Fsf-friends December 2002

fsf-friends@gnu.org.in

37 participants
77 discussions

Its great work Guyz
by Tarun Gaur 02 Dec '02

02 Dec '02

Hi gopal/arun, I have seen your work on dotgnu project. Its good work. It feels great to know that we all are thinking ahead of time. I am sure some MS people who keep a tab on our mails are wondering what we are upto. I support porting of .NET (C#) on linux but remember, we get less mileage on porting it to linux. I mean, .NET web services can be accessed from Linux anyways, due to XML-RPC n SOAP standards. Getting C# clients running on linux should be made integral part of such an endeavor but should not take a centerstage. The edge lies in integrating the linux environment such that it provides all the .NET funtionality (not .NET) in linux. We have a beautiful langauage in Java at our hands. If we can get togather to promote java as an alternative (matching or superseding .NET), infact C and C++ are good enough with a strong developer base. The key to beating .NET seems to be how well we can integrate the services available on linux to provide an equivalent if not more functionality. If we can create an integrated environment that is easier to use than .NET .. i believe we are on. Arun/Gopal its great work that you guyz are doing. Guyz like you really make it all worthwhile. Please let me know on who is managing the project and whether you guyz are on for adding some new concepts into the project ? Free software for the brave GNU World. With regards to all, Tarun Gaur >From: Gopal V <gopalv82(a)symonds.net> >To: Tarun Gaur <gaur_tarun(a)hotmail.com> >CC: Fsf-India Mailing List <fsf-india(a)mm.gnu.org.in> >Subject: Gnu and the dot (was: (no subject)) >Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 23:19:39 +0530 > >If memory serves me right, Tarun Gaur wrote: > > The project i am working on is not just a replacement/porting of .net on > > linux. It is much more than that. It intends to provide a highly >scalable > > web services environment of which C# and other microsoft technologies >are a > > small part. Some languages that are taken care of by our environment are >: > > C++, C, COBOL, Java, C# and some things that we are keeping under wraps >till > > it completes. We will be releasing the sofware under GNU LGPL. > >Even though I don't understand why you'd need to keep it under wraps ... >I do think DotGNU has a lot in common with what you suggest ... We started >off to provide a Microsoft compatible webservice framework .. later Rhys >Weatherly came in with Portable.Net the C# compiler and runtime , and I >jumped in (sort of pushed in by Arun) ... > >I'm working on the codegen, SemanticAnalysis and flow analysis of the >compiler .. And I have done my bit on the runtime engine , and am currently >the lead developer of the pnetlib standard libraries .... > > > We are creating a Global Naming and security architecture that can boast > > some interesting unique features. We have options of using triple DES / >IDEA > > as cryptosystems for the environment. And the environment makes it >amazingly > > easy to Write distributed code. > >Hmm... our ideas of distributed execution have been put into the pipeline >and Chris Smith has promised a release by next year Mid-Jan ... It will >use a CIL sandboxed engine for execution , and other engines like Parrot >are being kept open for inclusion... > > > Now, Please tell me on how can i contribute in your endeavor. > >http://dotgnu.org/ or http://dotgnu.info/ or >${gnu_mirror}/gnu/dotgnu-pnet/ > > > Anyways, Arun and Gopal, please let me know how can i contribute. I >would > > love to and i have got a good following of a handfull of good >programmers > > who will be willing to pitch in too. > >Visit http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/dotgnu-pnet/ for the C# side of >things. >Get the CVS , hack in a few features ... submit a patch ... and all that.. > >We're on a stabilizing run for the 0.5.0 release , so we're keeping hands >off the CVS repository and testing the patches hard .. > >The hackers on developers(a)dotgnu.org lists will be more helpful for further >queries .. > >Gopal >-- >The difference between insanity and genius is measured by success _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

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Three views on Free/Libre and Open Source Software... (long)
by Frederick Noronha 02 Dec '02

