The Bangalore One Project: FACT FROM FICTION

Reading the blog of a very interesting independent consultant whose livelihood depends on FUD (now we have heard this term enough no of times, haven't we?) .. I am sure that the ONLY good Indian citizen he is, there is enough information that exists with him to make sure that our country is in safe hands and not in the hands of some evil empire.. Interesting read for anyone who wants to learn about the devil in mind and really wants to see FUD at work..

Let's look into the wisdom of the wise man:

  1. "built on lack of information by the people executing it. ": there is enough information on all technologies out there and people undertaking such an effort want to make sure that the project finished in time (instead of a research project that never completes). Unfortunately, people assume that they are the only ones who know or think they are vigilant.
  2. "proprietary platform": well arguments on what is proprietary has never ceased. and if you are talking about source code, it is available to govts. who wants it from MS (duh!)
  3. "by an American software company": How much software is being developed out of India can be seen, if you visit the India Development Center. Do you know the word - "multinational"? The no of jobs being created in India due to this is just phenomenal sir.Add to this, none of the proponents of the "Open Source" are Indian companies including Red Hat, Debian, SUSE or IBM (wonder where the money is coming from).
  4. "is the most insecure platform in the industry today": Check out this website for updating yourself. And talking about the bugs in software, here is a non-sponsored report that talks about more vulnerabilities in Linux than Microsoft.
    Apart from the no. of bugs, responsiveness and thoroughness are equally important (if you didn't know that)! To quote evidence, between Jan - Aug 2004 Red Hat Enterprise 3 had 54 security advisories and Windows Server 2003 had only 10. Get on speed with attack vulnerabilities on Linux v/s Microsoft here.
  5. "the United states government or European governments do not do this.": Well, US military is the largest consumer for the MS technologies. My friend, does military qualify your criteria? And in case you want to find out other govt. agencies who have implemented this, READ this.
  6. ""Popularity" in this context is a measure of how many people are using one application instead of another. ": Yes, that's what I believe and so does Britannica, Encarata, dictionary.com and many more. Quoting from Brtiannica.com - popularity: "the state of frequently encountered or widely accepted" or from wikipedia: "A person, action, decision or thing becomes popular if many people like or use that entity/object. Thus popular means both "well liked" and "common" or "mass"." In villages people have seen Windows more than Linux I believe..
    With release of local language packs for Windows, many villagers will now be able to use PCs without the need for learning a new language. While Windows provides 9 Indian languages (fully supported), Red Hat distributions are still to launch them in Feb 2005.Our popularity is justified given the fact that Linux distris are now aping Windows interface e.g. Evolution, X Windows.
  7. "Further, there is hardly any software development forum in India today that does not have immense Open Source development skills": Well, this has been true for ages for MS technologies. What are you saying, Linux Application Development is now getting somewhere. Wasn't Microsoft App Development there much before?
  8. "Open Source technologies are free of legal and commercial issues that one invariably finds when using Microsoft technologies.": Sure, that's why SCO is suing everyone using the Linux Kernel and Red Hat is offering a legal protection for its "customers".


It is a known fact that the development cycles of non-MS technologies (open or not) is much larger than for MS technologies and hence more expensive (more people working for longer time means more money being paid out).

If government was to open a software development arm (which it is not in near future) it wouldn't then "purchase" support from one of the "Open Software" Companies. This support is more expensive than the MS product + Support + EA.. Damn, man do you know economics? Get the support pricing from "Open Software" companies here. And to educate you further, read the non-sponsored Forrester report.

Since "Open Software" companies and consultants are not giving out anything for "free" (it is such an irony), here is your dose of support and acquisition cost analysis.
And yes "commercial interests" is one of the main reason why many companies/consultants running Open Source consultancies are so interested in the Open Software...

Finally when the Bangalore One project is over, my friend your land records will be on MS system run by the local authorities while you will be on a Linux system with a fantastic consultancy in Bangalore.

I would urge the Indian and Karnataka Government to keep greater good in mind rather than euphemism 'cause of which our country has suffered enough. We got past from the "Hindu rate of growth" when the economy was liberalised.

Only by giving up unnecessary scruples can we aim to become a GREAT nation!
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This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Comments

Geetesh said…
Abhishek, I loved your rejoinder. At least, it is well researched and peppered with references to sources rather than a whole lot of gobbledygook in that other source.

I really believe people make a lot of money from FUD - these FUD propagators have their identity built around negative attitudes towards anything that is popular - and that includes Microsoft.

Would it not be better to evolve a life that evolves around usability - rather than spreading word about “colored” and “influenced” ideas?
Sriram said…
Nice post! One correction - its SCO which is suing people using Linux and not Novell
Sriram said…
Btw, I've sent a mail to Atul Chitnis about this - let's see how he responds..or whether he responds at all.
Abhishek Kant said…
Thanks Sriram for the correction.. It is indeed SCO (not Novell who is involved in the litigation)..
Anonymous said…
Good Post abhishek. I read Mr. Chitnis's page and I do agree with you. I think he had made the comments based on the "Information available" to him.

I am writing a mail to him regarding the same.

regards
Sandeep Joshi
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