NEWS The Indian government is trying to encourage the use of computers across the country by distributing free CDs that contain localised versions of popular open source applications.
The government has started distributing CDs containing Tamil-language versions of various open source applications, including the Firefox browser, the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and the Columba email client. It plans to freely distribute 3.5 million copies of the CD to Tamil speakers worldwide, according to RKVS Raman, a researcher at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, an organisation involved in the production of the CD.
Raman said the CDs are in considerable demand, following a newspaper and television advertising campaign last month.
"We have had a tremendous response to this [initiative]," he said. "In the first two weeks of the campaign we got about 100,000 hits daily on the website offering CDs, and about two to three thousand downloads [of Tamil-language applications]. We have already sent out around 50,000 CDs and have a backlog of 35,000."
Once the requested CDs have been sent out, further copies of the CDs will be distributed with computer magazines and newspapers, according to Raman.
Even the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, has taken an interest in the project and met the team involved in the production of the CD earlier this month.
The next stage of the project is to distribute CDs containing applications in Hindi, the national language of India. This stage will be launched on 21 June and is likely to involve more than the 3.5 million CDs earmarked for the current phase, said Raman. Eventually, the government plans to release CDs in all of the 22 official languages of India.
Raman believes open source software brings two main advantages to the Indian population - cost, and the freedom to modify the software. "We are sometimes not comfortable with Western user interfaces - they don't make sense in our culture, particularly for rural people who haven't had much access to technology. If we want to modify the software we have to have access to the code," he said.
The Indian government's decision to ship free software in this way is likely to be a blow to Microsoft, which plans to release a low-cost version of Windows in India soon. Microsoft originally hoped to release its Windows XP Starter Edition - a low-cost, feature-restricted version of Windows XP - by the end of March, but is now aiming for a June release.
Ingrid Marson writes for ZDNet UK
Comments
There are 18 comments. Join the discussion
1. jitendra shah
With the advent of version 2.0, the multilingual localised (GUI translated) versions of openoffice will not need to have that many copies of openoffice . This is a requirement with version 1.1.4 . That way multilingual CDs will be better able to have localised GUIs on the same CDs. That will make a lot of difference in multilingual country like india where most literate people know more than one language.
2. Edward Cherlin
Hindi is *a* national language of India, not *the* national language, even though the Indian government makes this mistake official policy. There are 22 official languages recognized in the Indian Constitution. In addition, English is in practice another national language, since it is of necessity the language of instruction in so many fields at the universities.
3. anonymous
it would be good to distribute on the same CD some open source software for windows, AND a linux live cd distribution (such as knoppix), with the same applications, among others.
(for ex. http://www.indlinux.org/)
4. Indian
No - Hindi is _the_ national language - there can be only _one national_ language although there can be (and are) multiple officially _recognized_ languages. There is a difference between national language and officially recognized languages.
5. Parthiban
Hi,
There is a difference between a national language in India & other countries:
* Hindi is a _a national language_ which doesn't have to be learnt or forced to anybody in the country. This is what the Indian constitution says. Hindi is NOT _the national language_ which has to be learnt, as in other countries.
No worries.. All or at least some of the recognised languages WILL become a national language soon!
regards
Parthiban.
6. kaippally
There is a whole lot of land south of Delhi my friend.
And they all don't speak Hindi.
7. Another Indian
To hell with "National Language". Tamil is richer than Hindi. Tamil has its own identity and heritage. Tamil is easier to use than hindi. Tamil is used worldwide today. What is wrong in bringing up a tamil version of Oo ?
8. anonymous
Bunch of clowns sit in delhi, drink tea, speak hindi all day and call it "the" national language. If I am forced to learn a language other than Tamil, I would rather spend my time to perfect my English and never Hindi. I appreciate the government did not hesitate to release the first OO CD in Tamil.
9. Aditya Pratap V.
Though my mothertongue is Hindi, I agree that Tamil is much more ancient than Hindi and thus may be richer than my mother tongue. But let us not get into a useless and endless argument about the richness or greatness of these two most beautiful languages. The point is that a right step has been taken by the govt. to release software in a local language. A step in the right direction certainly. I hope they release the same in Hindi too, because that is the language spoken and understood by a huge majority of Indians in India, besides being my favourite language.
10. Abdul
Guys. Cool down. Hindi or Tamil. North or South - the country is in gutters. Is that so hard to see? While you morons fight over artificial issues of Tamil and Hindi and XYZ, the country is being plundered.
Go get a life. So something positive IF you can. Else, please shut up.
11. Kapil Gupta
Hi,
I believe abdul is quite right. We Indians should stop bickering and look at real issues. Any open source movement coupled with awareness campign can work in right direction. It will certainly help in closing the big digital divide in our country. Let's appreciate whatever efforts are being taken in that direction.
12. anonymous
what is wrong with these Tamil chauvinistic people? Nobody said anything against them and infact 1st CD was Tamil. But these jokers have to jump in and shout 'tamil is great' anyway. So yeah..whatever...
13. sri
S/w should be based on population basis not on personal likings.So order should be Hindi,telugu,Bengali,tamil ......
14. Pankaj Gupta
Good work here. I am a big supporter of open-software in India. Open-source software is the way to go for a big country like India.
About Hindi being the National Language of India - Hindi is the national language of India (official national language). English is considered the unofficial national language too because of its widespread use.
The Indian Government should support and publicize Linux in India. Companies should distribute Linux on desktops and laptops.
15. Ramesh G
Does it matter?
Why bringing politics for every little thing indians do?
It won't take million years to get every app translated to every indian language and if you didn't know, there are localized linux available at www.indlinux.org
First stop complaining in the name of suggesting rather start looking in to effort and success of such effort. Learn to praise!
16. indian
You shameless fellows try to learn some decency before posting your political views on this link, as this link is given in the OOo website's main page.
17. Subhash Bose
If people waste time and resources playing the "whose language is richer" game because of some sambhar-induced Dravidian-Brahmin inferiority complex, then we will make no progress whatsoever to get native support for widely used software applications. What is of importance is supporting the language spoken by the majority population, which is the loosely knit collection of northern dialects referred to as "Hindi" that's written in a common Devanagari script. So let's focus our energies on what most people need, not on Vedic masturbation .
18. anonymous
in the past 1.5 years i have been in many states in the country, many of them non-hindi speaking. (though i must confess that i didnt go to any of these were the 4 southern states and i would have loved to visit these beautiful parts of my motherland)
whenevr i had to deal with people who didnt know english, the man on the street, it was hindi that got me through. i think this is equally true for most of my non-hindi speaking frenz including those from tamil nadu.
imagine being stuck with a rickshaw wala/ coolie in orissa or bengal. how are u gonna converse if u donno oriya and bangla. that doesnt make these languages less richer but then hindi is what has and can tie the entire nation together. even if u meet an indian in a foreign land who doesnt speak the same language as you, your conversation will be in english and hindi only...correct me if i m wrong.