02 Dec '02

---------- Forwarded message ---------- http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?artid=2… The Economic Times Should governments use open source software? TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2002 01:28:06 The Linux versus Microsoft tussle over open-source software as against proprietary software has all the romance of a David versus Goliath battle. What is the reality? We present three views, two from industry and one from governmen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Javed Tapia, Director, Red Hat, India ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linux is an operating system, much like Microsoft Windows, Solaris or MacOS X. What sets Linux apart from most other operating systems is that it is an open source. This is generally taken to mean simply 'free'. What this actually is much more than that and in practice means that the source code is available to all for modification, customisation, and improvement. The use of Linux lowers the total cost of IT very significantly. The first advantage is the upfront price. A single fully supported package would cost significantly less than any proprietary alternatives. Secondly, since Linux is under a general public licensing model it can be installed on many computers without any restrictions. Thirdly, a typical Linux CD contains not only the operating system, but a large variety of other software products that can be installed if needed. Thus, without buying or downloading anything else, the user already has simple office suite, all the software needed for internet access, advanced networking capabilities, and so on. Fourthly, a major argument against the implementation of proprietary software in the government sector is the dependency on proprietary software vendors. Even in an open tender acquisition system, this requirement for compatibility with proprietary standards makes the system biased towards specific software vendors, perpetuating a dependency. This dependency is perpetuated due to two reasons: first of all software owners have to upgrade the software, even if there is no internal reason or interest in doing so. Otherwise they risk facing a situation where their programs are not capable of process documents and files, created by newer versions of the same product. The second coercion to upgrade evolving from this dependency situation is the ending of support for 'older' versions. This situation thus has major consequences for the cost side of IT management. Through the passage of time, the proprietary software vendor does not have to fear competition, since the client has to take its product irrespective of any choice. A typical, at least de facto, monopoly evolves in which the vendor dictates prices, conditions and quality. Open source provide liberation from such a situation as it offers no proprietary lock-in to any one vendor. Fifthly, apart from the cost advantage, in a large installation such as government ministry or department, administration of all the computers in all locations can be a logistical nightmare. Linux provides many features that can make this administration much easier. Linux is a multi-user system which means that each file belongs to a specific user, and one user cannot alter another user's files unless latter assigns appropriate permissions. Linux has a number of features that make its use on a network much more secure. Examples include a built-in firewall, the ability to allow certain services (e.g., file sharing) to be accessible only from within an internal network, software to detect attempted hacking, encrypted protocols for remote administration, file transfer, and so on. An important selling point of Linux is its stability. Barring hardware malfunctions, Linux is highly stable. Operating system crashes are almost unheard of. Proof of this being that today large enterprises and government bodies are adopting Linux in a big way for their mission-critical applications. For instance NASA and the ESA are using a customised version of Linux in a number of highly-sensitive space missions. While it is possible to download Linux for free, make copies of the downloads and distribute them freely, this option includes no support from the supplier, although one can always make use of peer support groups and other self-proclaimed gurus. To benefit from professional telephone or email support from the suppliers like Red Hat, one has to buy the operating system. This option normally includes more software than the free version, printed manuals, a number of days of support and software provided ready on CDs. Finally, the situation after the migration to open source software will lead to lower life-cycle costs. Service, support and maintenance can now be contracted out to a range of suppliers, being placed in the competitive environment of a functioning marketplace. The money saved in the service-oriented model of open source is then also normally spent within the economy or the governmental organisation. Unlike proprietary software situations where they are paid out as pure licence fees to large monopolistic multinational organisations. The cost of the service oriented model of open source has a positive fallout on the domestic economy through the generation of local employment, spurring of local investment and ensuring local technological upgradation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sanjiv Mathur, Head of marketing, Microsoft, India: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To begin with let me first clarify the term 'Free software.' The word 'free' here specifically means what you can do with the software, not the price. While you can obtain the basic software free, it is distributed and sold for a charge by companies who develop applications on it. As a result, the pricing structure becomes very similar to commercial software as companies promoting free software charge for initial installation, support, training, etc. Though the price debate is still under the microscope, the total cost of ownership underscores the fact that when you invest in software or hardware, there are a number of hidden costs that come into being. In the commercial and free software debate this element becomes of critical value as studies reveal that TCO of free software is quite high. Microsoft believes in the overall benefit of the software ecosystem -- one that recognises the roles of government, education, private industry and end users to develop a healthy interaction that advances the public knowledge base, protects IP rights, furthers innovation and spurs further growth. Our primary concern is not with open source as a whole, but with the GNU General Public License. Its role in discouraging the development of commercial software threatens to undermine intellectual property, stifle innovation, and limit entrepreneurism while reducing choice in the market. The best catalyst for software innovation and industry growth is the market place, supported by a strong regime for intellectual property protection. If an organisation is looking at moving over to free software, it is attracted by the short term benefits where the initial investment may be less than what they would need to do for commercial software. However taking into account the longer term implications; they definitely need to think of the overall value proposition that a platform offers vis-a-vis the other. They need to evaluate the basic acquisitions costs of free software vis-a-vis the long term costs which include integration costs between various components, backwards compatibility costs, collaboration with the partner community, trained manpower. These costs are absorbed by the commercial software companies and the value is passed onto the customer. Moreover, once free software is installed, it also becomes a source of elevated security vulnerabilities for IT buyers, because the source code is freely available: no one person is responsible for it. Microsoft's investments in e-governance in particular go back several years, and we were amongst the first IT companies to strike alliances with the central and state governments. Today, we have MoUs with 18 state governments in India, and are doing pioneering work in developing e-governance applications and solutions. Some results of our successful partnerships include the Gyaandoot Project with the government of Madhya Pradesh, the Bhoomi Project in Karnataka and work with the Treasuries department of the government of Haryana. We at Microsoft believe that a healthy software ecosystem is one built on choice with government agencies and all entities having the ability to select which software model fits their needs. We believe that an open market approach where software products compete on their technical merits is the best model for the long-term growth of the software industries in all countries. Software companies make heavy investments in R&D and if they do not have a chance to be compensated for their R&D spends, the cycle of sustainable innovation is disrupted and the health of the local software industry is jeopardised. As a result, it would discourage any organisation to take on the effort of expensive R&D to improve upon the same as they would not see any benefit in doing so. This would lead to a disruption in the software ecosystem. Both open source and commercial software are integral parts of the broader software ecosystem, and the two models have co-existed within the software ecosystem for decades. We are not averse to sharing our source codes with our customers if it will be beneficial for them, however we are concerned about the potential implications of GPL. The problems created by GPL result from the onerous licensing terms that it contains. The GPL requires that all third parties must have the right to make unlimited copies of GPL-licensed software and distribute them free of charge. Obviously, it is extremely difficult for a software company to generate revenue by distributing a program if everyone has the right to distribute unlimited copies of the same program free of charge. We believe that software has commercial value and attempts