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INDIA: What the President Told Bill Gates (long)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Aug '03

17 Aug '03

What the President Told Bill Gates By Keya Acharya BANGALORE, INDIA (PANOS) - In November 2002, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates called on India's nuclear scientist-turned President, APJ Abdul Kalam, at the grand presidential palace in New Delhi. But what was billed as a salubrious meeting of minds - the head of the world's largest software company meeting a visionary 'techie' President - apparently turned into a "difficult" occasion. In a stunning speech delivered to software engineers in May, Kalam disclosed that in his conversation with Gates, the President pitched for open-source software codes - which are available for alteration so anyone with the technical knowledge can change the programme to suit their needs. "Our discussion became difficult since our views were different," Kalam added in an allusion to Microsoft's reported reservation to such 'non-proprietary' software. Much more was in store for Kalam's audience - typical of the breed of bright young engineers who have turned India into a leading Information Technology nation. "The most unfortunate thing is that India still seems to believe in proprietary solutions," the President lectured. "Further spread of IT which is influencing the daily life of individuals would have a devastating effect on the lives of society due to any small shift in the business practice involving these proprietary solutions. It is precisely for these reasons open-source software needs to be built which would be cost effective for the entire society. In India open-source-code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people." The remarks by Kalam, who believes in linking human and economic development with science and technology, address an important issue in the development of information technologies, particularly in poor countries. The issue is whether countries such as India, which are pluralistic and have large poor populations, should opt for expensive proprietary software such as Microsoft (which cannot be altered) or go for cheap or free non-proprietary software that can be changed around to suit the needs of a diverse multi-lingual nation. Of equal concern is the loss of choice, or freedom, that proprietary technology imposes on democratic governments by controlling the programming codes of, and being privy to, official government projects. Open-source programming would remedy this, as well as allow local adaptations. Globally, open-source software has not caught on in a big way, but it has notched up some successes. Countries in which legislation has been passed urging open-source use include Brazil, France, Italy and Spain. Countries in which non-legislative actions have been taken include China, Germany and South Korea. And among other countries where open source solutions are being proposed are Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Venezuela. Abhas Abhinav, a young IT entrepreneur in India's technology capital of Bangalore, explains the features of an open-source software package called Knoppix: "It's very simple. You have the same features as in a Microsoft Windows application; you get secure, virus-free, regional-language options in inexpensively-priced systems." Abhinav runs DeepRoot Linux, a software company that developed Knoppix for a radically different computer operating system: GNU/Linux. It is the result of a dedicated group of computer programmers who set out to create an open-source, free-software alternative to industry giants like Microsoft and Macintosh. Members of India's open-source movement take time off to visit your office or home and demonstrate GNU/Linux - for free. India, with its IT sector employing half a million people and generating an annual income of $10 billion, represents a huge growth market in software. Nevertheless, commercial for-profit software - or 'proprietary' software - still rules in India, especially within government departments. According to Bob Hayward, Vice President (Asia-Pacific) of Gartner Research Services, the Indian government spent $1 billion on IT in 2002. "Microsoft now controls the database of various government servers," says Abhinav. "Apart from losing intellectual property rights, proprietary domination restricts technology-dissemination." Abhinav touches on the concern that government departments will become 'locked in' to a system of unalterable software with source-codes that are untouchable. Not having access to the source-code means that not only do you never completely understand the system, but also that you may end up being controlled by the software itself - and, by extension, the software manufacturers. Not only that, but proprietary systems cost money. In India, as in all developing countries, most people cannot afford commercial systems and the software that goes with them. So, with a proprietary setting in a poor country, the number of people who can afford to be IT-connected will remain small, with implications for economic growth and development. But such concerns are rarely articulated by Indian leaders, Kalam being a notable exception. In the south, where India's IT initiatives were pioneered, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state - the media-savvy, laptop-toting Chandrababu Naidu - invited Bill Gates to set up his India office in the IT corridor of the capital Hyderabad. Among many members of India's ruling elite, Gates is seen as the most important international personality after the President of the United States. Gates has returned the complement. He has visited India thrice - in 1997, 2000 and 2002 - each time making significant donations to charities and meeting with high-level authorities. Every visit has received saturation media coverage. In September 2000, 10 Indian chief ministers fell over themselves to heap praises on Gates after a luncheon meeting with him in New Delhi. During the 2002 visit, at four days the longest so far, Gates donated $100 million to the fight against AIDS, although Gates has said there is no connection between his business and charity work. Microsoft's India office in New Delhi did not answer queries from Panos Features on whether its business strategy for India complies with the anti-predatory and anti-monopolistic business practices being imposed on it in various states in the United States. But the company did issue this official statement from its headquarters in Redmond, US: "Microsoft is committed to helping governments develop strong, sustainable IT infrastructures that deliver ease of use, value through innovative technology, a clear roadmap for future development, and access to source-code to improve security and implementation. At the end of the day, we believe Microsoft offers the best overall option of value, integration, interoperability and support, without complexity or added dependency on services." An overwhelming 91% of government departments in New Delhi use Microsoft's Windows 98 software; nearly 67% use Windows XP; with a mere 16% using GNU/Linux according to a report in the Economic Times newspaper in India in April. Some thinkers view the issue of 'software localization' in political terms. In many nations, says Prof. Kenneth Keniston of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, the dominant positions in society are held by cosmopolitan, internationally-oriented business, professional and intellectual elites. "For them, 'localization' to vernacular languages and local cultures may be unnecessary and/or even undesirable, since English (or French, or Spanish, or another European language) may provide the best possible access to the rest of the world." In Karnataka state, with Bangalore as its capital, officials pass the buck as to why proprietary software rules its roost. "Our Technical Advisory Panel selected the best available options during the time," says the state government's IT Secretary Vivek Kulkarni. Yet sources within the Panel - a mix of scientists, management and technical experts - speak of being presented with no alternatives. The e-networking tender for the state government's secretariat, for instance, insisted it use only Microsoft Windows, while Panel members preferred Sun Microsystems' Lotus Notes or Star Office. The costs are telling: Star Office 5.2 is free, while 6.0 costs about $45 per license (or computer) without an expiry date. Microsoft 2000 costs the government approximately $375 per license, after a discount of roughly $100. The license expires after three years, at which point the government has to buy anew. Rajeev Chawla, Karnataka's newly-designated 'E-Secretary' (head of an E-Governance department that is independent of the IT department), is dismissive of the costs of proprietary software. "Don't tell me to constrain myself when my software costs are just 5% of my total finances," he said. The costs involved may be a small part of government budgets, but activists say using only proprietary software at government departments restricts choice and sends the wrong signals to ordinary people. There are other costs. One IT official told Panos Features on condition of anonymity that the Karnataka government's decision to pay Microsoft Rs. 3.3 million (approx. $700,000) to have some of its software declared 'non-pirated', has caused debate within its Technical Advisory Panel. Sunil Abraham, whose Bangalore-based firm Mahiti customises open-source products for non-governmental organisations, believes there must be greater transparency and civil society participation on IT issues in India. "We need independent audits set up to monitor e-governance because civil society has no information on what is going on," says Abraham./PANOS June, 2003 * 1,470 words Keya Acharya is a Bangalore-based Indian journalist specialising in development and environmental issues. The Panos Institute * Visit our website at www.panos.org.uk 9 White Lion Street * London N1 9PD * UK * Phone: + (44) 207-239 7609

