Proprietary, open source can co-exist, says IT secy

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NEW DELHI: The Department of IT on Wednesday made it clear that there was a place for both proprietary and open source software in its larger scheme to provide the country with a robust IT infrastructure.

Amidst persistent reports that the government is pushing for open source software in the form of a Linux India initiative that includes a policy shift, IT secretary Rajeeva Ratna Shah, on Wednesday clarified that the IT Department has never been vendor-specific, product-specific or genre-specific in its approach.

"The final decision will rest with the consumer and it is market and competitive forces that will decide which gets priority," he said. According to him, the government is interested in keeping abreast of global trends in technology usage and he had therefore called a meeting of industry to study the potential for open source software.

While there was no specific agenda finalised, the interaction revealed that open source software may prove to be more cost-effective in research and development initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide, he told ET.

Since affordability is a criterion in this country, if internet penetration is increased, it would be possible for poor consumers who cannot afford costly applications to download them from the Net — and this was mainly built on open source software, he explained.

"It would be wrong to say the government is excluding a particular proprietary system to boost another open source system. But it is true that we would be relying on both and in the process may help open source acquire the strength it lacks today."

View: The complete story @ The Economic Times(India)

News source: Newsforge

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(3 replies) #1 Greenmuncher on 26 Dec 2002 - 18:59

i hope this dosent spark another open vs close (anti Ms zealots) I use both open and closed source software each have their own qualities

#1.1 Rambo2000 on 26 Dec 2002 - 22:58

Each have there own qualities for now but open source is a much better way of doing software when you think of it, with closed source, they have to keep re inventing the wheel. What I mean by that is that a lot of money is wasted because people guard there closed software with there life in the name of greed, where by with open source, you don't have to keep starting from the begining which saves a lot of money, like say the Unreal and Quake engine, they have to spend a lot of money of two diffrent engings because of them being closed, both having to start from the begining, where if they where open source, they would be shared, it would cost them a lot less money, the enging would be a lot better because they don't have to keep starting from the begining and we as user get the rewards, the same goes with MP3 and WMA, Internet Explore and Netscape and many other software, so much money is being wasted to having to have to start from the begining and slows progress down, we as users are the ones that pay the price. Quite a lot of people fear open source which is stupid, it's not like you have to use it, but it's not that what they fear, they fear the idea that it will be much harder to compeat with open source, so someone who is doing software that is closed source with have to do a damn good job if they want my money, and as Linux is starting to prove, if it can be done on a OS which is one of the most complex software that can be made, the same thing can be done to any software. The only ones who will really fear this are the ones who create software that get paid for it, but for everyone else, we all benefit.

#1.2 boo_star on 27 Dec 2002 - 03:53

That must possibly be the most stupid post I have ever read on Neowin. There is no greed in MS, just as there is no greed in Ford or any other company which wishes to make a profit, or break even. Closed source is as evolutionary as open source, however you dont have to pay for open source. The world can live with both OS's, as it has for about 20 years.

#1.3 Rambo2000 on 27 Dec 2002 - 10:10

Thats got to be the most stupid thing I have ever heard, there is no greed in Microsoft and Ford?, what planet you been living on?

The only thing they care about is greed and how much money they can make out of us, If Microsoft really cared, they would drop the price of windows and other software they have, even without competions, but you know as well as anyone else does that Microsoft will only drop there price if there is competions with them as they'll rob us blind as long as we keep paying up, so if thats not greed then what is? We could live in both OS's, but it's unlikely to happen as no one will see the point once Linux gets to the stage where it can do it all, be honest with yourself, are you really going to pay $150 or what ever it is to Microsoft when you could get Linux thats free or next to free and does the same job?, Linux is not good enough yet but it's getting there and most people will pick that because of the price and no one owns it. The same thing is likely to happen with many if not all software. Look at OGG, thats open and free and it's better then MP3 and a lot say it's better then MP3 Pro, now it's not that hard for me to pick which I should go for, and thats what some people fear, software like OGG coming out and being better then MP3 and not asking for a penny for it, weather you like it or not, you can't really beat that, getting it better and for free, most people will use there brains and this is why Microsoft are worried.