to render software free will ultimately undermine the software industry, causing less R&D to go into software development and ultimately less innovation for consumers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- R Gopalakrishnan, Secretary to chief minister, Madhya Pradesh: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A more appropriate query would be why haven't governments done it earlier. The implications for public policy are fairly obvious. First is cost. Commercial software costs money and open source software is free. Even after accounting for training and installation costs of open source software, it may still cost anywhere between one-half to one-tenth of commercial software depending on the application. The ocean of unnecessary features in commercial software makes hardware expensive and obsolescence cycles shorter. Getting locked into all future upgrades again becomes serious issue. By going along the open source path, a government will spend less money and receive the same or better features, functionality and performance. Even the money that they spend will not be invested in product prices, but in training and developing tens of thousands of their own people creating a competence that will become a long-term asset for the state and its people. The issue of cost is vitally tied to liberating India to become a land of one billion opportunities.Digital inclusion will become possible only with low-cost computers combined with open source software and broadband connectivity. Some experts feel that even at a conservative estimate, the hardware-software savings with an open source based thin client can be 75% or more as compared with MS Windows-office fat desktop. This is perhaps the reason why countries like China, Brazil, South Africa and Germany have chosen open source software and why it finds endorsement in major emerging markets. The good old standard operating procedure of bureaucracies, when confronted with the unknown, was to ask a question "what is happening in other places"? In this case we seemed to have missed that question. The issue of security is important for public policy. It is practically impossible to prove proprietary software is more secure than free software. Public systems will need to enshrine security and proprietary software that guards source codes inherently have a problem with governments that would not want their core systems to be dominated by external monopolies. We must admit that e-governance, so far in India, has been a play in the margins, the eulogising of the cow that got sold on the internet. As we begin to put more citizen-services in the public domain the issue of costs and security will need to be squarely faced. In the area of education, governments will need to enlist the computer as a tool to push the frontiers of learning to improve quality. We need to transit from the current obsession with mere computer literacy to generate cyber coolies for the market but see the potential of the medium to stimulate the inherent creativity of the human mind. Open source software has been the preferred medium in learning institutions because here students can investigate the medium they work with and construct knowledge. What can be the down-side of a policy shift to open source software in India? The standard fear is about who will provide maintenance and support. This fear is negated by the fact that there is a blooming support service industry which is set to grow as policy gets proactive on open source software. Why has not there been a national policy as yet on promotion of open source software? Part of the reason is the policy leadership of southern Indian states where the issues were focused more on IT production than on IT use. Another part of the reason is fragmented bureaucratic turf. Given the poor penetration of information technology in India, there is now a growing realisation that India will need to move to a more comprehensive "ICT Policy for Development". While formulating such a policy through a multi-sectoral forum that brings together the ministries of planning, finance, HRD, CIT, etc., the ministry of science and technology may need to comprehensively address the question as to whether the "technology framework of a government" can be based on proprietary standards. That will hopefully settle this issue. Public policy cannot be authored on the basis of freebies or initial sweeteners in terms of discounts offered by monopolies. It has to be informed by a long-term vision. The decision of the government of Madhya Pradesh to prefer open source software of Linux for its computer-enabled education programme was, like the chief minister stated, a matter of "choosing between a free software and a monopoly". It ought not to be seen as a vote against any particular company. Inherent in the debate on open source software are issues of freedom, monopoly and choice of the buyer. The internet itself is premised on freedom, sharing and decentered activity. And freedom, is as of yet, one of the best ideas that humankind has produced. (ENDS)

