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Indian State Switches to Linux
pamri writes "In a pleasant and surprising move, the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, has opted to switch to Linux from Microsoft for its Gyandooth (intranet in Dhar district connecting rural cybercafes catering to the everyday needs of the masses) programme. What is more surprising is that the state's Chief Minister Digvijay Singh personally conveyed this to Bill Gates. A choice quote: 'For us it is not a question of Microsoft versus Linux. It is just a matter of choosing between a free software and a monopoly. We feel that when we are putting public information out in the open, then it should not be through a proprietary software.'"
IT is just cheaper on Linux and old hardware. Which the country of India has plenty of.
"India will continue to pirate as long as Microsoft leads everywhere else, though having the governor officially reject capitalism is a good step for socialism."
He did NOT reject capitalism, it was the freedom he didnt want to give up. Thats a very big difference.
HTTP/1.1 400
Since when is Linux pro-socialism and anti-capitalism? I thought the point behind capitalism is that the best product/service wins, without any help from having an illegal monopoly?
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
WINE doesn't run CS, Starcraft, UT, and all the other online games that make third-world cyber cafes profitable.
Though some of the official stuff, as well as the more family-oriented shops may change to Linux, the vast majority of cyber cafes will still be running pirated games under a pirated Windows.
I doubt it- this is a government sponsored program - they plainly can't allow pirated software for a host of reasons. If it were for-profit shops, I'd agree with you whole heartedly. The effort here is for education of the poor, not profits.
India will continue to pirate as long as Microsoft leads everywhere else, though having the governor officially reject capitalism is a good step for socialism.
Hunh? This quote:
"For us it is not a question of Microsoft versus Linux. It is just a matter of choosing between a free software and a monopoly. We feel that when we are putting public information out in the open, then it should not be through a proprietary software."
says they reject capitaism for socialism? That sounds very much like an informed, reasoned choice to me. It also will get the poor of India used to the idea of properly licensed software - and may end up curtailing some of the piracy you speak of.
You sound as though you've pre-judged India as a country with no morals, self respect or smarts, since they have no money. I can assure you that this is definately not the case, especially in the smarts department. Educate yourself on what you speak of, please, especially before you attepmt to make such blanket statements.
As it is, IMHO you definately put the ass in assume.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
I find this quote quite fascinating. India is a nation-state where the top 5% of the population own all the wealth
Unlike the US, where the top 5% of the population own something like 80% of the stocks, bonds and real estate.
essentially they have a monopoly on the other lower castes.
I'd be very careful about using the word "caste" if I were you; there's a lot of misinformation about what "caste" means.
All the public infrastructure is publicly owned (trains, electricity).
Unlike, say, Europe?
Why can't the US make such a switch? I know they have a lot invested in there M$ stuff right now but why could they not change. I think this comes down to people that run the software. We all know that politicians and a lot of people in government jobs are lazy and just there for the money or power. That is what I think is holding us back. Not to mention the lusers we have running things. They could never figure out why they can not get those .vbs files to work and not having to reboot every day.
No, they stuck their hands out and ordereed "PAY US TO USE WINDOWS", Gates said no.
/.'ers who want to compare it favorably to america, need to go live there for a few years.
Indian government runs on bribes and extortion. Any of you
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Just out of curiosity, we hear a lot about people migrating from various solutions over to Linux, but I don't hear much about people doing the reverse. Is this because this just isn't happening (doubt it) or that it's just not publicised? If it does occur, I think it would benefit the community greatly to feature them even more so than those who switch TO Linux. I think the reason is obvious, if someone is switching away, then there is something to be learned. It may be features, it may be economics, or it may even be politics, but I think that we would learn from these turncoa^h^h^h uh, people.
The only reason you think he has principles is that he agrees with your beliefs.
You're right - my knee-jerk reaction.
Forgive me, I'm just so conditioned to think that any politician that doesn't automatically climb into bed with money is somehow better and different from most.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
Even if Office is the best productivity suite available, is it so much better that it is worth the extra cost of the software and the O/S needed to run it?
Not to people who have no need for the alleged additional functionality that Office provides. I have yet to encounter a task that I could do with Office that can't do just as well, and often more easily, with OpenOffice and Mozilla.
If that is true for me, a person who is very familiar with MS products, then I think it is certainly true for someone from the backwaters of India who has little, if any, experience with computers at all.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
I feel compelled to point out a few things.
First, outside of strict mathematical definitions, the statement "Untouchability is not practiced in India anymore" does not necessarily imply that there are absolutely no cases of untouchability practised. It would be tantamount to pointing to news stories within the US involving hate crimes and claiming that the assertion that the US does not support hate crimes is false. Even several counter examples are not sufficient to render the original claim false. When you have a billion people, it is inevitable that some will do stupid things, however that DOES NOT reflect the attitude of the population as a whole. What does reflect the attitudes of the population are the laws upheld by the society, laws which clearly state that any discrimination based on caste are illegal.
Now for your second paragraph. Yes CNN is in fact known for making things up and exagerrating facts, but that is beside the issue.
Lets look at the story you point to:
It is the author that claims that hindus worship cows even though the article has the following quote "Cow in this country is like a mother" which I believe was the original poster's claim.
As for your google links I find it interesting that several of those particular links are sites which try not to present facts but try to convince you of the moral superiority of another religions belief. Come on now, do you honestly expect the site muslimonline.com to present a fair and unopinionated view of any aspect of hinduism?
Indian government runs on bribes and extortion.
Which is different from the US government exactly how?
While corruption is not unknown in the US, these are usually exceptions
You are deluding yourself if you think that this is even remotely true. Corruption is the absolute rule in our government. Explain DMCA, Patriot act, Mickey Mouse Protection act, Homeland Security (alone and with all the riders) in any other way.
In India, the honest politicians would be the exception.
Here we apparently had one left who is now dead.
Wellstone was the one dissenter to the Patriot act.
Anyone who voted in favor of that showed their hatred and contempt of the constitution, freedom, and basically everything America says that we stand for.
If you disagree try and come up with an actual reason that I'm wrong.
It's sad that you can have proof piled upon proof that the US government is completely owned and corrupt yet you are afraid to face the truth.
I'm not singling you out. Most people in America are afraid of facing reality. That is out primary problem.