India's Kerala state goes open source

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it's been in the offing for years

the move to Linux was suggested years ago(sometime around 1998-99) and feasibility studies were done with Red Hat distros to assess how much user training would be needed, cost factors etc. the switch to linux systems was decided upon and was to have started in 2003-2004. but then it seems MS reps stepped in with "cheaper" options and "convinced" certain govt. officials to reconsider(MS offered to donate PCs to a few departments, PCs preinstalled with Windows of course. a year later Bill and Melinda Gates dropped by to visit India, and the Linux plans were hushed up to avoid embarrassing the visiting "Royalty". In the end though the govt. decided to go ahead with the switch, perhaps because of an anti-MS lobby in the ruling Left front.

that aside, there's really no shortage of skilled manpower in Kerala. Other than tourism, manpower is probably Kerala's biggest source of revenue. It has the highest adult literacy rate in India, and quite a few companies here are already working on Linux support projects, mostly for overseas projects.
besides, the Windows penetration isn't as high as in other places, and so though there will be a few hitches, the move from windows to linux probably won't run into as much trouble as in other parts of the world.

Posted by: balaknair   Posted on: 07/03/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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