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By Frederick Noronha The world's richest man, Bill Gates, is pouring money into India. Is it largely because of the challenge posed by the GNU/Linux computer operating system? And what really are the benefits of Free Software?
 In early December some 2000 enthusiasts signed up for Linux Bangalore 2002, the city's major Open Source conference which is now shaping into an annual event. Some 75 talks were presented, and full-hall crowds thronged to tune in to many of the parallel sessions that went on in upto five halls simultaneously.
Not just that, GNU/Linux supporters from Mumbai already have begun discussing plans for their own major event sometime in 2003, while in February next, Kerala is talking about having a national conference on GNU/Linux in India. Across the country, individual coders, companies and institutions are showing a growing interest in code that promises 'freedom' to its users and developers. Free Software Foundation (India) has recently been incorporated as a private company. Sarai.net, a Delhi-based programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Studies, is finalising a program to offer small grants to coders willing to write Free Software/Open Source programs. Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, a youngster in his 20s of Indian origin but now based in the Netherlands, played a key role in a study on the contribution of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS, as he terms it quite aptly) to the European Union. Another South Asian, Niranjan Rajani, based in Finland, is leading a study on whether FLOSS can help the Third World computerise in an affordable and sustainable manner. There's clearly something happening. Bill Gates' recent visit to India also highlighted something that few had taken note of-the most dominant player in the global software bazaar recognises that GNU/Linux is a difficult-to-cope-with challenge, even if it isn't being admitted in as many words. Ironically, in November, the founder of the Free Software movement, whose ideas have influenced much of the current achivements of GNU/Linux, was in India, taking across a different message. Richard Stallman undertook a low profile and largely volunteer-supported visit of India, even while the ideas he spends a lifetime to uphold kept getting bounced back and forth across this vast country. Incidentally, Richard Stallman is the founder of the GNU Project, launched in 1984 to develop the free operating system GNU (an acronym for "GNU's Not Unix''). He thereby gave computer users the freedom that most of them have lost, in the view of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) advocates. GNU is free software: everyone is free to copy it and redistribute it, as well as to make changes either large or small. Stallman has also founded the related Free Software Foundation (FSF) and is outspoken about his belief that all software should be free (not in a price sense, but in a freedom-sense). In his view proprietary software, for which corporations charge a fee but don't release an adjustable source-code, is wrong from a "moral or ethical standpoint". From a US-developer's point of view-the world-view in which this debate originated-the freedom that GNU/Linux gives is not related to price. ('Free' software can be priced, but must offer the four other defined freedoms.) But the fact that it is easily copyable means FLOSS would naturally tend to come at much more affordable prices. In price-sensitive markets like India, this could be critical. But this was hardly obvious. Gates hogged the headlines with his millions donated to battle AIDS. Journalists fell over each other to get a wide range of stories, from different parts of the country about the doings and sayings of the world's richest man. In the sidelines, however, a fascinating debate was underway. It raged on international fora like Slashdot (slashdot.org), where the role of India in the Free/Libre and Open Source Software world suddenly became larger than life. Till two years back, it was widely believed that Indians were hardly "contributing" to the volunteer-driven world of FLOSS, and that it was not much of an issue in this country. Whichever side of the debate one takes, this is obviously going to impact how India computerises, how many among the hundreds of millions get access to computing, what role this country plays at a global scale, and also leaves us to choose which is the best way forward. Obviously this has strong implications for the future of India's software industry. For a country that sees itself as a software-superpower-in-the-making, the question of which path to choose throws up a dilemma. But then, there are two sides of the coin. One senior official from Madhya Pradesh-a state which came out openly in favour of Free/Libre and Open Source Software even as Bill Gates left India-was quick to suggest that Northern India, which are primarily users of computing, had a differing interest from the southern states, which were producers of IT. Gates downplayed the challenge he was facing from GNU/Linux. But one thing seems clear-the Microsoft emphasis on education and localisation of computing is aimed at taking on fields where GNU/Linux campaigners have been working... and also spurring on appreciable interest. Incidentally to blunt criticism about proprietary software over-charging the Third World and developing countries, Gates has argued that its prices are adjusted to be "appropriate to different segments". Microsoft-having perhaps belatedly realised the importance of catching students young, after a number of GNU/Linux school projects were reported even in Indian locations like Goa, Delhi and Kerala-now talks about charging "less" or "nothing" for software used in education. Plans to donate money to Project Shiksha, which is to teach some 3.5 million children, are "tied to the condition that the project will purchase only licensed Microsoftware", charged FSF-India. Contrary to claims that Microsoft had "low princing", FSF-India argues that it was not a question of the "initial software cost", but rather that "Microsoft would benefit tremendously from such a project even if it were to supply its software free of cost as long as it is Microsoft software". Besides, by "denying" its users the freedom to study, modify and redistribute the software, students and teachers of Project Shiksha would not have the option of "looking under the hood" to see how the software works. Said FSF-India: "If they find problems with the software or if they wish to customise it, they will not have the means or the right to make such corrections or modifications, either by themselves or by engaging a third party. They will have to depend solely on Microsoft to provide such corrections or modifications. They will be denied the right to share the software with others outside the purview of the project premises, leading young and impressionable minds to believe that sharing is wrong!" One educationist from an engineering college in India confided to this writer that moves were afoot to push Windows harder in education. Windows has often come in for criticism over its prices here, largely unaffordable by Third World standards. One study in Vietnam says the cost of Windows XP and MS Office standard is $560 (based on prices quoted on amazon.com). Thus it would take an average Vietnamese one year and three months to earn enough to buy these badly-needed tools. Not much different is the case of an average Indian. This study was done by Jordi Carrasco-Munoz of the EC Delegation to Vietnam. Is it surprising that the percentage of illegally-copied software in Vietnam is 97%, asks the researcher. Carrasco-Munoz argues that "while Microsoft 2000 localised in 24 languages, there are 8,500 languages in the world... and Open Office can be localised in two weeks". But even while Gates was in India, there were other trends discernible in the air. Reports from the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, suggested that the West Bengal government is considering using Free/Libre and Open-Source operating systems (OS) like GNU/Linux as an alternative to Microsoft Corp's Windows OS in its school computer literacy programme. It is reported to have approached hardware maker International Business Machines (IBM) to provide the system support. In Kerala, Arun M and Dr Krishnan are currently involved in writing a GNU/Linux book for ninth standard school students. For a change, it looks as if the world is looking at India, both due to this unintended happening of both Gates and Stallman coming calling at about the same time... and the fireworks resulting from the clash of two approaches. Added Khaled Alghoneim, of the Saudi Arabia GNU/Linux group: "After India announced its intentions to partly switch to [GNU/]Linux, Bill Gates is flying there for four days! We have tried hard here in SA to invite him (two letters from our leadership!), and they say that his schedule is booked for three years. I think we need to announce something like the Indians have (and of course, have their advanced software industry) in order to attract attention." Said Dr Jose Colaco, a South Asian settled in the distant Bahamas, who was equally cynical, while commenting on a mailing-list: "Interesting how [GNU/]Linux helped Gates to think of AIDS in India. Hey Billy boy, what about donating some money to Prez. Clinton's Africa-AIDS drive?" Abdul Rahman Aljadhai <
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>, also from Saudi Arabia, agrees that the situation is indeed strange. Said Aljadhai, "Bill Gates thinks that Linux is more dangerous than AIDS? He is donating $421 million to fight Linux (to prop up Windows in India) and only $100 million to fight AIDS." (Frederick Noronha is a freelance journalist based in Goa-India interested in developmental issues) Third World Network Features, December 2002
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