Please update the site with the press release PRESS RELEASE
Save Kannada From Microsoft's Monopoly ===============================
The Save Kannada Campaign brings individuals and groups together in opposing Microsoft's "Letter of Intent" with the Government of Karnataka to establish paperless offices in the state. While the deal is undoubtedly to the advantage of Microsoft in furthering its monopoly interests, campaigners point out that the losers would be the people of Karnataka and the Kannada language.
Microsoft has an abysmal track record of Kannada language support. The version of Kannada rendered by Microsoft's operating system is riddled with errors and logical inconsistencies. Despite the fact that these errors have repeatedly been brought to Microsoft's notice, appallingly, the company has refused to acknowledge the blunders. These continue to be shipped with the company's products. And so, if the proposed partnership with the state government comes through, error-filled Kannada will be Microsoft's new gift to Karnataka's schools, colleges, offices, and government departments.
The Save Kannada Campaign also points out that the rights of consumers to reliable and trustworthy products is at stake. Microsoft, a company that faces grave antitrust charges in Europe, will have a monopolist grip over the software market in Karnataka too. Its strategy of "locking-in" data and applications will create a huge class of dependent consumers who will be unable to move their data away from Microsoft-proprietorial applications. Broken standards will thus be pushed using the might of monopoly. This will have disastrous and long-reaching effects on Kannada language computing.
Campaigners point out that the concerns of losing control over government offices and destruction of the local expertise in language computing have been raised earlier by well known writers MLC Chandrashekhar Kambar and late Poornachandra Tejasvi.
The Save Kannada Campaign urges the government to consider Free and Open Source Software replacements which gives the ability to control their own computing without depending on a multinational monopoly and its priorities.
They are requesting people to petition the Chief Minister. An Open Letter to Kannada Chief Minister is available at the following site: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=djw95rc_1hsb4gw&pli=1 http://docs.google.com/View?docid=djw95rc_1hsb4gw&pli=1
The campaign Home page is : http://savekannada.googlepages.com http://savekannada.googlepages.com
Regards Praveen