Thursday, November 14, 2002
*** Tux fights Bux for the soul of India ***
I worked in radio back during that industry's Jurassic, when disc jockeys still picked the music and it was okay for everybody to have fun. Even commercial stations were about as corporate as the corner bar.
My best years were spent at WDBS, a commercial "progressive" rocker incongruously owned but not operated by Duke University. Its operators were a bunch of deeply committed and barely organized folks who in retrospect resembled the free software and open source cadres of today.
With no profit motive and the lousiest signal on the dial, we had a hard time selling advertising. So we'd make up ads for things that didn't exist and run those instead. Many were by a weird announcer called Doctor Dave. That was me. My nickname today is a fossil remnant of that old radio persona.
We ran ads for "Bangweasel Stone & Rubber Company", "Mumbling Pines Apartment Village" and "Wellington Raffelators". In many cases the actual nature of the business was left unrevealed. "If you need a pipe cleaned or a zipper laid, we'll do the job for you... remember you can't take a customer without taking his money."
One fake ad with a recognizable purpose pushed a record collection that consisted of "All the world's most beautiful music, all at once." The listener was then treated to an overdubbed blast of countless simultaneous music selections.
That's kind of the way I feel about the current news about the conflict between Microsoft and Linux in India, where Bill Gates is touring right now, causing free PR for Linux wherever he goes.
Still, I've managed to put together a chronology of Our Story So Far. If it reads like a series of dispatches from The Front, well... maybe it is.
India's government Department of Information Technology has announced a sweeping initiative (the Linux India Initiative) to move the entire country to Linux as its "platform of choice"...
The plan is to establish Linux in Indian academic institutions as well as throughout central and state government offices. India's business sector also likely to move to Linux for its lower costs and to employ the Linux skills developed in the large Indian IT workforce.
As a developing country, India feels the bite of expensive proprietary software licenses much more acutely than other countries with mature economies. Enforcing intellectual property rights -- as India has pledged to do -- will spur its takeup of Linux open source software.
The battle has spilled over into India. Look around. There are noises being made about how proactively the government is considering Linux. The Supreme Court has a few pilot projects underway. So have High Courts in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The Central Excise Department has moved 1,000 desktops to Linux. The Delhi Road Transport Office (RTO) has implemented a pilot to examine its viability. C-DAC, the government's supercomputing arm, has moved lock, stock and barrel to Linux.
Then there is the National Stock Exchange - among the early adopters who used Linux to implement a solution unique to stock exchanges anywhere in the world. Corporates like Asian Paints and IDBI are cheerleading the free source OS. Others like Reliance, Texas Instruments, the Times of India group (publishers of The Times of India), Raymond, Bombay Dyeing, Godrej Infotech, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Dorr Oliver, Central Railways and Air-India have deployed Linux to power at least a part of their backends.
At premier educational institutions like Indian Institute of Technology, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Linux exists - de facto. Those not on the bandwagon, are slowly getting onto it. To get a sense of that, step into the Sardar Patel Engineering College in Andheri, Mumbai. You'll find people like Dinesh Shah, Trevor Warren and Harsh Busa of the Mumbai Linux Users Group (MLUG) bubbling with enthusiasm. On weekends, they spend time at educational institutions across the country spreading the gospel of Linux in neatly slotted two-day workshops. In Maharashtra, the clamour for their workshops has gone up because the government made Linux mandatory to their curriculum; beginning this year. "Catch them young and watch them grow," says Trevor gleefully. <http://www.businessworldindia.com/cover1.htm>
Just weeks before Mr Gates' impending arrival, officials in India's Department of Information Technology in New Delhi leaked details of an effort called the Linux India Initiative. It is meant to promote Linux for use in government departments and corporations. Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan has declined to discuss the initiative. 'I don't want to comment on Linux so close to Gates' visit,' he said last week. <http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,2276,63470,00.html>
Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates coaxed Indian engineers on Wednesday to use his firm's proprietary software, as he dismissed threats to his Windows system from rival Linux in the battle over network computing.
The world's richest man, on the third day of his trip to India, didn't bring any gifts, but instead delivered a sales pitch in the nation's technology capital. More than 1,000 software companies are based in Bangalore.
Gates, who said on Tuesday that his firm would invest $400 million in India over three years on education, partnerships and boosting its own software centre, used his Bangalore visit to promote Microsoft's .NET (dot-net) network platforms and tools.
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_101371,0003.htm>
NEW DELHI, India -- Hoping to stave off a rise in the popularity of free, open-source software, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates announced yesterday a $400 million investment in India to expand the company's operations and boost computer literacy. <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/95307_india13.shtml>
Meanwhile, the grass roots grow deper and wider on the subcontinent. Linux Bangalore, for example, is pushing its Linux Localization Initiative <http://lli.linux-bangalore.org/> -- the kind of quiet and steady purpose that will cause countless Linux victories on fronts no publication covers.
Actually, I doubt it's a battle either side will lose. It's a big country. There is an awful lot of work -- a majority of it, probably -- that can only be done on highly capable, flexible, reliable, and cost-free platforms. That's a "threat" that Microsoft can't do a thing about, no matter how much money they throw at it.