Hi All , > >I don't agree with views of praseed pai. > I respect that .
> >The problems like vendor lock-in and others are much more headache > than the mere convenience. > Every Govt. due to protocol ( Current state of the art or "Vyavasthidhi" ) bindings on it , has to go for competitive bidding. In Such a scenario , only deep pocketed companies can go for the bid. Every company has got a tool chain combination for it's Billing solution. (Oracle and Pro * C used to be the combination , now Java has entered the scene ) So , asking them to use Free Software (exclusively ) is equivalent to re-write of their existing application code base. Then , a definite time frame cannot be stipulated. I do not think any company will be able to bid and make a margin out this. So , participation of private companies using FOSS is less probable. > >I think there are companies, who had done much more than this using >free software alone. > Most of the Big Enterprise software requires a semi compiled ( JITed ) language based platform like Java or .NET . They require army of focused programmers to ship the code with 20%-30% slippage in time (on an average ). To get all these combination right , along with the economics ( "the goddess of all constraints" ) is a tough ask. Anish's point about Vendor lock-in is a significant one. At this point of time , due to above factors nothing cannot be done. The Ideal scenario is a ) Let the KSEB appoint some Management Consulting Company to have an Open Specification on the System requirement. b) Based on this , They can invite competitive bids . Let them, get it implemented by the most compettitive bidder ( and hope they can deliver ! ) c) A FOSS project around this can be started to realize an alternate implementation. If that is robust enough , let us hope some company will use that as a base to the next version of the product. Some time back , there was great interest in a Agile development tool ( which has already got a running implementation using .NET stack ) based on FOSS platform here. A proposal was mooted here by a senior guy and lot of people did show interest in it . I did not hear anything about that after that. Let that be a start for the above kind of initiatives. I think , KSEB billing software can be classified as "Private Software" ( Of course for a Public sector utility company ) , so what is wrong in using Proprietary tools ? One more suggestion , Let FSF know about this and they might be able to find somewhere in the world such a solution exists . I think , Brazil , Germany or Venezula might be the place to look for . ( Billing software can be domain independent. I know of an instance were a Financial sector billing solution getting customized for Utility application . By changing Configuration and some pluggins) SunTec is a company who is into this business. They are the only possibility in this scenario. regards Praseed Pai --- On Sun, 11/7/10, Anish A <[email protected]> wrote: From: Anish A <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ILUG-Cochin.org] Fwd: Another Attack to Free Software To: "This List discusses GNU/Linux & GNU, GPL Software" <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 1:11 PM I don't agree with views of praseed pai. The problems like vendor lock-in and others are much more headache than the mere convenience. I think there are companies, who had done much more than this using free software alone. 2010/11/7, R Satheesh <[email protected]>: > He has pointed the truth. I appreciate he revealed exact possiton of FOSS > adn > Linux User Group Even my company needs ERP package for their use. Fist we > sought out the help of linux programmers. None can give us any guarantee on > time schedule and future support and at last we end-up buying proprietary > software. > > somebody has to take initiative and dedication to build a software firm with > some credibility otherwise it will be difficut to get support/orders from > corporate houses. > > > Regards, > Satheesh > > > > ________________________________ > From: Kenney Jacob <[email protected]> > To: "This List discusses GNU/Linux & GNU, GPL Software" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Sat, 6 November, 2010 7:52:11 PM > Subject: Re: [ILUG-Cochin.org] Fwd: Another Attack to Free Software > > One area where we could have made a difference was the tender for data > centers. > But did not see anyone taking any interest in it. > > > > Kenney Jacob > FaceBook Twitter Blog Company > > > > On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 6:19 PM, Praseed Pai <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi all , >> >> I think , some kind of politics between the UDF and LDF is the reason >> behind >>this criticism. >> >> >>But , >> >>Let us ponder a bit deeper >> >>Is there any company exists in Kerala who can do a project of this >> magnitude >>using FOSS tools ? >> >>Only a deep pocketed company can bid for this and I doubt , any FOSS based >>company in kerala ( for that matter , India and probably in the whole world >> ) >>is in a position to do this. Maximum strength I have seen is under Hundred. >> ( I >>am counting on LAMP stack companies here. I do not know of any company >>worth mentioning which specializes in Free Software alone . Most companies >> use >>FOSS tools as a way to lessen the running cost ) >> >>Is there any way out ? >> >>Kerala Govt. Should spend hell lot of money to set up a Software company , >> Data >>center and related infrastructure to have a FOSS based billing software for >> >>KSEB. >> >> >>But, When Govt. can get the work done through Compettitive billing , what >> is the >>point in taking that head ache. I do not think , any sane govt. will do it. >> >>Can community help ? >> >>I have noticed a curious pattern in FOSS community in Kerala. Most of them >> are >>System adminstrators specializing in GNU Linux tools. If there are software >> >>professionals , they are freelancers who look for opportunistic work ! ( >> Most of >>them are too lazy to work in a team environment and on top of it , poor >>communicators too ) >> >>For Enterprise Software , Java or the .NET is the obvious choice . So , >> only a >>company which specializes in it can build such a software. Let us throw >> out >>.NET out of the equation. I have seen FOSS enthusiast , I have seen Java >>Enthusiast , I have not seen much FOSS JAVA enthusiasts! >> >>So , FOSS community cannot do anything here. Let the proprietory people >> take the >>initiative or let the status quo remain untill , we build a community of >>programmers or some deep pocketed companies do this . >> >> >>Here talk about Freedom , Licensing and other petty issues do not take us >>forward. >> >> >> >> >>regards >>Praseed Pai >>http://praseedp.blogspot.com >> >> >> >> >>--- On Sat, 11/6/10, Ranjith S <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> >>>From: Ranjith S <[email protected]> >>>Subject: [ILUG-Cochin.org] Fwd: Another Attack to Free Software >>>To: "This List discusses GNU/Linux & GNU, GPL Software" >>><[email protected]>, [email protected] >>>Date: Saturday, November 6, 2010, 6:15 AM >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>Regards >>> >>>Ranjith Siji >>>Walking Ants Technologies >>>http://www.walkingants.com >>>http://ranjith.zfs.in >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>>From: Ranjith S <[email protected]> >>>Date: 2010/11/6 >>>Subject: Another Attack to Free Software >>>To: [email protected] >>> >>> >>> >>>http://www.mathrubhumi.com/online/malayalam/news/story/604099/2010-11-06/kerala > >>> >>>Kerala News - ബില്ലിങ് കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്വത്കരണം: സ്വതന്ത്ര >>> സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയറിനെതിരെ >>>കെ.എസ്.ഇ.ബി എന്ജിനിയര് സംഘടന - India, World News - Mathrubhumi Newspaper >>> >>>Edition >>>Mathrubhumi,Malayalam Newspaper Edition Online,Kerala News - ബില്ലിങ് >>>കമ്പ്യൂട്ടര്വത്കരണം: സ്വതന്ത്ര സോഫ്റ്റ്വെയറിനെതിരെ കെ.എസ്.ഇ.ബി >>> എന്ജിനിയര് >>>സംഘടന - India, World News >>>Regards >>> >>>Ranjith Siji >>>Walking Ants Technologies >>>http://www.walkingants.com >>>http://ranjith.zfs.in >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>-----Inline Attachment Follows----- >>> >>> >>>_______________________________________________ >>>Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List >>>http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ >>>http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org >>>#[email protected] >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List >>http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ >>http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org >>#[email protected] >> > > > -- Regards, Anish A http://identi.ca/aneeshnl *സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം തന്നെയമൃതം സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം തന്നെ ജീവിതം പാരതന്ത്ര്യം മാനികള്ക്ക് മൃതിയെക്കാള് ഭയാനകം *- മഹാകവി കുമാരനാശാന് _______________________________________________ Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org #[email protected]
_______________________________________________ Indian Libre User Group Cochin Mailing List http://www.ilug-cochin.org/mailing-list/ http://mail.ilug-cochin.org/mailman/listinfo/mailinglist_ilug-cochin.org #[email protected]
