[India] Madhya Pradesh opens windows to Linux

["Irfan Khan" <khania2@super.net.pk>]

[thanks to Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri <swayan at vsnl dot com> for the
lead. ik]


MP opens windows to Linux
ANIL SHARMA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK ?[ TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2002 01:42:20 AM ]

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh has shut the door on Bill Gates. The state
government schemes will use Linux software. Chief minister Digvijay
Singh personally conveyed this to Microsoft boss Bill Gates during an
interaction last week in New Delhi.

“For us it is not a question of Microsoft versus Linux. It is just a
matter of choosing between a free software and a monopoly. We feel
that when we are putting public information out in the open, then it
should not be through a proprietary software,” Mr Singh told ET.

Nor is it merely a public vs private ideological battle. Germany and
Latin American countries, particularly Peru and Brazil, have opted
for Linux rather than proprietary software to bring down costs, which
keep mounting with successive upgrades in the case of proprietary
software.

Madhya Pradesh has two significant programmes that reach out to
people in a big way: Gyandoot e-governance, which covers 26 out of 45
districts and won the Stockholm Challenge Award for 2000, and the
Headstart programme for computer-enabled school education. For the
Headstart programme, the state government is now committed to use
Linux.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has shown an interest in Gyandoot.

According R Gopalakrishnan, state coordinator for the Rajiv Gandhi
missions, the first phase of the Headstart did use Microsoft
software, but the next will use Linux.

“This should set at rest any fears that we are anti-Microsoft as
such. But we have opted for Linux in this phase, because of the cost
factor, and the fact that it avoids costly upgrades and improved
versions that are an inseparable element of Microsoft packages,” he
said.

“It is a considered decision taken by us. We have noted that several
governments in the west and other countries too have opted for the
Linux software instead of Microsoft because of a host of
considerations,” Mr Singh said.

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