"satish" == satish jha sjha@vsnl.com writes:
satish> i know fred and a host of friends do not agree with me on satish> this issue but i do believe that open source is not the satish> most important issue in putting ict to development satish> projects any more than knowing the recipe of coke will satish> make a developing country rich.
satish> what is important and critical is to understand how to satish> envision, architect, design, develop, test,...and satish> implement integrated systems in as much as is feasible satish> with an understanding both of the needs and the technology satish> and in that order.
Agreed. These are important factors in development and should be understood and nurtured.
satish> open source debate is but a minor piece of the puzzle. of satish> course the debate should continue. but just as making coca satish> cola the plan of its government's policy did not help the satish> first non-congress government in india (we lost another 14 satish> years until a certain prime minister decided to open the satish> economy instead) and the nation much, open source will not satish> do very much more either.
Not a sociologist or an economist, so unable to predict the effects of properly-deployed Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) technologies on the level of development in India. Maybe deploying Linux nation-wide will have no effect at all on the poverty in the country. Nevertheless, I DO have enough insight to predict that if my country keeps buying and deploying software they don't need from a foreign corporation more of my country will be below the poverty line sooner rather than later.
Maybe it's a personal failing, but I can see no way by which using proprietary, locked-in software can do anything but widen the gap between haves and have-nots, make the poor more poor and act as a ever-widening conduit to leak money and resources from India.
In short, even if you don't accept FLOSS as a means to bridge any divides do accept it as a means to minimising those divides in the first place.
[I personally believe that appropriately-deployed FLOSS technology can actually help enable development and benefit every class of person in India. However I don't have facts and figures to back that up, so won't press the point. You are welcome to have your own take on it.]
Regards,
-- Raju
satish> [snip]