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:
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Frederick Noronha (FN)