Fwd: [ATPS] Re: Fwd: [Fsf-friends] BSNL should find a place in "Hall of Shame"

[CK Raju, Thrissur]

> Government accounts are single entry; no ledgers. Just cash books. All
> transactions  are  only  on  ``receipts''  basis only.   What  is  the
> difficulty here? A simple spread shit (OO.o, gnumeric, etc. will do).


Vakil,
I think there is also a danger if we start entertaining arguments from this
"fitness for a purpose" direction (or for that matter the "rate of
development of  Free Software services"), when we are discussing about
freedom of access, analysis or modification of software relating to public
services. In the initial days of IT at School programme in Kerala, we had heard
such arguments and listened to teachers who wanted to know how to counter
such arguments - which invariably came up at every public engagement of
issues involving software freedom.

A democratic state is what is constituted by its citizens. It need not
necessarily entertain something dictated by a corporate or wishful thinking
of government servants (if it happens to be on behalf of corporates), and in
any case, its the will of the citizens that are paramount. The preamble is
pretty clear about this aspect. Here, a mail server assumes great
significance to the citizens of this nation because it is a platform or
interface through which we express our thoughts and expressions. This is a
mode of expression of a fundamental right by any citizen who has access to
internet.

A state cannot be part of any contractual obligation with which it cannot
guarantee a citizen adequate processing of her data, watching over its
integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility throughout time, as these are
very critical aspects for its normal functioning. This is where Free
Software (a technical term - to quote Dr Nagarjuna - which is any software
that guarantees freedom of use, analysis, distribution and publishing with
amendments) should be projected as a solution to every public service in a
democratic state.

And we are not even denying Microsoft from extending its services to BSNL
with such freedoms incorporated in its solutions. All what we are claiming
is that without insistence on these guarantees required and mandated by our
constitution, BSNL's top executives have committed a mistake - and we hope
they will soon accord priority to our suggestions.


CK Raju