On Monday 23 Mar 2009, Kenneth Gonsalves wrote: > On Monday 23 March 2009 13:55:36 jtd wrote: > > > here we go - I am on record in saying that one of the biggest > > > stumbling blocks to the adoption of FOSS in this country is > > > that the FOSS movement here is largely controlled by IT > > > professionals. > > > > Who else do you think should be in "control"? And isnt this true > > everywhere?. > > the word 'control' is wrong - 'the majority of FOSS community are > IT professionals' is better. Elsewhere there are also a huge number > of people who are non-IT professionals who contribute. I remember > being on the mailing list of a open source accounting system - 90% > of the users and contributors were accountants! Or the developers > of GNUmed - most of them are practicing doctors. This is not > happening in India. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, merchants, > librarians and large numbers of others are just not into software > development, even at the end user level.
Could be because only a fraction of the individuals in the above group actually use computers for business in India. (Typing letters shall not count as being used for business.) > A FOSS alternative to > tally will only emerge when some accountant starts developing > software - the IT professional does not see the need. Same reason as above. On the list we have a few non it guys who actually use computers in their business ( eg. Dr. Sharukh, Saswata) and they are keenly interested in the art. > > > > Most of these guys are terrified of losing their jobs if all > > > software was made free. > > > > That still does not explain why the babu has to decide against > > FOSS. > > the babu consults the professional > > > Your point is that > > 1) The IT professional does not advise the government correctly > > not exactly - any foss projects starts when someone scratches an > itch - the reason why very little application software emerges in > Indian space is that not enough non-IT people are doing this, and > the IT professionals do not have this type of itch. > > > 2) FOSS movement should not be in control of IT pros > > not exactly - I cannot prescribe what should and should not be. I > can only say that it is when non-IT pros in big numbers start > developing that the movement will make real headway. This would happen when non IT individuals and small businesses start using computers in their business in large numbers. In the west a good 10 to 12 years elapsed before computers began to be widely used by individuals. About the same time when FOSS started taking off. Around the same time large businesses started setting up IT infrastructure in India. And after a lag of 8 to 10 years IT pros started looking into FOSS. The timelines tally more or less. So we should be seeing another five to eight years of creeping growth. There may well be many acelerating factors to shorten the time lines. But it should be more or less on these lines. > > > 3) Corruption is partly responsible for FOSS non adoption > > yes > > > To which i add > > 4) The few babus who half heartedly venture always hit the > > compatibility with M$ roadblock > > 5) Tender norms are heavily loaded against FOSS > > 6) Non visibility (as opposed to availability) of support at > > ground level at time T0 > > 7) Utter lack of understanding of the FOSS biz model at all > > levels. > > agreed > > -- > regards > Kenneth Gonsalves > Associate > NRC-FOSS > http://nrcfosshelpline.in/web/ -- Rgds JTD -- http://mm.glug-bom.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxers
