[vox-tech] Microsoft triumphs over open source in India

[Norm Matloff]

I'm sure many of you will love the line, "But Microsoft is popular even
in the villages." :-)

A similar thing happened in Mexico, I believe, with Bill Gates meeting
directly with Pres. Fox after Mexico's academic community recommended
that the country use Linux.

Linux seems to have a better chance with the Chinese government.
Interesting, they view it as a security issue--they don't view Windows
as insecure, but consider dependency on it to be insecure.

Norm

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=Ind
ia%20Microsoft%20Support

Monday, December 20, 2004 · Last updated 6:11 p.m. PT

Indian tech city turns to Microsoft

By S.SRINIVASAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BANGALORE, India -- Microsoft Corp. won a battle against open source software 
supporters in India's technology hub of Bangalore, with local authorities 
choosing its software for networking the state's utilities and services.

An e-governance project for the 55 million people of Karnataka state, of 
which Bangalore is the capital, will begin April 2005 and will be powered by 
Microsoft's proprietary software, an official said Monday.
...
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, on a visit to India in November 2002, wooed 
the federal and state governments in India, offering to sell his company's 
software at prices much lower than market rates.
...
Microsoft's critics have opposed the plan, saying it was only a trick to tie 
large populations to proprietary software.

"By using proprietary systems, you are locked into a technology over which 
you have no control," said Frederick Noronha, an activist who supports greater 
freedom for software users.

"But Microsoft is quite popular even in villages. Let open source become so 
popular, then we will have no problem using it," Chawla countered.
...