An article in today's Hindu about Nudi, Karnataka governments official Kannada software. The source code of nudi is not publicly available . There are also various challenges to making Nudi work on GNU/Linux, which is hampering the spread of FOSS in karnataka. * http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/01/stories/2009040156820500.htm
Limitations of Nudi software highlighted * Special Correspondent /E-Kavi stresses need to upgrade it /
Bangalore: Effective implementation of Kannada in the administration can only be brought about with proper development of the government software, Nudi, the U.S.-based V.M. Kumaraswamy of Ella Kannada Abhimanigala Antararaashtriya Vedike (E-Kavi) has said.
He told presspersons here on Tuesday that technological coordination among various departments in the State Government had not been possible owing to the limitations of the Nudi software, which is used in administration. Development of the software would prove helpful for over 70 per cent of rural children in learning computer skills, he added.
Presenting copies of correspondence between him and the government and the government’s circulars and inter- departmental correspondence on the software since 1998, Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that three persons behind the promotion of Nudi software were responsible for taking the government and the public for granted.
Although the government had purchased the software, vested interests in the Kannada Ganaka Parishat had been keeping the “source code” of the software to themselves. This had hampered the development of the software and had caused delay in gathering information from many departments simultaneously. The government should ask the parishat to convert into an “open source” as the application could accommodate interface among all the departments in the government, he said.
Commenting on the attitude of the government towards the software, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that it was wrong to think that Kannada software would grow by distributing it to public free of cost. In fact, the Ganaka Parishat had been charging Rs. 100 a CD, he added.
Demand for new panel
He said that it was time the government appointed a new committee in place of the 12–member committee it had constituted for software development, particularly “to standardise the formats and codes” in 2000.
The new committee should include persons well-versed in the language and its technical application, he said.