The Tamil Nadu government is adding costly MS software to laptops meant for poor students. It could cost Rs 10,200 Crore and hamper student growth
Sai Manish New Delhi "Diplomatic observers point out to the stopover of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Chennai on July 20-21 when she met Jayalalithaa before flying out to Indonesia on a state visit." [...] "Two cables, one originating in the embassy at Hanoi and the other at the embassy in Tunis, throw enough light on the scale and nature of the government-corporation nexus in the United States and its influence on world governments. According to one of the cables, the US government ‘intervened’ to force Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dzung to sign an agreement with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that would require Hanoi to pay Microsoft $20 million for 3 lakh licences. This even though the Vietnamese PM wanted to hold the Microsoft deal as a deliverable till he met the US president later that year. Now put that deal in an Indian context where 68 lakh licences would be required under Jayalalithaa’s ambitious free laptop scheme and the business of diplomacy becomes clear. The Microsoft deal of 3 lakh licences was dubbed in the cable as ‘the most significant agreement Vietnam has ever signed with a US business’." [...] Even the special adviser to the Prime Minister, Sam Pitroda, believes that in a scheme like this there is no scope for burdening students with stifling software that would eventually become a liability for students. “I would strongly recommend going in for open source software since it gives students the capability to innovate, improvise and be creative. There is no difference between using expensive proprietary software and open source platforms and students who fear that their job prospects might be hurt because of using free software are completely misplaced in their fears,” Pitroda told TEHELKA. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws101011MICROSOFT.asp -- പ്രവീണ് അരിമ്പ്രത്തൊടിയില് You have to keep reminding your government that you don't get your rights from them; you give them permission to rule, only so long as they follow the rules: laws and constitution. _______________________________________ Pune GNU/Linux Users Group Mailing List