Penguins in Power

When President APJ Abdul Kalam advocated greater usage of open source

software in India, he added his voice to a movement that is growing rapidly

across the world.

During a speech delivered at the International Institute of Information

Technology, Pune in May 2003, Kalam said that open source software has to be

harnessed in a big way to benefit India’s one billion people. His endorsement

has therefore come as a major boost for the open source movement in India.

Across India, numerous e-governance projects are translating Kalam’s vision

of deploying open source software to benefit Indian citizens into hard reality.

States like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra etc are actively

exploiting the advantages of open source software. Internationally, countries

like Venezuela, Germany, China, Korea, Peru and others are adopting Linux and

open source software programs in a big way.

“By 2020, India will have a surplus of 47 million in the working age group, while the US and China will suffer from huge manpower deficits” Javed Tapia

Interestingly, governments everywhere are generally considered laggards when

it comes to adopting new ideas and new technologies. However, the benefits are

so compelling that governments have been enthusiastically embracing open source

software.

There are several compelling reasons why Linux is gaining ground in

e-governance projects across the world:

Cost: Most operating systems and applications developed by proprietary

software vendors are developed for the wealthy countries of the West and are

therefore priced accordingly. A study titled "License fees and GDP per

capita: The case for open source in developing countries" has found that in

terms of purchasing power parity, the cost of a proprietary OS and an office

application suite adds up to 14.5 months of an average Indian’s income. If an

American had to pay 14.5 months of income to buy an OS and an office application

suite, the cost would be a whopping $42,725.

At these levels, the benefits of information technology will perpetually

remain the preserve of the elite. Such high software prices are clearly

unaffordable and even governments in developed countries are now balking at

paying high license fees.

Smart governments are realizing this and using Linux to save on licensing

costs, conserving taxpayers’ money and ensuring that the common man benefits

from e-governance.

Licensing issues: The cost of software licenses can add up to a

significant percentage of an e-government project. Open source software like

Linux eliminate these issues as there are no restrictions imposed as regards

number of users, neither at client end or at the server end.

Managing the upgrade cycle: The vendor usually dictates upgrade cycles

when it comes to proprietary software. Few e-government projects can spare

scarce resources to march to the tune of a software vendor’s cash register.

Many application programs sold by proprietary software vendors introduce

incompatibilities from one version to another, necessitating a complete upgrade

when the newer version is introduced. Using open source software can also

eliminate such costly software upgrades.

Encouraging local software industry: With open source software, the

money that’s spent on licensing fees is redeployed in service, support and

development activities that spur growth within the domestic market. Open source

software can be used to create a vibrant ecosystem for software and services

that are relevant to local needs. Localization efforts in Hindi, Bengali,

Marathi and many other Indian languages are at an advanced stage and will

greatly help e-governance by making IT available to people in their native

languages.

In India, the central government has earmarked Rs 850 crore for e-governance

as part of the recommendations for the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-07). In the

short-term, adopting open source software can save a substantial part of this

money that would be spent on licensing fees. In the long term, the money spent

on open source benefits the economy by encouraging the creation of domestic

competencies in software development.

From a purely commercial perspective as well as a long-term nation-building

perspective, the adoption of open source software makes a lot of sense for

India.

Javed Tapia



The author is director, Red Hat India