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Query about Hurd from Mumbai
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Aug '03

17 Aug '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Send Linuxers mailing list submissions to linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to linuxers-request(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in You can reach the person managing the list at linuxers-owner(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Linuxers digest..." ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 23:52:04 +0530 From: "Ripunjay Bararia $ILUG-MUM$" <ilug-mum(a)ddcpl.com> Subject: RE: [ILUG-BOM] Hurd Cd's To: "GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India" <linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in> Message-ID: <BJEKKGAJGPCMOKBIPBNPKEHKDIAA.ilug-mum(a)ddcpl.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Send link to ISO images will keep them on download for you. Ripunjay Bararia -----Original Message----- From: linuxers-bounces(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in [mailto:linuxers-bounces@mm.ilug-bom.org.in]On Behalf Of Apurva Mehta Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 12:56 To: Linuxers Subject: [ILUG-BOM] Hurd Cd's Hi, Is there anyone here who has Debian GNU/Hurd cd's? (preferably the K4 release). I have tried the vendors listed at http://www.gnu-india.org/ but that is a dead end. I tried emailing a couple of people off this list but that has not led anywhere. It seems terribly hard to find Hurd cd's in Mumbai. On a dial-up line, downloading is unfortunately not a viable option. If someone does have the cd's and is willing to sell copies to me, please let me know. Thanks, - Apurva -- http://mm.ilug-bom.org.in/mailman/listinfo/linuxers ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 00:50:45 +0530 From: Apurva Mehta <apurva(a)gmx.net> Subject: Re: [ILUG-BOM] Hurd Cd's To: ilug-mum(a)ddcpl.com, "GNU/Linux Users Group, Mumbai, India" <linuxers(a)mm.ilug-bom.org.in> Message-ID: <20030807192045.GA2828(a)home.woodlands> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii * Ripunjay Bararia (ILUG-MUM) <ilug-mum(a)ddcpl.com> [08-08-2003 00:36]: > Send link to ISO images will keep them on download for you. Thanks, but I have already the same offer off the list and have accepted it. Yours is the third one I have got. You guys are really helpful :) Regards, - Apurva ------------------------------

