A perfect Christmas gift I must say ! I think all the LUGs all over India must take the initiative to take this further.
Cheers, Surjo. --- Raju Mathur <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [Posting full article since my cursory search of the > ET site hasn't > managed to unearth it there] > > [Front page] > > IT Ministry holds high-powered meet to fashion > strategy > > Govt opens gates wide by giving top billing to Linux > > Presenjit Bhattacharya > New Delhi, 24 December > > The Government of India has started taking precise, > wide-reaching > steps to usher in a Linux wave in India. And that > cannot be good news > for proprietary software vendors like Microsoft. > Yesterday the IT > Ministry had a meeting of about 70 people, from > companies like HP, > IBM, Sun and TCS, government agencies like BARC and > CDAC, state > governments like Kerala, West Bengal and MP to > evolve a level playing > field for Linux vis-a-vis proprietary software (read > Microsoft). All > the IITs too were represented at the meeting that > went on for 4 hours. > > There was consensus at the meeting that Linux was a > secure, robust and > cost-effective system. As far as concrete pro-Linux > acts go, > government tenders may soon stop specifying > Microsoft or any other > vendor's name while floating software tenders, thus > throwing open the > way for Linux vendors to grab lucrative government > contracts hitherto > barred from them. > > The government is also setting up special interest > groups with > officials of industry and academia to find out how > Linux can be > deployed in e-governance, defence, education and so > on. Since support > to Linux is [s]till a big issue, the government is > also thinking in > terms of setting up support and resource services, > and call centers > for Linux users. It is also looking at setting up > pilot sites, where > Linux applications can be "touched and felt". A > heartening fact for > Linux-philes would be the enthusiasm for Linux shown > by extremely > security-sensitive agencies like Bhabha Atomic > Research Center and the > National Information Center (NIC) > > Another aspect that came out in the meeting was the > work on > Indianisation of Linux that's happening now. > > [Continued on Page 8] > Hindi version > > C-DAC's agency NCST and Red Hat have, for instance, > developed a Hindi > version of Linux, called Indix. IIT Mumbai too is > doing pioneering > research in Linux. > > Yesterday's meeting of industry, academia and > government > representatives was chaired by IT secretary R R > Shah. According to > industry sources, companies like Sun and TCS were > all enthusiasm for > Linux, with the TCS representative claiming that the > company was > implementing the country's largest Linux project in > Chennai. The > government, however, was at pains to bring out the > fact that it was > not against Microsoft or proprietary software and > was only looking to > leverage the strengths of open source software. > > However, one official present at the meeting > wisecracked, "Microsoft > would have had a heart attack if it was present at > the meeting. The > interest in Linux at this meeting was palpable." > > One influential official told ET that many people > were "violently > against" computer textbooks in schools and colleges > teaching Microsoft > Word or Excel, instead of generic applications or > technologies, like > word processors. Industry sources also said that on > the sidelines of > the meeting, there were two views among those > present about > Microsoft's reported move of sharing source code > with the government. > While some thought it was just a "posturing" by MS, > others felt that > it was a "genuine" attempt by the Redmond giant to > reach out. > > However, sources said that it was the representative > from Madhya > Pradesh, who made a forceful case for Linux. He > said that since MP > had a paucity of resources, Linux seemed the best > solution for the > state. He, however, said that there was need to > train people in Linux > technologies. A member of the Linux user group > sprang up to say that > the MP government can take help of the extremely > active Linux User > group in Indore. > > [end] > > -- > Raju Mathur [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://kandalaya.org/ > It is the mind that moves > > > ================================================ > To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with unsubscribe in subject header. Check archives > at http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd%40wpaa.org > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ================================================ To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe in subject header. Check archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd%40wpaa.org
