf-friends] India State to Dump Windows for Linux

[Frederick Noronha]

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Aug31/0,4670,IndiaWindowsvsLinux,00.html

India State to Dump Windows for Linux
Thursday, August 31, 2006

COCHIN, India — A southern Indian state plans to switch all school
computers from Microsoft Windows to the free Linux operating system,
an official said Thursday.

The changeover on computers used in some 12,500 high schools in the
state of Kerala is set for Friday, and teachers are being trained on
the new software, said the state's education minister, M.A. Baby.

The state is ruled by communist politicians and its top elected
official, Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, has long been a supporter
of free software, railing against the dominance of Microsoft's Windows
when he was a state legislator.

However, Baby insisted that the state government has no grudge against
Microsoft specifically.

But Achuthanandan was keen to develop the state as a"free and open
software systems destination,"Baby told The Associated Press.

"It is our stated policy that only free software should be used for IT
education in Kerala's schools. The government is introducing Linux
based software as tools to teach various subjects,"Baby told the
Associated Press on Thursday.

The decision to switch to Linux came after free software guru Richard
Stallman, founder of the open-source GNU software project, visited
Kerala two weeks ago, and persuaded officials to discard proprietary
software, such as Microsoft, at state-run schools, Baby said.

Despite the denials that Microsoft was the target, opposition leader
M.A. Shahnawaz, of the Congress party, said he believed the decision
was based on the communists'opposition to the software giant's
products.

He cited the communists'opposition to a Microsoft-supported computer
training program that the Congress party enacted in 2002 when it ruled
the state.

"I think schools should be given the option to choose whether teachers
are to be trained in Linux systems or Microsoft,"Shahnawaz said.
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Frederick Noronha http://fn.goa-india.org  9822122436 +91-832-240-9490
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