Crossposted....
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [CI] Microsoft plans to share Windows code with India
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 10:48:45 +0530
From: "CHETAN GANATRA /INFRA/INFOTECH"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Microsoft plans to share Windows code with India
Microsoft is virtually doing the unthinkable in India, it is planning to
share the Windows source code. Not with one and all, as Linux does, but
with a specific government body which, in turn, will share it with
others for the purposes of e-governance and education. Microsoft has
already made a proposal to the ministry of information technology for
sharing the Windows source code with one government body. The nature of
the body has not been spelt out; it will presumably be worked out after
discussions between the company and the government officials.
Interestingly, the offer comes at a time when state governments are
showing interest in rival Linux operating system as the latter's source
code is free and downloadable from the internet.
Microsoft India president Rajiv Nair was somewhat cagey. Although he
didn't deny the move, he merely said, "We are evaluating the idea (of
sharing the source code)." However, sources in the company said that MS
is already in talks! with the government to work out the modalities of
sharing the source code. It's learnt that MS worldwide program manager
for shared source program, Jason Matusow, was recently in India to work
out the modalities.
Microsoft is exceedingly secretive about its Windows source code the
company has so far shared it with only a few big clients and developers.
In Asia. MS has shared the Windows source code with select clients in
Japan, Korea and Singapore. What appears to have persuaded it to extend
the same privilege to the Indian government is the growing attraction
here for the Linux OS, which is seen by some state governments as a
cheaper alternative to Windows.
Microsoft officials are, of course, playing down the Linux threat. They
insisted that Linux wasn't a big issue while selling to the governments
in India. Says Peter Hayes, industry vice-president, Microsoft
Government: "OS software is merely 1-3% of the total cost of an IT
project, and studies have shown t! hat total cost can be lower with
Microsoft technologies compared to Linux. The open source software has
been grabbing headlines recently as the debate on open versus
proprietary software has gained momentum in government circles here.
Says MS boss for shared source program, Jason Matusow, "There has been a
lot of hype about open source code in the software industry as well as
in the media. Linux might grab headlines, but being able to look at
source code doesn't bring any benefits to an average end-user, though it
might increase the trust level.
The basic idea behind open source is very simple. When programmers can
read, redistribute, and modify the source code for a piece of software,
the software evolves. People improve it, people adapt it, people fix
bugs. While open source community believes that this process produces
better software than the traditional closed model, proponents of
proprietary software argue that this model can't work in the commercial
world. Source:Economic Times-IN
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