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"Praveen" == Praveen A <Praveen> writes:
Praveen> India's National Informatics Centre (NIC) has launched an Praveen> Open Source Forum (OSF). The project is part of an Praveen> initiative of the government's Department of Information Praveen> Technology. OSF encourages an exchange of ideas, Praveen> information, and first-hand reports of Linux in practice.
Praveen> Read full story at : Praveen> http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS2209345962.html
Frankly, I'm pretty tired of reading ``Open Source'' this and ``Linux'' that. Everyone's paying lip service to Linux, while ignoring the principles of free software altogether. Let's take the case of this press release itself:
1. ``...as well as Java Messenging Service (JMS) solutions.''
Why does NIC need to go Java, which is IMNSHO a proprietary language, to promote open source? Why not Perl or even Python or Ruby?
2. ``Sun Microsystems landed a significant deal in March with the government of Haryana''
...and this deal includes Sun's proprietary Star Office software.
3. ``Hyderabad, India-based ELX said it expects to double sales of Linux desktops...''
...and ELX is a proprietary product based on the Linux kernel and GNU utilities. I hope they have sorted out their licensing issues with Qt. Someone got the time to investigate? :)
4. ``Oracle, too, reports that more of its customers in India are moving to Linux...''
Don't even need to say anything about Oracle.
So is this deal (or this press release) benefiting the free software community in India in any way? No!
There's no difference between running proprietary software on Linux and running it on another platform, e.g. Windows. Whether your approach is ideological (free software is right) or pragmatic (open source is technically better), adding proprietary components to a free OS is tantamount to dragging the whole solution down to the security, stability and flexibility of a proprietary one.
I've been fighting the whole ``more Linux is better'' mindset within the Delhi LUG for some time. I'm glad to say that, if not agreement, at least we're getting thought and discussion about the value of sheer numbers as compared to the power of ideas and the free software philosophy.
Let's stop worrying about who's using Linux and who isn't. Let the Gartners and Slashdorks and Forest Groups continue having their interminable discussions, arguments and counter-arguments about TCO and growth and market penetration and adoption. Our job is to spread awareness about the philosophy and ideology underlying free software, let's concentrate on that.
Regards,
- -- Raju - -- Raj Mathur raju@kandalaya.org http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves