[ILUG-BOM] India's contribution to Linux

[Philip S Tellis]

On 6 Jul 2001, Srikanth R P wrote:

[cc'ed to original poster]

> 1. Why do you think Linux is important to India?

Linux is `free software'.  Free as in the four freedoms provided by the
GPL, not necessarily free of cost.  These freedoms allow us primarily,
to see the source, and more importantly to modify it.  What does all
this mean to India?

- First off, having access to the source means we can perform our own
security audits on it.  This is the main reason why most security
oriented organisations use open source software.  This is also the
reason why certain other governments (Germany and China in
particular) have chosen to use free software rather than proprietary
software.

- We could also customise the source for specific needs.  Building an OS
from scratch is a huge task.  Having a ready made base to build up from
cuts a few years off the development time.  This is a great advantage
for Indian software houses.  Apart from the OS kernel, there are
innumerable commercial quality packages to perform almost all other
tasks.

- In education, linux is probably the ideal place for students to learn
about operating systems and networks.  Linux as a networking system is
most excellent because it has support for almost every network
around.  Apart from the default TCP/IP and NFS servers that are common
on Unix, linux can be used as a Windows NT file server using SaMBa, as a
Novell Netware server using Mars-nwe, as an Appletalk peer, and many
more.  In many cases, the linux versions of these servers are actually
faster than the original on the same hardware.

- Works on cheaper hardware than most other popular software.  This
makes it possible for us to still use old hardware with linux.  I
personally still use a Pentium 133 Mhz machine that gives me very good
performance.  With a powerful server exporting applications to less
powerful clients with only an X server, we can run heavy applications
like StarOffice on even a 386.  This has been done by some of the
luggers at HBCSE.

- Amazing support for development tools.  The linux community has a very
large number of development tools - the community being made up mostly
of developers.  Compilers for virtually every language around exist (C#
is an exception).  There is even a limited VB interpreter.  Support for
all existing protocols is introduced almost immediately after the
protocol is developed.  And the best unix editors with built in language
support.  Regex support in everything is what makes it so cool.

The shell has amazing tools that make everything easier.  After having
used the unix shell, one wonders how one ever did without it.

> 2. Have Indians contributed to the growth of Linux? Can you mention
> some names or examples? Have any Indians contributed to the
> development of the Kernel?
>
> 5. Do you know of any companies in India who have developed
> applications for the Linux platform?

Well, the various lugs in India contribute a lot by way of advocacy and
support.  Several people also work on applications for linux.  As far as
kernel development goes, others have already answered this question, so
I won't.  What is really needed though, are linux based applications,
and many Indians do work on these as has already been mentioned by
others.

I have personally developed a few applications, most notably my program
called `httptype' that has received over 2000 downloads from freshmeat.  
Although most of my programs were developed for and under linux, they
are cross-platform, and work on any system where the required
compilers/interpreters run.

I have also worked on a few other GPL'ed products, having submitted
patches for the namazu search engine (http://www.namazu.org/) and a
minor bug fix in squishdot (http://www.squishdot.org/ BSD Licence)

> 3.  What do you think about the Linux movement in India? What is the
> current scenario? Why companies like IBM are keen on promoting
> Linux?
>
> 6. What do you think should be done to promote the growth of Linux
> in India?

It's going along pretty well.  Needs more awareness though, but then,
we've also got to educate people about the difference between hackers
and crackers.  You can read my article on the topic at
http://www.ncst.ernet.in/~philip/writings/hackers-not-crackers.html, but
that's a different topic.

What is really needed is to tell people why open source software is good
for them and why proprietary software is bad.  We need to tell people
that linux is really easy to use (it is now), and that it solves many of
the problems that they've had with windows.  We should also get linux
into schools, cybercafes, and companies.

Explaining how linux will be beneficial and cost effective to schools,
will convince the administrators.  We can look to the K12 and Mexico
projects to see how they've done it and how successful they've been.

> 4. Has the Indian government showing a keen interest in Linux ? Can
> you mention some names and examples?

There was mention of the BJP trying to push linux,
(http://tumtumonline.tripod.com/), but since this is a tripod site, I
have certain doubts about that.  You could check it out and decide for
yourself.


Hope this will help with your article.

Philip

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