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(no subject)
by Tarun Gaur 01 Dec '02

01 Dec '02

Hi Arun, The project i am working on is not just a replacement/porting of .net on linux. It is much more than that. It intends to provide a highly scalable web services environment of which C# and other microsoft technologies are a small part. Some languages that are taken care of by our environment are : C++, C, COBOL, Java, C# and some things that we are keeping under wraps till it completes. We will be releasing the sofware under GNU LGPL. We are creating a Global Naming and security architecture that can boast some interesting unique features. We have options of using triple DES / IDEA as cryptosystems for the environment. And the environment makes it amazingly easy to Write distributed code. Now, Please tell me on how can i contribute in your endeavor. I will be more than willing to contribute ENERGETICALLY. Lol (One of our friends called me over-energetic). Anyways, Arun and Gopal, please let me know how can i contribute. I would love to and i have got a good following of a handfull of good programmers who will be willing to pitch in too. Free software for the brave GNU world. Regards, Tarun Gaur _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

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I disagree. Its free software not free abuses
by Tarun Gaur 01 Dec '02

01 Dec '02

hi satyakam, Brother, i honour your opinion. Now, what you call over-energetic behaviour is my interest in the list that belongs to my countrymen. i am currently part of 1 gnu and 2 non-gnu projects. But i am as patriotic as i am energetic. Maybe thats the reason i have been trying to create an environment along with others to promote fsf-india's mailing lists. I have been relentlessly talking to my collegues and people i know. I take seminars on distributed computing myself. i have a good following amongst students. I have been asking them to join the mailing list and take active part in development of the projects. I have been a member of linux, oracle, novell, ibm, hp , MIT etc forum for a long time. But never i have seen people behaving like this. Dont forget there are others (at GNU) watching us outside FSF-India. Ah what an impression ! and friend, if you find it ok to be insulted by strangers. Though i honour your viewpoint, i am not in for it. And be sure i am as energetic at pursuing problems as i am in fsf mailing lists. i will talk to administrators to monitor the discussions here,. If things are the same, i know where to write. friends, i am just plain pleading to be a sport and create some synergy. We are all brothers after all. someone says i am overenergetic another writes "Without respect". We have been silent spectators always and believe me friend it is nothing great in being a silent spectator. Now look at your statement. "This is a forum for FREE SOFTWARE, FREE IDEOLOGY, FREE EXPRESSIONS and should i add FREE ABUSES ? Does that make your statement complete. Intellectual forums are meant to share knowldege, not hurl abuses. anyways i dont see a point in discussing if you folks think otherwise. I will prefer GNU america forums rather. Remember friends, EXPRESSIONS ARE AN INDEX OF MIND. Mr. Arun and Gopal have asked me to give the details of the project related to .NET that we are pursuing. i am a bit busy with work. I have asked someone to write some stuff on the project. I will be posting it soon. Regards, Tarun Gaur _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

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LINUXBANGALORE2002: Schedule of talks from Dec 3-5
by Frederick Noronha 01 Dec '02

