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India Mandates Use of Open Source Software In Government
jrepin writes The Indian government announced a policy yesterday that makes it mandatory to use open-source software in building apps and services, in an effort to "ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs." The new policy (PDF) states that all government organizations must include a requirement for their software suppliers to consider open-source options when implementing e-governance applications and systems. The move will bring the Indian government in line with other countries including the US, UK and Germany that opt for open-source software over proprietary tools.
It can't be taken propriatory if it's GPL.
Expect MS to offer "significant" discounts in 3...2...1...
All that is needed is a rule that all the code that is required to fulfill a government requirement is open to inspection.
You know, that's a great idea except... Usually there is no way to map from the source code you are given to the executable you where provided unless you have instructions on how to *build* the executable for your self.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Gee, most of what you claim is not possible truly IS possible on Linux/Unix solutions IF you know what you are doing.
With the possible exception of the Active Directory vrs OpenLDAP gripe of yours (and I'm just not prepared to argue that point with you, I think it's possible if properly managed and configured that OpenLDAP would scale just fine) everything you complain about are not issues without solutions, but solutions that you may not understand how to setup and use.
Linux generally has solutions to the above problems which do work and work well for the back of house stuff. What Linux doesn't have though is the developed "tribal knowledge" of skilled administrators who understand the solutions and how to properly implement them. (Not that the tribe of Windows administrators always understand their OS of choice either.)
Your complaints seem more born of frustration with people who didn't know what they where doing or what tools did what you are accustom to seeing than being actual limitations with Linux. Or perhaps you have had some bad experiences with Linux because somebody thought it was going to be cheaper to forget the license costs of Windows and run some half baked Unix solution instead. I can tell you that if you do the Linux thing because it is cheaper up front, you are sadly mistaken and wasting your time and money. Usually Linux requires as much budget up front as the Microsoft solution and only saves you money in years to come. Much pain is caused by half understood, improperly implemented and under funded efforts in either Microsoft or Linux worlds...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Yet another AC
I routinely hop onto Linux setups and do maintenance/upgrades on 10,000 systems. There are tools to do it fine, just like there are things in MS land to mitigate the pain.
The short story from any seasoned admin perspective: 'Whatever platform *I* know the tools for is better than the platform that I don't know the tools for'. This applies to all the parent posts. The Windows guy thinks Linux isn't enterprise ready because he doesn't know the tools. The Linux guy is shocked to hear this because Windows in his experience is a pain in the ass.