[Reader-list] [LIG] Reaction to NASSCOM's campaign

[Raju Mathur]

Hi Atul,

First-cut reactions:

I personally don't know too much about NASSCOM's activities.  I'm
aware that they've done a fair amount of lobbying for the Indian
Software Industry in international fora, and presumably the current
well-being of the industry is due at least partly to their efforts.  I
have no quarrel with that: it's laudable, IMHO.

I do object to NASSCOM's role as a policeman for foreign software
companies.  It's unethical, cowardly and against development.
Unethical because Indians pay for NASSCOM's existence, and their
primary fealty must be towards India and Indians; cowardly because
(and I'm treading on shifting sands here :) essentially the copyright
law has been forced down our throat due to the WTO, and we need to
have the backbone and the strength to stand up for our rights (no, I'm
not advocating illegal copying of software, just the right to make our
own decisions); contra-productive since, as you've stated, there does
not seem to be any focus from NASSCOM on evaluating and promoting
technologies like GNU/Linux/BSD which could be more relevant to our
country in the long- (and maybe even the short-) term.

Is there someone on the list who can throw more light on NASSCOM's
charter, constitution and activities, so that we can make have a more
informed discussion?  My reactions above have purely been based on
newspaper reports and ads, which information is bound to be sketchy
and possibly incorrect.

Regards,

-- Raju

>>>>> "Atul" == Atul Chitnis <achitnis at exocore.com> writes:

    Atul> It is interesting to note reactions to NASSCOM's commercial
    Atul> campaign on behalf of Microsoft and other members of the
    Atul> BSA.

    Atul> This campaign makes dire threats about imprisonment and
    Atul> fines, offers bribes to employees to turn in their employers
    Atul> (Rs.50,000/US$1000 reward), takes an overall tone of "we
    Atul> know you are a criminal - buy MS software now or go to
    Atul> jail".

    Atul> Well, it looks like things are going awry for MS and
    Atul> NASSCOM. To NASSCOM's greatest embarrassment (apart from not
    Atul> a single raid netting anything so far), the campaign has
    Atul> caused many small to mid-sized companies in India to give
    Atul> Linux a serious look.

    Atul> My collegue Vaibhav Sharma, currently in Indore on
    Atul> home-leave, reports that the demand for Linux is extremely
    Atul> high there.

    Atul> I have been getting similar reports from Mumbai, Goa, Pune
    Atul> and even Delhi.  (Ironically, I have not been getting that
    Atul> kind of info from Bangalore).

    Atul> Anyway, I was just wondering - what is your take on

    Atul> - NASSCOM's campaign in general, which is without question
    Atul> highly commercial in nature, aimed at increasing sales for
    Atul> foreign software firms - something it has never done for
    Atul> Indian companies developing software for local markets in
    Atul> its entire existence.

    Atul> - What kind of response should the free world give to
    Atul> NASSCOM? Should we just ignore it, or challenge NASSCOM's
    Atul> idiotic and biased campaign?

    Atul> - Does this represent an opportunity for Linux in India, and
    Atul> if so, should we exploit it, and how?

    Atul> I hope we can have a focussed discussion here about this.

    Atul> Atul

    Atul> p.s. Tarique - no, NASSCOM does *not* have a Z80 as CPU in
    Atul> the head, so don't bring that up! ;-)
-- 
Raju Mathur          raju at kandalaya.org           http://kandalaya.org/