01 Dec '02

Just fyi... This is the schedule of the programme for LinuxBangalore2002, an Open Source event being organised in Bangalore, South India: Talk Schedule Development SysAdmin Users Business Emerging Govt/Edu Kernel Special Date 3rd Dec 2002 Time JN Tata (750) Hall A (120) Hall B (90) Hall C (60) CSIC (250) 10:00am-11:00am Welcome and Opening Ceremony All 11:00am-12:00pm Linux - Open for Business Subrahmanyam Vempati Hewlett Packard 12:00pm-1:00pm Linux is ready for the Enterprise! Kalpana Margabandhu IBM Lunch Break 2:00pm-3:00pm Linux C programming TCO Using OpenSource Linux Potential Supercomputing under Linux Linux Servers for for Embedded and Clusters with HP eGovernance: Real Time Itanium2 - Early Naba Kumar K.Siva Koti A Business Applications experiences Belzabar Reddy Case Software Wipro K. Sebikumar R. Balasubramanian Development Technologies Dr.Mary Wipro Hewlett Packard India Pvt Ltd. Mathew and Technologies India Gopi Krishna S Garge Indian Institute of Science & Exocore Consulting 3:00pm-4:00pm Penguin on Big Iron GUI An EGovernance: Programming For - Linux on IBM Programming Introduction OpenSource the S/390 using XLib. to Open Solutions Encore-Simputer Source Srikrishnan Karthik N Software Atul Chitnis Samyeer Metrani Sundararajan Parashar Licences Exocore Encore Software IBM Global Services Larsen & Consulting Limited India Limited Toubro Biju Chacko (P) Ltd. BC Consulting 4:00pm-5:00pm Carrier Grade Linux Introduction Licensing Tux goes to Experiences with for to Qt concerns in school embedding Linux Networking/Telecom programming reuse of on a handheld Platform Free/Open Arvind Yadav device Nitish Jaisoor Source Online Manoj Dey Infosys Software Productivity Srivatsa Intel Corp, NSD Technologies, Solutions IBM Ltd. Gopi Krishna Pvt. Ltd. S Garge Exocore Consulting P Ltd 5:00pm-6:00pm Linux in Robotics Introduction Implementing Geographical An Introduction to GTK Linux/Exim Information to Network Mrinal Kalakrishnan Programming based system System(GIS) Security in and Jnaneshwar Das for Banks 'GRASS' on Embdded Devices PES Institute of Naba Kumar Mail Gateway Linux Technology Belzabar Platform Chitra Software Varadaraja Balakrishnan . Development Iyer Bijon B Shaha Hema Bhargavi India Pvt Ltd. IDRBT Electronics M.S. Test & ERNET/IISc & Development Bluefont Centre Technologies Pvt Ltd 6:00pm-7:00pm Discussion: Discussion: GUI Embedded Linux Programming All All Date 4th Dec 2002 Time JN Tata (750) Hall A (120) Hall B (90) Hall C (60) CSIC (250) 10:00am-11:00am Keynote 3 (TBA) Keynote Address 11:00am-12:00pm Shared Source Security and Shell scripting Weitse Venema's Security -- Implementation of Privacy with IPv6 in Linux Postfix An .NET introduction Jayachandra K Kartik N Suraj V. Shankar Tarun Anand Hewlett packard IBM GSI Yukthi Technologies Devdas Bhagat Microsoft Pvt. Ltd. 12:00pm-1:00pm .NET on Linux IPv6 Routing in Introduction to Intranet - News DDos - Linux Berkeley DB Server Detection and Vinod Unny Prevention Enterprise InfoTech Mahendra M Raj Mathur karthikeyan.N Infosys Kandalaya Devi Information Kalyan Varma Technologies Ltd Systems Alluri Yahoo! Inc Lunch Break 2:00pm-3:00pm The OpenSource Developing a DHCPv6 Porting STREAMS Accessibility - Email server Corporate Desktop server & Client on Driver to Equal Access to Free security Linux Linux. Software Atul Chitnis Devdas Bhagat Exocore Consulting Swaroop Sanjeeva Manvi