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Open source: Developing markets and anti-Americanism

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Linux Open Source

Published: 14 Nov 2005 12:00 GMT

...develop open source software and training programs around such software, and the creation of a Web site to share the government's experiences with open source software.

The President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, has advocated the use of open source software on a number of occasions. Last year, he called for the Indian military to use open source software to ward off cybersecurity threats and the year before he said it was 'unfortunate' that proprietary software, such as Windows, was so popular in India and called for the broader adoption of open source.

The Indian government's relatively neutral policy towards open source is driven by a desire to keep US companies happy, says Gartner's DiMaio. "The Indian government doesn't want to annoy its clients in US," he says. The technology outsourcing industry is of vital importance to the Indian economy, with the top 20 Indian IT services companies generating a combined $5.77bn from exports in 2003 to 2004.

Rao from AMIC claims the Indian government's attitude to open source has been influenced by "very strong" lobbying from Microsoft. The software giant has also been striking a number of partnerships with Indian outsourcing companies, including Infosys, with which it has jointly invested $8m to develop a portfolio of services.

Bancilhon from Mandriva disagrees that the Indian government is neutral towards open source. "The Indian government has a strong will to promote open source due to the potential to save costs and gain independence. India has a strong software expertise and wants to have the ability to control its own technology by being a partner rather than a customer," says Bancilhon.

Rao says the Indian public sector is more able to adopt open source than other countries in emerging markets due to its supply of skilled technology staff.

"There is a very good pool of IT talent in India. Other countries who have tried open source don't have the talent pool or skill sets, while in India there are a lot of good IT folks," says Rao.

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