Free software wins support among communists in India
692321
(InfoWorld) - The Indian state of Kerala has decided to promote free and open-source software in education, but will not make it compulsory, a minister in Keralaâs communist government said Wednesday. The government would like to avoid a monopoly by Microsoft and provide equal opportunity for both Linux and Microsoftâs Windows operating system in schools, said M.A. Baby, education minister in the Kerala government on Wednesday. The Kerala government is encouraging some 12,500 schools to give training on free and open-source software such as Linux. The decision to use Linux or Windows would be taken by teachers and students in each of the schools, Baby said. The move by the government reflects growing interest in free and open-source software among students in Kerala, according to Baby. About 60 percent of students use Linux in their school projects, rather than Windows, as they see the benefits of free and open-source software, according to Baby. â We want to increase the number of students using Linux,â he said. Kerala in south India had a population of 31.8 million, according to the census in 2001 of the government of India. The state has a literacy rate of 91 percent, the highest in the country. The recent statements by the Kerala government in favor of free and open-source software were prompted by the visit to the state last week by Richard Stallman, president of the Boston-based Free Software FoundationÂ (FSF). The government will take the lead in popularizing free software, the stateâs Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said last week at a seminar on âFree Software for Keralaâs developmentâ at which Stallman was also a speaker. Stallman, who also visited West Bengal, another communist-run state, was able to win some support from local political leaders. This is also not the first time that the state of Kerala has shown interest in alternatives to proprietary software. The IT policy announced in 2001 by the previous non-communist Kerala government stated that the government wishes to encourage the judicious use of open-source or free software that complements or supplements proprietary software. The position of the Kerala government is different from that of Indiaâs federal government in Delhi, which has declined to take a stand in regards to either type of software. Some Indian federal and state agencies have been beneficiaries of Microsoftâs programs to promote the use of information technology in schools.
14914
Open source software is a viable alternative to commercial proprietary software, with potential significant value-for-money benefits for government, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has concluded.
210794
Viyya Technologies, Inc. (Pink Sheets: VYON),  developer and marketer of the world's most  advanced, Web 2.0 information management application, today announced  the roll out of VIYYA&#8482; Free Edition, the first  commercially available application in the company's  product suite.
83181
Richard Stallman from the FSF, Ray Saunders from the World Scout Bureau and the author discuss the connections between free software and Scouting philosophies.
132244
Yahoo and IBM jointly introduced free software that businesses could use to find information stored in their own computers or on the Internet.
151742
OPEN SOURCE champion Microsoft is expanding its programme to give government organisations some of its source code. In a communique from the lair of the Vole, in Redmond, spinsters have said that Microsoft
478356
By Steve Johnson, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.  Jun. 8--IBM said Thursday that it is giving health authorities and others around the world expanded access to free software it partly developed in San Jose to help track bird flu and other infectious diseases.
555093
Can a piece of software make a difference in the lives of factory workers in the Far East?
519681
The goal is to convince more government agencies and private companies to use more open-source software.
749382
By its very nature, open-source software would appear to run counter to the goals of venture capitalists. Not only is it distributed and developed for free by a loose-knit group of techies from around the
187630
The Free Standards Group and the Open Source Development Labs(OSDL) hope that improved standards for Linux will help accelerate its adoption by enterprise and large business customers.
239592
Looking to avoid the costly fragmentation that stifled the Unix market, members of the Free Standards Group have announced a new version of a critical Linux standard that many of its proponents hope will cement the future for the open-source operating
95224
Several organisations will celebrate Saturday&#39;s International Software Freedom Day by hosting open source events around the country.
709158
NEW DELHI -- Microsoft Corp. will distribute free software to nonprofit groups to boost charity in India, a company official said Monday.
738668
The Free Software Foundation's new license gets a major endorsement from a major server software project.
313111
Indian labs churn out technologies to help users in developing countries keep up with the information age even if they can't afford a computer, don't live near a phone or speak a language that can't be typed on a standard keyboard. By Manu Joseph.
552557
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California  - The high priests of  free software have congregated at Google Inc.   headquarters this week to debate the future of the movement and  face down recent patent threats by Microsoft Corp. .