On Tuesday 22 November 2011 18:25:02 Siddhesh Poyarekar wrote:
On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 3:16 PM, Swapnil Bhartiya
swapnil.bhartiya@gmail.com wrote:
http://www.muktware.com/bitsnbytes/2983
I worked on the story and found oss is only a smoke screen. The entire UID project seems to be a pure Microsoft stack.
This document provides step-by-step instructions to install the AADHAAR Enrolment Client and Biometric components needed for Biometrics capturing. The document is not intended to be a user manual for the AADHAAR Enrolment Client. The application has been built to work with the given pre-requisites.
1.1 Installation Pre-requisites • Operating System: Windows XP SP3 OR Windows 7 (only 32-bit editions) • Windows Installer 4.5 • Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express • Aadhaar QSS SDK Setup • Vendor Device Manager
You can see how the UID project has made Microsoft technologies mandatory. You can't use it without Microsoft. There is no mention of Linux in this important document.
The API is open:
http://uidai.gov.in/UID_PDF/Front_Page_Articles/Documents/Publications/Aadh aar_ABIS_API.pdf http://uidai.gov.in/UID_PDF/Front_Page_Articles/Documents/Publications/Aadh aar_Biometric_Capture_Device_API.pdf http://uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/aadhaar_authentication_api_1_5_ rev1_1.pdf
And you also have:
https://developer.uidai.gov.in https://developer.uidai.gov.in/site/documents https://developer.uidai.gov.in/site/downloads
The middleware is implemented using AMQP, which is an open standard (using RabbitMQ). AFAICT, the servers are going to be linux based. Google for "linux site:uidai.gov.in" without the quotes. Given all of the above, you ought to be able to write your own client too.
The core "deduplication" application, template creation, authentication algos are closed AND patented.
Besides they have been lying through their teeth from day 0.