Hema Seetharamaiah (P) Ltd. Krishnamurthy, Hewlett Packard Wipro Technologies Nikhil U Moorthy, Mehnaz Farooqui Aditi Technologies, VIT & DSL 3:00pm-4:00pm Corporate Security: Developing a Tiny Artificial Internationalization Security With Do you know where IPv6 stack for The Neural Network (i18n) in Linux SSH your data is? Embedded Linux for Image Classification Karunakar Guntupalli V S Raj Mathur Pooja Nagpal using GIMP IndLinux.org Somasundaram Kandalaya Oracle Webstix Naresh Jain Design Pvt DSL Software Ltd Limited 4:00pm-5:00pm Content Management Secure Supercomputing Localization of Linux VPN Systems in Linux Coding/Programming and Linux Linux in Indian solutions for in Linux/Unix languages - Current SME Kishore Bhargava Manu Konchady Status and Future and Gurunandan Bhat Kalyan Varma Alluri Self-Employed Chetan Kumar Linkaxis Yahoo! Inc Karunakar Guntupalli S Technologies/Goa IndLinux.org Wipro University&Synapse Technologies 5:00pm-6:00pm Education SIG Meet Localization SIG Discussion: meet Security All All All 6:00pm-7:00pm Date 5th Dec 2002 Time JN Tata (750) Hall A (120) Hall B (90) Hall C (60) CSIC (250) 10:00am-11:00am Oracle on An introduction Network Is the Linux Analysis of Kernel Linux to Python Management/Monitoring Desktop for Locking Mechanisms for Systems you? Linux Kernel Gurunandan R. Biju Chacko Programming Bhat BC Consulting Ravi Ananth Giri K Swati Sani Goa Ishoni Networks SANIsoft Dr. B. Thangaraju University & Wipro Technologies Synapse 11:00am-12:00pm PostgreSQL an Zope - A Implementing 'Single Running Win32 Memory Management in Introduction complete Sign On' (SSO) applications the Linux Kernel insight Solution using Linux under Mohan and OpenLDAP Linux.(using A.R.Karthick Ze Omega Debojit Wine) Infosys Infotect Pvt Hazarika Shanker Balan Technologies,Bangalore Ltd Ze Omega Exocore Consulting Kingsly John Infotect Pvt Kingsly Dot Ltd Net 12:00pm-1:00pm Advanced Opensource in Automating Linux Mass LaTeX : Read-Copy-Update mutual Server Side bioinformatics Installs with Document exclusion - in Linux Programming Kickstart Preparation Kernel 2.5 with vineeth shiva in Linux PostgreSQL sandeep Vinod Unny Maneesh Soni Institute of Enterprise InfoTech Manu Bhardwaj IBM Global Services Gurunandan R. Bioinformatics and Hareesh India Ltd Bhat (The Genomic Nagarajan Goa Research Trust) PESIT, University & Bangalore and Synapse RVCE, Bangalore Lunch Break 2:00pm-3:00pm Linux PHP for the first An Design of Dynamic Distributions & timer introduction per-cpu kernel memory Standards to Forth allocator Pradyumna Sampath Kishore BMS College Of Praveen Ravikiran G Thirumalai Bhargava Engineering Wipro IBM Linkaxis Technologies Technologies 3:00pm-4:00pm Using anjuta Implementing web Linker and Portable approach to for C services using PHP Loaders dispatching machine programming contexts in user-level Dr Tarique Sani Sandeep in Linux Naba Kumar SANIsoft Grover Belzabar QuickLogic Ganesh S Software India Wipro Technologies Development India Pvt Ltd. 4:00pm-5:00pm Kylix 3 Open Programming Dual Journey of a Thread scheduling in Edition - First Interface Applications packet the Linux Kernel C++ RAD Tool in Perl For Linux Mahendra M Patanjali Somayaji Kenneth Gonsalves Infosys Codito Technologies Nitin Stephen xlquest Technologies Koshy Ltd AgniSoft 5:30pm-6:30pm Closing Ceremony and Final BLUG Meet All 6:30pm-8:00pm Rock for Freedom Phenom Rock Show

