[glug-t] The president is on our side!

Heres an interesting news article posted at asia open source center.

 Indian President speaks out against proprietary software.
Posted by: ImranWilliamSmith on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 05:52 PM 
 
 The Indian open source community got a boost on Thursday 29th May when the 
Indian president, A P J Abdul Kalam, made strong statements against proprietary 
software.

During a tour of IIIT, Pune, India, The Indian president said a number of 
things that illustrate that he is well aware of the benefits of free/open 
source software, and the disadvantages of proprietary solutions. The Indian 
free/open source movement therefore finds itself with an important "friend in 
high places". 

The President's comments included the following statements:

"The most unfortunate thing is that India still believes in proprietary 
solutions".
"Open source software needs to be built which would be cost effective for the 
entire society".

He also mentioned that during his recent meeting with Bill Gates and a 
discussion on security and open source, "Our discussions became difficult since 
our views were different". 

We hope that the President's knowledge in this area can continue to push India 
away from proprietary software, and that other countries can also find open 
source advocates willing to lead from the top.

You can read more online coverage about the President's comments here:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=47799819
http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-1011255.html




Background stories : 
IBM Chief meets President Kalam in March 2003, promotes open source : 
http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/may/07ibm.htm
Information Minister says open source will be considered, not preferred, April 
2003 : http://www.idg.net/go.cgi?id=794817
 
 
 
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