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NEWS: Cheaper Linux makes rapid strides in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 17 Aug '03

17 Aug '03

Cheaper Linux makes rapid strides in India By Sumeet Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Linux, a low-cost and lesser-known operating system with growing corporate use and backing by cash-strapped state governments, has caught on in India, diluting the monopoly of the mighty Microsoft. With a penguin as its mascot, Linux can be bought for a few hundred rupees or downloaded free from the Internet and the same software can be copied across dozens or hundreds of computers, unlike its proprietary counterparts such as Microsoft's Windows. One can also modify the software programme code to suit individual needs. While Microsoft say Windows is far ahead in terms of security and user convenience, supporters of the open source software, which no one owns, highlight its cost advantage and flexibility for a developing economy like India. According to a study conducted by Red Hat India, a Linux vendor, the Linux operating system will be installed in 200,000 desktop personal computers in India by December 2003. "Deployed on a large scale, Linux will save India a large amount of money," said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom). He added that the open source movement was making rapid strides in India with the developer community evincing interest in the platform. "But looking ahead, I don't think it is going to be an either/or kind of situation. Both Microsoft's Windows and Linux will have their own markets in the country and the future of the Indian computing system will be a mix of the two," Karnik told IANS. According to an official study, only 16 percent of the central government offices currently use Linux as a platform but this is expected to grow manifold in the coming years. A number of states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra are either implementing or proposing to launch e-government projects using Linux operating system as the platform. "One reason for the growth of Linux in the last 18 to 24 months in India is that every company - particularly small and medium-sized - wants to cut costs," says Atul Chitnis, an advisor to the Bangalore Linux Users' Group and chief technology officer of Exocore Consulting. Enthused by Linux's cost advantage, the central government has unveiled a Linux India Initiative, which will include encouragement of free software solutions at the educational level. The Karnataka state government has decided to use Linux for its ambitious Mahiti Sindhu programme, which seeks to computerise 1,000 primary schools in different parts of the state. "It definitely has a very bright future. Over time, it is bound to dominate both Microsoft and Sun," said Vivek Kulkarni, secretary in the Karnataka government's IT ministry. "It is cost effective and except for the lack of Linux programmers, there is really no other problem in it being used in e-governance projects," he said. The treasury department of the Madhya Pradesh government has spent Rs.400 million for installation of computers with Linux software in their offices. The state government has also spent nearly Rs.200 million to install 6,000 computer systems in schools across the state with the Linux software as part of its Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission. West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Ltd., the state's nodal IT body, has also formed a Linux cell to support various official IT projects in and outside the state. On the corporate front, global tech giant IBM is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Karnataka government to set up a Linux software development centre at Hubli. Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software company, is reportedly planning to set up a Linux lab in its Delhi facility. The Linux movement in India is being helped by thousands of volunteer programmers who are pushing for the source code to be available freely to anyone who wants to tweak it to suit his or her own needs. Nasscom says that the rapid proliferation of Linux in worldwide markets, among large enterprises, is finding an echo in the Indian market as well. "Linux has a lot to offer to business users - stability, completeness, and support. These are three major issues for any corporation that needs to depend on its computers," said Chitnis of the Bangalore Linux Users' Group. Chitnis said that Linux, with its intrinsic strength as an easily customisable operating system, could well be used to spark off an Indian language software revolution in the country that envelopes and percolates down to the grass-root levels. --Indo-Asian News Service

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Low-cost [GNU]Linux gaining on Microsoft in India
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 16 Aug '03

16 Aug '03

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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Wealth of corporate secrets on the Web...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

WEALTH OF CORPORATE SECRETS ON THE WEB Many documents posted online may contain sensitive corporate or personal information, according to AT&T researcher Simon Byers, who was able to unearth hidden information from thousands of Microsoft Word documents posted on the Web using an ordinary search engine and a random selection of keywords. Byers targeted Word documents because they're so common, but he stressed that other document formats, such as Adobe PDF, may contain similar hidden information. After downloading the Word files, Byer used the free software tools "antiword" and "catdoc" to convert them to plain text. Then, using a simple script he wrote, Byers was able to locate text that had been deleted from the original Word files, including people's names and other personal identifiers, e-mail headers, network paths and text from related documents. "The worst is erased text. This has bitten people surprisingly often," says Bruce Schneier, a security expert with Counterpane. Microsoft Office UK marketing manager Neil Laver says the company is working on ways to better ensure sensitive information is not inadvertently leaked in files. The next version of Office 2003 will include tools that will allow users to remove personal information from documents as well as new "information rights management" software that will enable an author to determine who can read or forward a document. Meanwhile, Schneier recommends converting documents to plain ASCII before publishing online: "I don't know of any programs that effectively clean out the extra text." (New Scientist 15 Aug 2003) http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994057

