On Wed, 25 Dec 2002 Nikhil Joshi wrote :
Come on who are we kidding? Do these ppl really care (and why should they?) if theres Linux or GNU/Linux or whatever and what is the right (read purists) way of
The shopowners and home users already use free (read pirated) software.
While the step is very welcome it would be really good to see the lowest denominator using Linux apart from scientists,sarkari babus,geeks ...
Government establishments can't/don't use pirated software. They have to pay through their noses for it. Free s/w would certainly be a much cheaper alternative, given the fact that most free (as in free speech) s/w is also *free* (as in free beer).
Also the s/w can be tailored according to needs. Programming skills are cheap in India. If it's a bug you want to fix, you don't even have to spend on that. Hundreds of programmers out there on the Net who are more than willing to do it for free (speech & beer) :)
As long as pirated s/w is around, maybe it isn't practical to expect home users, and other laymen to shift to free s/w (atleast not very easily), even if it's a better alternative. But you can't extend the same rules to government establishments.
Are there any statistics over how much money drains out of India on proprietary s/w every year?
Warm Regards, Nikhil Karkera.
On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Nikhil Karkera wrote:
Are there any statistics over how much money drains out of India on proprietary s/w every year?
Here are is some interesting stat :
No. of PCs/Nodes in Public Sector Banks in India --> 95,090
pls refer http://www.banknetindia.com/banking/bitpresentlevel.htm
Here is interesting fact about type of software used in banks:
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The Software Packages for Banking Applications in India had their beginnings in the middle of 80s, when the Banks. spurred on by RBI and the Rangarajan Committee Report, started computerising the branches in a limited manner. The approach was to empanel a few hardware vendors who will also develop the software as per Bank's specifications and also help to install at the branches. This was a multi-vendor approach to foster competition and to assess the relative vendor capabilities. These packages were written usually in fox-pro or C and were dos-based - and rarely ^^^^^^^^^ Unix-based.
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Even today when I visit some nationalised banks I observe that most of the terminals have DOS
Further ...
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The early 90s saw the plummeting hardware prices and advent of cheap and inexpensive but high-powered PCs and servers and Banks went in for what was called Total Branch Automation (TBA) Packages. Architecturally, some were centralised solutions with a powerful central server maintaining the database, with multiple terminals; others went in for distributed processing with multiple PCs as nodes linked on a LAN. The Platforms used ranged from simple UNIX-C to powerful RDBMS like Oracle etc.
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Now what would be easier... porting the apps from DOS to Linux or continue with DOS/Windows ?
Also it is a misconception that money *drains* out of India The software providers are Indian Cos.
Recently I read a comment by Bill Gates:
The Windows OS is essentially free as when u buy it you can use it as long as you want
There is truth in this statement I guess as if a profit-making organization buys Windows and uses it for 10-15 yrs it has more than recovered the cost.
Also free-funda can be implemented under Windows too. I mean there are many open-source/free tools for Windows (Open Office for e.g.) too
Also using Linux does not mean that all the application s/w will be free. The tailormade s/w made by companies like Infosys will cost money obviously.
At the end of the day we have to think of massive overhaul of the entire system if we want to port the apps to Linux
Is it practical ?
regards Nikhil
On Friday 03 January 2003 09:34 pm, Nikhil Karkera wrote:
- LUG meet on 12 Jan. 2003 @ VJTI
On Wed, 25 Dec 2002 Nikhil Joshi wrote :
Come on who are we kidding? Do these ppl really care (and why should they?) if theres Linux
As long as pirated s/w is around, maybe it isn't practical to expect home users, and other laymen to shift to free s/w (atleast not very easily), even if it's a better alternative. But you can't extend the same rules to government establishments.
Are there any statistics over how much money drains out of India on proprietary s/w every year?
But also how much money comes into India, many of the projects of big software companies do develop software in india. Adobe, microsoft, and many more develop software in india. They provide opprtunities to many developers in India. Today india is probably the only country in the world who is making profit in the software industry. There is a down time still in the US and the developed countries where as india is making huge profits by providing cheaper development center for many of these big companies. I actually have never understood this acpect of OSS/FS. How can it help in increasing employment? Flames > /dev/null, but do enligten me. Thanks.
Warm Regards, Nikhil Karkera.
Amish Munshi writes:
But also how much money comes into India, many of the projects of big software companies do develop software in india. Adobe, microsoft, and many more develop software in india. They provide opprtunities to many developers in India. Today india is probably the only country in the world who is making profit in the software industry. There is a down time still in the US and the developed countries where as india is making huge profits by providing cheaper development center for many of these big companies. I actually have never understood this acpect of OSS/FS. How can it help in increasing employment? Flames > /dev/null, but do enligten me. Thanks.
-- Amish K. Munshi In GNU we Trust.
All American companies do "offshore developement" in India. We build the software, they sell it, they make the money. Why not get paid for own work? They make millions and pass on measly thousands to us. All Those who say they employ us are wrong. We can sustain ourselves, though this approach is slightly unrealistic in today,s global economy. Our domestic potential is HUGE. They depend on us, not us on them to a very great extent. However we tend to overlook this "obvious" fact.
Thet reason we are making money is that we have got our basics right. We have a large skilled workforce. It's up to us to make use of it. Remember we are trying to serve a country which denied us technology (remember cryogenic engines and cray supercomputers) under some absolutely sham and superficial reasons. This is one more reason why india should go the "Swatantra" software way.
"Swatantra" software will break these shackles by making computers and software accessible to the common man on the street. However I may hastily add this is just one of the factors under consideration.
**************** Vinayak Hegde APGDST Student NCST-JUHU ****************
On Saturday 04 January 2003 10:55 pm, vinayak_hegde@softhome.net wrote:
- LUG meet on 12 Jan. 2003 @ VJTI
Amish Munshi writes:
But also how much money comes into India, many of the projects of big
a country which denied us technology (remember cryogenic engines and cray supercomputers) under some absolutely sham and superficial reasons. This is one more reason why india should go the "Swatantra" software way.
"Swatantra" software will break these shackles by making computers and software accessible to the common man on the street. However I may hastily add this is just one of the factors under consideration.
Thanks, this definately got me awakened.
Vinayak Hegde APGDST Student NCST-JUHU
Nikhil Joshi writes:
On Fri, 3 Jan 2003, Nikhil Karkera wrote:
Are there any statistics over how much money drains out of India on proprietary s/w every year?
Also it is a misconception that money *drains* out of India The software providers are Indian Cos.
But You still have to pay M$ for the OS and the Office Suite. Now that you have windows, may add some other properietary app like Tally and so on goes the vicious circle. If we change the OS itself we stop ourselves and others from falling into this vicious circle at the first hurdle itself.
Also free-funda can be implemented under Windows too. I mean there are many open-source/free tools for Windows (Open Office for e.g.) too
Yeah this could be a transitional strategy. Get people hooked to opensource. Then pull the rug from under windows. Remove windows put linux. With the interface greatly improved, many won't even mind it.
At the end of the day we have to think of massive overhaul of the entire system if we want to port the apps to Linux
Is it practical ?
Here the above strategy would help.
regards Nikhil
**************** Vinayak Hegde APGDST Student NCST-JUHU ****************
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Amish Munshi -
Nikhil Joshi -
Nikhil Karkera -
vinayak_hegde＠softhome.net