Linux news

2007 07 12

Tens of Thousands of Linux Laptops Distributed Among India's Officials

A New Chapter in Judiciary and Information Technology

Today-for many reasons-is a happy day for us. The Allahabad High Court website is being inaugurated and e-court project is being launched by symbolic distribution of laptops to the Judges of the subordinate judiciary. The decision to distribute laptops is a good decision not only for the judiciary but also for the future of the information technology. [...] About fifteen thousand laptops are being distributed throughout the country and out of these, seventeen hundred are for our State. These laptops have linux-an open source software-as operating system. It is not that open source does not have IPR problems but they are less than the proprietary software.

http://s5h.net/u?z7ffb
Related: Indian Policy Makers Call For Greater Use Of Open Source

A wide spectrum of policy makers called for the greater usage of open source to modernize India in the digital era and the re-evaluation of the laws pertaining to Intellectual Property. The event sought to examine the notion of intellectual "property," in the context of traditional knowledge, globalization and the growth of the open source movement worldwide.

http://s5h.net/u?z9e16
Forum for Open Source Initiatives in India Formed

Sandeep Menon, convener of FOSII and director of Linux business for Novell West Asia, said, "FOSII members belong to various facets of the Linux/OSS (Open Source Software) ecosystem, which includes the industry, academia, government and the community. Though the initial members are all from India, some foreign members too are expected to join this forum to share their global experience and aid the initiative."

http://s5h.net/u?zdb6
PC resellers strike against Microsoft in India

Stop harassment over piracy or we move to Linux... [...] "We have been approached by dealers in other states who are also being harassed by Microsoft," Randeri said. "If Microsoft does not cooperate, we will tell our dealers to migrate to Linux."

http://s5h.net/u?zf7bd
Intensified Battle Lines

Some years back Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA) spokesperson Steven D'Aprano had posed a most intriguing question, "If Microsoft has a problem with piracy, it shouldn't be blamed on OEMs who sell PCs with Linux pre-installed or no operating system at all. Should we discourage supermarkets from selling plain bread, because shoppers might steal butter from elsewhere?" [...] For long now a tag has been associated with Linux. Industry players and resellers say Linux has become a smart, official, cheap and convenient form of piracy. The charge, is however, outrightly rejected by the Linux vendors. At their end, open source vendors will not miss an opportunity to assert that anyone who has benefited out of piracy is the proprietary vendors, like Microsoft. [...] Partners are already moving close to Linux vendors for various reasons. The days to come will, therefore, offer interesting battle lines unfolding between MS and open source players.

http://s5h.net/u?z2688

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