New Delhi, Sept 20: Free and open source software is
fast taking on licenced software giants worldover, and in
India too, it is catching the fancy of IT industry.
"The war is already brewing between software majors and
proponents of open source and free software, which is becoming
popular in developing countries, where high costs of the
proprietory software is the major cause of rampant piracy,"
says a new book "open source and the law" by legal counsel,
Priti Suri.
The worldwideweb is the most successful example of open
software. The Indian Institutes of Technology use open source
software for research; and the government is also promoting
its use in education and financial services and multiple
E-governance projects, says Suri.
Unlike proprietory software, where every time a new user
has to buy the software, open source allows the users to view
and modify the source code, a set of instructions used in the
creation of the software. When the source code is viewed by
other users, who can make improvements to it, the modified
versions of the same software are further redistributed to
subsequent users to do similar things.
Technology research firm Gartner Inc has forecast that
open source computing holds great promise in India and that
the country's technology adoption is gaining momentum. It
expects a growth of 20.8 percent for the next four years in
business spending on computer hardware, software and
communication products, notes the book.
Trade associations including Nasscom and Mait believe
that Linux and open source products can play an important role
in spreading E-governance in India, with low cost local
language applications. Deployment of open source software is
also considered critical in it education at school level where
low cost software is to be the real impetus, says the book.
"In capital starved economies like India, Open Source
Software (OSS) is one of the most viable way of tacking
technologies to the people and ensuring that the disadvantaged
section of society is also a part of the technology wave that
is sweeping across the world," say Suri and her associates in
the book.
The licenced software being developed by Microsoft and
Oracle, is expensive and buying software at higher prices is
the least of the concerns of the people who are more concerned
with earning enough to support their livelihood, she says.
"OSS offers these people a better opportunity to avail
the technology as it can be made available at a cheaper rate.
Another benefit of this software is that in India, a large
volume of rural population does not understand English, this
Doftware can be converted into local languages, as the source
code of the software is made available along with the
program," she says.
The governments of countries around the world like India,
Brazil, South Africa, Vietnam, Malaysia and China have either
started to adopt or feel the need for specific policies on
OSS.
In India, though there is no specific legislation dealing
with OSS, the free software foundation of India has submitted
an opinion to the government. The OSS, however, has been able
to make specific inroads into the country. President Kalam is
also a supporter of OSS.
In one of his speeches, President Kalam called for the
usage of non proprietory software especially by the military
to ward off cyber security threat. The emphasis was on the
fact that India should strive for self-reliance in software
required for the development of critical weapons systems
reminding that technology embargoes were imposed on India when
nuclear devices were tested.
"The positives of OSS are immense for any country.
However, these benefits can manifest only if a policy can
truly capture the spirit of OSS, which has the inherent
ability to give the right boost to the economy of any
developing country," says Suri.
Bureau Report