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Happy birthday Debian...
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

*********************************************** Debian is 10 tomorrow Saturday sees the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Debian project - over 1,100 registered free software developers, over 12,000 binaries and the distribution is still going strong. There are parties taking place all over the world, with the UK event taking place in Cambridge. It's all back to Steve McIntyre's place - but it looks like accommodation on his floor may be limited, so it might be a good idea to book a local bed and breakfast establishment... http://the.earth.li/~huggie/cgi-bin/moin/Debian10thBirthday _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ LinuxUser mailing list LinuxUser(a)www.linux.org.uk http://www.linux.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/linuxuser

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[Fsf-friends] CBSE and AICTE promoting MicroSoft (from india-e-gov list) (fwd)
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- ________________________________________________________________________ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 07:17:58 +0530 From: Atul Asthana @ Home <atulasthana(a)gmx.net> Subject: CBSE and AICTE promoting Micro$oft A lesson in how to sell your product and make it the defacto standard. When countries like Pakistan have officially decided to use Linux and open source softwares for all governmental organisations, we in India are officially promoting M$. Take the case of basic education. The CBSE syllabus officially wants the students to learn and use M$ products. for facts goto www.cbse.nic.in and check for syllabus of computer science, information practices. Similar is the case with AICTE. Hats off to our country, we really know how to splurge money for the wrong reason. I am looking for people who will help in pressurising CBSE and AICTE to change the syllabus to generic applications viz Learn a spreadsheet NOT SPECIFICALLY M$ EXCEL and so on. Any volunteers may please contact me off the list at atul(a)cheerful.com The open source tools are so similar, that a student (and at that age, the learning time is very short) will not feel any difficulty. _______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

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Announcement: Release of Calpp Beta Version 1
by Ramanraj K 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

Dear Friends, Calpp Beta Version 1 has been released and can be downloaded from gborg at ftp://gborg.postgresql.org/pub/calpp/stable/calpp_1.0.0.tar.gz Calpp: Computer Aided Legal Procedures and Proceedings Calpp aids in defining legal procedures and executing those procedures as proceedings. Calpp uses Postgresql and PHP to create Calpp powered legal systems. Calpp relies on three tables: procedures -> steps -> particulars to store all details about its procedures, and correspondingly three tables: proceedings -> events -> assertions to store all details about the proceeding. Calpp may also be used in any field where the rules can be listed for execution and application. Calpp powered medicine, Calpp powered surgical procedures, Calpp powered irrigation systems, Calpp powered schools, Calpp powered research and development, Calpp powered story telling and many more Calpp powered systems can be devised for practical use. Calpp is simple, sturdy and stable. The Calpp project is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Calpp has several features including: * Legal procedures are logically and accurately stored and executed as proceedings * All details of the procedures and proceedings can be indexed and viewed from a variety of angles. * A set of data validation, conversion and manipulation functions are available for easy use in proceedings. * Calpp makes rules explicit and we can see what is going on at a glance. * Password authentication to access This beta release has the minimal set of features required to maintain and run most legal procedures and proceedings with the aid of computers. The word proceedings is used here to mean every use of the law, and any clear set of rules. It concerns all of us. A least complex solution to suit the most complex nature of law has been attempted here. No legal procedures in force are provided for now, but it can be used to create procedures and run them as proceedings. Your interest and participation in the calpp project will shape both Calpp and the way we choose to live. Regards, K. Ramanraj. 2003-08-15

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[Fsf-friends] [ot][jobs][commercial] admin who understands gnu-linux + routing + switching @ l3/l4
by Trevor Warren 09 Aug '03

09 Aug '03

Hiyee folks, Following is the requirement. >> 3-4 Years of experience in the Industry >> NO FRESHERS >> Hardcore GNU - Linux Knowledge >> Knowledge of Cisco IOS and capability to work with CISCO/BAY/3COM Routers and configure them for the network >> Knowlede of L3/L4 switching capability and previous experience/exposure on the same. >> Most Important is the capability to Interface with the customer and help iron out Technical/Techo-commercial Issues >> Experience on the ISP front will be an added advantage. >> RHCE Will be an added advantage. Those interested can get in touch with me on twarren(a)redhat.com at the earliest. Thanks for the help vivek. Trevor ===== ( >- -< ) /~\ __ Gnu/Linux, Its all about Choice __ /~\ | \) / trevorwarren(a)softhome.net \ (/ | |_|_ \ PreSales-Technical Engineer Red Hat / _|_| \___________________________________/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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For FSF..
by Frederick Noronha (FN) 06 Aug '03

06 Aug '03

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