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(fwd) Link to article in The Hindu on Bill Gates/Linux
by Raju Mathur 01 Dec '02

01 Dec '02

This is an RFC 1153 digest. (1 message) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-Id: <20021201080544.5645F7D0A(a)chn3.vsnl.net.in> From: nsjeyan(a)vsnl.net Sender: linux-india-general-admin(a)lists.sourceforge.net To: linux-india-general(a)lists.sourceforge.net Cc: Subject: [LIG] Link to article in The Hindu on Bill Gates/Linux Date: Sun, 1 Dec 2002 13:35:44 +0530 (IST) hi, below is the link to a column in The Hindu, "Selling India to Bill Gates" http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/stories/2002120100100300.htm regards, subash. ------------------------------ End of this Digest ****************** -- Raju Mathur raju(a)kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ It is the mind that moves

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LINK: Selling India to Bill Gates
by Frederick Noronha 01 Dec '02

01 Dec '02

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/stories/2002120100100300.htm Online edition of India's National Newspaper About Us Sunday, Dec 01, 2002 Contact Us Magazine Published on Sundays Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Select Articles Metro Plus | Open Page | Education | Book Review * The colonisers | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young colonised World | Quest | Folio | * Inputs for Magazine agriculture * Minimal lines, [Send this Article to a Fr[Printer Friendly Page] animated surfaces * Ask the Doc.. Selling India to Bill Gates Archives C. RAMMANOHAR REDDY * Datewise * Issues IN 1997, on his first visit to India, Bill Gates * Cuisine met Prime Minister Deve Gowda in New Delhi. A * Travel couple of days later, Mr. Gowda flew to Mumbai to * Gardening attend another function in honour of the Microsoft chief. In 2000, during Mr Gates' second News visit, more than half a dozen Chief Ministers News Update queued up to plead for investment by the software Front Page giant. Now, in 2002, the coronation of Mr. Gates National as the most preferred visitor from abroad has Regional: been completed. * Southern States * Other States The way we fete and fawn on Bill Gates each time International he visits India should make any self-respecting Opinion Indian wince with embarrassment. At the same Business time, we are quick to show our displeasure Sport towards Mr. Gates for speaking about AIDS in the Miscellaneous country. We are naturally equally quick to accept Index the money his Foundation had to offer, and want more. The AIDS mission apart, why was Bill Gates here? Blinded by his fame and wealth, we failed to see the pure commercial motive of advancing the interests of Microsoft. With our uncritical adulation, we may have ended up selling our software market, our software talents and perhaps even our soul to the world's biggest software company. Hook, line and sinker. The company Mr. Gates has built up is the biggest and most profitable software firm in the world. But it is also facing a threat from the most unlikely of competitors - the GNU/Linux operating system which has been developed by the larger Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) movement across the world. This "free" software has long since ceased to be a cult operating system meant for geeks. In terms of cost, reliability and security, GNU/Linux has proved itself far superior to the proprietary Windows in the market for software that runs the internet. Some independent estimates suggest that GNU/Linux has even overtaken Windows here. The back offices of several global companies are also increasingly being run on this alternative operating system. Businesses selling FLOSS are making money, and organisations switching to FLOSS are saving enormous amounts. (For a comprehensive survey on GNU/Linux versus Windows usage on the internet, in back offices and on the desktop, see www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html) Governments too are increasingly looking at GNU/Linux as an alternative to Windows. Cost is obviously one factor. For example, the United States Census Bureau found that launching a web site for provision of data, which cost $47,000 with Linux, would have cost as much as $3,58,000 had the proprietary Windows been used. A complete dependence on proprietary Microsoft software also raises security concerns. China recently launched a version of GNU/Linux to eventually replace Windows on all government computers. (That did not prevent Microsoft from announcing a $750 million investment in China. This, incidentally, is considerably more than the $400 million that Mr. Gates has planned for India.) During his visit last month, Mr. Gates bamboozled uncritical reporters with jargon about GNU/Linux not being a threat to Windows. The total cost of ownership (TCO), he said, was higher for GNU/Linux than for Windows. TCO is the cost of software, training, maintenance and upgrades. Now, most independent surveys say that the TCO of GNU/Linux is a minimum of 25 to 30 per cent lower than for Windows - quite the opposite of Mr. Gates' claim. The world's richest man also asserted that GNU/Linux is affecting software companies like Sun and not Microsoft. This is only half correct. GNU/Linux, positioned in the middle, is rapidly eating into the market share of both Sun and Micrsoft in server software. From Peru to Japan, from China to the U.S., governments all over the world are looking at GNU/Linux. There is one government though that is missing in this list. In spite of India being home to many of the writers of software who have contributed to the development of GNU/Linux, the Centre and the States seem to be more busy chasing Microsoft than exploring the use of this superior software. There have been reports of the Centre launching a Linux India Initiative to encourage universities and governments to move away from Windows. But the Government seems too scared to confirm such press reports. And of the State Governments, only Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have been making some noises about exploring the use of GNU/Linux. Mr. Gates' interest in India is obvious. Computer use in India remains very low, but is growing. E-governance is just beginning to happen. Imagine the future, as e-governance and other government computer-linked services increase rapidly. Imagine all government computers running on Microsoft software - a potential market of hundreds of thousands, eventually even millions. No wonder it is so important to tie India to proprietary software. There is another reason for the Gates interest in India. Though a lot of application software - like word-processors or spreadsheets - is available for GNU/Linux, much more needs to be written if open source software is to completely replace Windows on the desktop. India is believed to be home to 10 per cent of the world's developers of software. If India's software community can be chained to the development of proprieatry software, then one source of GNU/Linux-based applications will dry up! Bill Gates needs India more than India needs Bill Gates. But we don't seem to want to see that. E-mail the writer at crr100(a)india.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Comments to : thehindu(a)vsnl.com Copyright � 2002, The Hindu ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Fsf-friends December 2002