Linux opening new windows for business Economic Times, DECEMBER 18, 2002 <http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=31 58 9906>
Nasscom believes open source software represents a significant area of potential business growth for Indian software companies both in domestic and global markets. However, open source software like Linux still has challenges to overcome in the Indian market though it has proliferated rapidly world-wide, a Nasscom report on the Indian Linux market observes. The Indian IT industryís most widely discussed market has to make itís mark by moving from hype to actual deployment, and as the OS matures and moves up the evolutionary cycle, it is likely to garner larger support among IT user segments, the apex industry body states. The IDC, in its forecast and analysis during 2000 has also stated that Linux was the fastest growing OS in the world and expected to become the largest OS by 2004. According to Nasscomís vice president-research, Sunil Mehta the open source movement is making strides in India with the developer community evincing interest in the Linux platform. Though there are no pointed statistics on the Linux market, the doors are gradually opening to the low-cost, flexible and scaleable platform like Linux, he said. The cost reduction and bottomline benefits have attracted Indian corporates to give Linux a try. The government segment is expected to become a key implementer in open source solutions for various e-governance projects. The penetration of Linux among the R&D and education institutions is also pushing up its stock in the market. From IITs to centres of learning and research like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and C-DAC, Linux finds many takers. While the corporate sector is yet another segment, the low-cost advantage of Linux is likely to go down well with the small and medium enterprise segment. The SME market will create a huge opportunity for Linux, where SMEs can deploy to access web servers and mail servers. With its strengths as an easily customisable OS, Linux could well be used to spark off an Indian language software revolution in the country. There are several initiatives underway to localise Linux in Indian languages. For instance, IIT-Chennai is working on localising Linux to Malayalam and Tamil, while IIT-Bangalore has committed resources to the IndLinux project. Linux is still largely found at the printer-server stage rather than at the mission-critical database server level. Besides, analysts point out that Linux deployments are confined predominantly to the server-end with less action at the desktop. This factor could impede Linux's rapid-fire expansion in the Indian market, notwithstanding the issue of OS turf wars with established players. =========================================================== Ashish Kotamkar ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Mithi Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (www.mithi.com) Communicate in your own language. Log onto www.mailjol.com. =========================================================== ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
