Linux wins one in India

Chief Minister Digvijay Singh of Madhya Pradesh told Gates personally that the State will be going forward with projects based on Linux.

The most visible of these is the Headstart programme for computer-aided education. The first phase of that initiative used Windows, but the government has decided to switch to Linux for the second phase.

R Gopalakrishnan, state coordinator for the Rajiv Gandhi missions said:

"This should set at rest any fears that we are anti-Microsoft as such. But we have opted for Linux in this phase, because of the cost factor, and the fact that it avoids costly upgrades and improved versions that are an inseparable element of Microsoft packages".

According to Mr. Singh:

"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 a considered decision taken by us. We have noted that several governments in the west and other countries too have opted for the Linux software instead of Microsoft because of a host of considerations."

The capital of Madhya Pradesh is Bhopal, which had a tragic experience with a large American corporation (Union Carbide) back in 1984. Wanting to extradite the powerful CEO of a big US company on criminal charges and being ignored by the US government must make one less trusting.

The Economic Times of India story is here. µ