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The recent decision by Kerela government, for instance, to allow more than
half a million of its senior school students to take the mandatory IT exams only
in GNU/Linux is a clear pointer that the government is thinking on Open Source.
In an adjacent state, every purchase of a Microsoft product goes through a very
stringent scrutiny on cost comparisons.
And recently, during an e-governance conference series organized by
Dataquest, it was clear that number of Open Source supporters were on the rise.
One could gather from the conference that most of the speakers and delegates
present there, actually believe that going for Windows was a costly proposition.
Most seem to believe that countrywide e-governance will take off only on very
low-cost or free solutions that Linux claims to offer.
This kind of support for open systems was far lower in e-governance
conferences that I have seen in the earlier years. And I thought Microsoft has
been able to strengthen their case, which has a lot of merits and advantages
also. Apparently there are quite a few people and governments that they still
need to convince. Richard Stallman, the global guru of free software at the
moment is doing a better job, at least in some of the states in India.
It is a little too early to predict whether this will turn into a Windows
versus Open Source war and spill out on the streets, but what is sure is that
Open Source is not fading away as we were all made to believe a few years back.
Actually, if the governments mandate in favor of open systems in two very basic
and fundamental places-school educations and e-governance-we will see the impact
on almost every aspect of life as far as India is concern. Everything ranging
from e-commerce, education, and citizen services could become Open Source-based.
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Ibrahim
Ahmad |
Obviously, all this is easier said than done. Indian market is still
influenced heavily by solution providers whose orientation has been exports,
where it's only Windows. Unless and until long term solutions and support
commitments for Open Source is available from vendors, it is going to be risky.
Also, India will have to be a part of the global practices and preferences to
really leverage e-governance. There, Windows has a huge lead over Open Source. Page(s) 1
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