[FSUG-Bangalore] Limitations of Nudi, closed 'official' software of Karnataka govt.

[vinay ವಿನಯ್]

An article in today's Hindu about Nudi, Karnataka governments official 
Kannada software. The source code of nudi is not publicly available .
There are also various challenges to making Nudi work on GNU/Linux, 
which is hampering the spread of FOSS in karnataka.
*
http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/01/stories/2009040156820500.htm

Limitations of Nudi software highlighted * Special Correspondent
/E-Kavi stresses need to upgrade it /

Bangalore: Effective implementation of Kannada in the administration can 
only be brought about with proper development of the government 
software, Nudi, the U.S.-based V.M. Kumaraswamy of Ella Kannada 
Abhimanigala Antararaashtriya Vedike (E-Kavi) has said.

He told presspersons here on Tuesday that technological coordination 
among various departments in the State Government had not been possible 
owing to the limitations of the Nudi software, which is used in 
administration. Development of the software would prove helpful for over 
70 per cent of rural children in learning computer skills, he added.

Presenting copies of correspondence between him and the government and 
the government’s circulars and inter- departmental correspondence on the 
software since 1998, Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that three persons behind 
the promotion of Nudi software were responsible for taking the 
government and the public for granted.

Although the government had purchased the software, vested interests in 
the Kannada Ganaka Parishat had been keeping the “source code” of the 
software to themselves. This had hampered the development of the 
software and had caused delay in gathering information from many 
departments simultaneously. The government should ask the parishat to 
convert into an “open source” as the application could accommodate 
interface among all the departments in the government, he said.

Commenting on the attitude of the government towards the software, Mr. 
Kumaraswamy said that it was wrong to think that Kannada software would 
grow by distributing it to public free of cost. In fact, the Ganaka 
Parishat had been charging Rs. 100 a CD, he added.

Demand for new panel

He said that it was time the government appointed a new committee in 
place of the 12–member committee it had constituted for software 
development, particularly “to standardise the formats and codes” in 2000.

The new committee should include persons well-versed in the language and 
its technical application, he said.