The Hindu : Growing fears over proposed deal with Microsoft

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 11, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Growing fears over proposed deal with Microsoft

By T. Ramavarman

THRISSUR NOV. 10. The high-pitch publicity blitz that has been launched on the `success' of Kerala delegation in having secured a direct meeting with the Microsoft chief, Bill Gates, on Tuesday in New Delhi has triggered off the fears among some computer professionals that it was a step to build up the case for a sell out of the State's IT sector to that international computer giant. Coming as it does in the wake of the intense debates between the supporters of the proprietary softwares like that of Microsoft and of the `free softwares' like GNU Linux the expectations raised on the proposed meeting between the Kerala delegation and Mr. Gates are seen by these professionals as an attempt to shift the balance in favour of the former group. No doubt, it can be argued that it was only incidental that the meeting is taking place now because Mr. Gates was here at this point of time in connection with the IT Mela in Bangalore. But interestingly one of the pioneers of the free software development, Richard Stallman, was also in India in connection with Bangalore IT mela, and hardly any effort was being made by the State to have a serious meeting with him. Even though reports say that the efforts of the Kerala delegation will be to woo some of the IT-enabled service projects of the Microsoft to the State, there are fears this may eventually lead to the entry of that multi-national company into the e-governance programmes and other vital sectors of the State.

If that happens, it will have grave consequence not only on the IT sector but on whole gamut of the State system and civil society in the near future because it will mean surrendering all vital interests of the State and of the people to an MNC that has a proven record of being an aggressive corporate predator, the professional point out. The basic difference between a `free software' and `proprietary software' is that while the former releases its source code along with the software package the latter keeps the source code confidential. This approach gives several advantages to the free software over the proprietary software. For example, the `free software' can be duplicated for multiple installations without any additional charge whereas in the case of proprietary software this is considered to be an illegal action violating the provisions of anti-piracy acts and can invite penal steps. Since the source code of the free-software is known, its buyer has the freedom to modify and reuse it. Here the only condition is that the modified version also should be released freely to the public. This will encourage the creativity of the users and the production of numerous versions from one software, a possibility that goes well with the pluralistic content of the modern democratic states. However, the proprietary software is highly dependent on its providers as the source code will be known to the producers alone, and if the original supplier stops their supply, the end user will be at a total loss. This will also stunt the creativity of the programme users because they can only `apply' a given software and cannot intervene in it at any stage. The proprietary software is also considered to be a potential threat for the security of nations and citizens because of the fact that it was being produced by a private group and the refusal to release the source code deprives the user the possibility of checking it for any malicious functions inside. But since the free software system is being developed continuously by a team of professionals from all over the world, mainly on voluntary basis, there are only minimal prospects of any single vested interest manipulating it. Also here the end user can eliminate such an eventuality through proper inspection using the given source code.

Another attraction of the free software is its lower cost than the proprietary software, though there are arguments that the former will invite added expenditure on additional software, labour and consultants. The proprietary software is also considered to be very user friendly, and this was one factor that inhibits many from switching over to the emerging free software system. But because of the several other advantages many companies in several countries including the U.S. are switching over to the free software system. In the U.S. after the September 11 terrorist attack even the security installations are switching over to the free software system. In India also several companies and States are fast switching over to the free software system, in spite of the aggressive marketing strategies by the proprietary software companies like the Microsoft. Some states like Maharashtra have passed legislations that making it mandatory to teach free software programmes to the computer students.

Even though the Kerala Government in its IT policy has assured preference for the free software system conflicting signals are emerging from various departments. For example the Local Self Government (LSG) Department and Finance Departments are reportedly keen on adopting the Microsoft package.

If this happens there will be very little prospects of the free software system making any substantial presence in the e-governance system of the State, because all other departments will have to interact with these two departments.

The proprietary software does not permit such interaction with free software, and naturally other departments will also have to adopt it like the Finance and the LSG Departments are planning to do.

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