Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Indian State Logs Microsoft Out

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the player-one-has-lost-the-match dept.

slack_prad writes "An Indian state, Kerala has chalked out a plan for migrating its high school students to free software platforms in three years. This was apparently in response to RMS's recent visit to the place. The education minister for the state said that the Free software guru Richard Stallman's visit last week had nudged the schools to discard the proprietary software altogether. 'Stallman has inspired Kerala's transition to free software on the lines of an exciting model of a Spanish province.' Initially, schools were given the option to choose whether teachers were to be trained in Linux systems or Microsoft. The option has now narrowed down to migration."

6 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. kerala by legoburner · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A quick google shows that Kerala has a population of 33 million people, so (depending on how many are in school) this could be a fairly big test to see how useable linux is in this sort of environment, especially with other indian states as a control. I hope RMS is not just talking it up and has some real plans in place to measure the benefits that are thought to be possible.

    --
    Warhammer forums
    1. Re:kerala by belmolis · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Indix, a localized GNU/Linux, is already available in Malayalam, the principal language of Kerala, so they're in good shape on that score.

    2. Re:kerala by honkycat · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You have a good point and I, too, hope that (a) this experiment works and (b) it's well documented, whether it succeeds or fails. If it succeeds, obviously, it's great ammunition for future debates. If it fails, then it'll be an excellent opportunity to evaluate the shortcomings and try to address them rationally.

  2. Re:now if only the uk used anything but RM pc's by EvilIdler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That's a familiar story - schools waste a lot of money on MS products around here because
    the one making the decisions either hasn't a clue there are alternatives, or because they don't WANT
    to look for them.

    I've worked briefly for one of many schools where the head of IT had seen the benefits, but simply
    didn't have enough experience to roll out Linux (or the other alternatives), and the school was wasting
    its budget (which they could have spent on keeping me employed there ;) on an expensive terminal
    server system that had all sorts of problems. For example, to install software for the students, the
    teachers had to go through a not-always-present admin at the company with the servers, THEN they
    had to set the permissions themselves. Security holes and instability was still a problem when I left.

    They would have loved to use something like Skolelinux, as it covered all their software needs, or
    could easily have some webservices written for what was missing. Unfortunately their contract was paid
    for, so they bloody well wanted to get the system working :P

  3. I belong to Kerala and know it will work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am originally from Kerala..the mentality of the people there is quite unique from anywhere in India. Almost totally against all forms of monopolies. It may have done lot of harm to the economy, but Keral booted out CocaCola when it allegedly did not meet the stringent quality tests. BMW was also stopped from having a factory there over working conditions.
    The Govt was always receptive to Stallman - way back in 2001, I was the the capital and RMS had a seminar over there. He had put on a long robe and a CD around his head as halo and announced himself as prophet stallman - or to that effect, I dont remember.
    But the crux is people at Kerala are ready to put that extra effort needed for moving on to Linux

  4. They have lots of reasons... by Eric+Damron · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I gather that they have looked at this carefuly but there are other reasons as well.

    From the article: "A sting operation by Microsoft in October 2005 had not endeared the proprietary software to PC and peripherals dealers."

    Remember a while back when Microsoft tried some strong arm tactics of threatening to audit schools who ran anything but Microsoft operating systems. Well.... Payback is a bitch ...

    Seriously though, they are switching because they see the value in FOSS and Microsoft gave then a good look at the dark side of corporate tactics.

    --
    The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!