Tamil Nadu (India) Shutting the Door On Microsoft

aprasadh writes "The government of Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India, has begun initiatives to convert all of their IT systems fully to OSS-based software. (The link is a copy of a news item that appeared recently in the Deccan Chronicle, an English-language daily.) The managing director of the IT procurement, consulting, and training agency for the Tamil Nadu government describes the reasons why he has chosen OSS, and also how he dealt with Microsoft executives." From the article: "Initially, 99 per cent of government systems have been running on Microsoft systems but then 2007 will be a watershed year for the state IT sector... We have already dispatched 6,500 Linux systems to village panchayats and another 6,100 Acer desktop systems with Suse Linux operating systems are on their way. We are procuring 20,000 desktop systems for schools, which will run only on Suse Linux... I require at least 500 trainers to train 30,000 state officials across Tamil Nadu in the next six months."

Comments

Suse?

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one that was excited to read about this, until it said Suse Linux?

Re:Suse?

[MrWGW]

Contrary to popular belief, using Suse does not turn you into a vile subhuman ogre. Also, it didn't say what Suse they were migrating to, so if they're downloading free copies of OpenSuse, I really don't see why you'd even care. The various SUSE distros are wonderful operating systems, and they are (mostly) FOSS, so even if you don't agree with the Novell deal, I don't see why you feel the need to keep trolling about it.

Re:Suse?

[jc42]

Plus, there's also big movement in Europe. And Europe is the part of the world that CAN pay. They are choosing to switch because of Microsoft's monopoly. They want free choice and INTEROPERABILITY.

True, but there's another issue that's quietly getting attention: Microsoft's potential control over government's computers.

There was a funny example of the problem in the recent discussion here of Vista's DRM. When people mentioned MS's ability to disable your software remotely, one reply was that they've had this ability since XT. Really! This is a huge sword hanging over anyone that needs reliability and control of their own computer systems and data.

This is a really good issue for OSS supporters, and it should be used as a "talking point" at any opportunity. Do you really want a giant American corporation with such power over your computer's software? Such questions can really get the attention of government administrators.

Not the first (and not the last, I hope)

[Gopal.V]

Kerala was the first state to do this - slashdot story (and the oblig. dupe).

But those stories paint Kerala as some hippie commune full of comrades - I've been following the developments in Kerala for a while and in general all that makes sense.

Of course, most of these states are picking F/OSS for economic reasons - but not exactly about freedom and stuff. I've heard whispers from the gubment that it is the support contracts which are deal killers for F/OSS in general, but of late the government has started taking a socialist approach of doing it in-house rather than contracting it out to vendors (well, it doesn't sound socialist when a company does I.T, right).

They're Safe

[RAMMS EIN]

And since they went with Suse, they're safe from being sued by Microsoft, thanks to the Microsoft-Novell deal.

Re:I wish them ALL success

[red crab]

I am cynical about this. Large scale migrations are usually not successful. And when they happen in govt. enterprises you have every reason to be cynical. Nearly eight years back, treasury department of MP (another Indian state) had adopted Linux in a big way. The project was more or less successful. The erstwhile Chief Minister had made his preference for Linux/OSS clear for the forthcoming govt. projects. But then his govt. got voted out in next elections, new CM took over the reins and announced her allegiance to Microsoft. MP is not as financially well-off state as Tamil Nadu and could have saved a lots of money by adopting Linux. Let's see what happens in TN.

Do we need to hear about this?

[bmgoau]

As Good as this news in, does the slashdot community have to constantly reminded not only of the benifits of open source but more annoyingly, of every single government and private organisation which switches from Microsoft to oss?

Re:30,000 government officials?

[dwandy]

And this is what (imho) we westerners seem not to get: when (not if) the switch to OSS happens it won't be here in the west: China and India make up some (half?) of the world's population, and once they come on board ... MS et.all are toast. And with them out, our IT staff becomes second-rate as they become irrelevant.

Jumping The Gun, Are We?

[Petersko]

And coming back to India - that's brilliant news. Think that India has over 1 billion people. All of them will be Linux users. And finally they will come as cheap labour (IT support) to UK/US to promote FOSS. And don't forget about opportunities of opening cheap Linux support call centres there.

By my calculation we're talking about 0.003% of those 1 billion people. And Indian call centres for linux will likely be pricier than their Windows counterparts (smaller pool, rising demand). Those call centres are already rising in cost anyway.

Not that it isn't a promising sign... but to suggest all of India will embrace linux seems unrealistic.

Perspective Re-calibration.

[twitter]

MS et.all are toast. And with them out, our IT staff becomes second-rate as they become irrelevant.

Your perspective has drifted and needs to be fixed. You seem to equate M$ with US and US technical excellence. Most people would throw away a meter like you, but a new faceplate and a few twists should have you back in operation.

Developers and IT staff at IBM, Red Hat, Novel, Ubuntoo, Mepis, Chrysler, Lowes, GE, and so on and so forth, would tell you that M$ and those who know only that are already second rate. They would not share you assessment of "our IT staff," nor do they fear foreign "competition". In their world, the more the merrier. American excellence does not have to be anti-social.