On Wed, 25 Dec 2002 Nikhil Joshi wrote :
Come on who are we kidding? Do these ppl really care (and why should they?) if theres Linux or GNU/Linux or whatever and what is the right (read purists) way of
The shopowners and home users already use free (read pirated) software.
While the step is very welcome it would be really good to see the lowest denominator using Linux apart from scientists,sarkari babus,geeks ...
Government establishments can't/don't use pirated software. They have to pay through their noses for it. Free s/w would certainly be a much cheaper alternative, given the fact that most free (as in free speech) s/w is also *free* (as in free beer).
Also the s/w can be tailored according to needs. Programming skills are cheap in India. If it's a bug you want to fix, you don't even have to spend on that. Hundreds of programmers out there on the Net who are more than willing to do it for free (speech & beer) :)
As long as pirated s/w is around, maybe it isn't practical to expect home users, and other laymen to shift to free s/w (atleast not very easily), even if it's a better alternative. But you can't extend the same rules to government establishments.
Are there any statistics over how much money drains out of India on proprietary s/w every year?
Warm Regards, Nikhil Karkera.