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Battle Royale on the Govt Corridors Microsofts uncontested monopoly in the government space is finally facing tough competition from the open source camp. However, the government is playing safe and trying to remain neutral by advocating open standards

While open source versus proprietary might be old news; it still manages to raise sufficient dust to effect debates and discussions from boardroom to parliaments. So, when CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechury declared his unstinted support for open-source, not many eyebrows were raised. After all politicians are known to be ficklefriend today, foe tomorrow.

Yet, the sand indeed seems to be shifting. Not many would have been surprised at seeing West Bengal and Kerala canoodling the penguin. Simple logicthe Left was influencing the way governments went in the Left-run states. But the biggest surprise of the year has been the state of Tamil Nadu. With no real ideological baggage, Tamil Nadu is indeed a surprise victory for open source enthusiasts. Could it be that finally, business case is prevailing over dogmas? If indeed that is so, the Giant from Redmond has a thing or two to fret over.

Over the last many years, Microsoft has enjoyed complete monopoly in the government space, much like it does in the consumer space. Yet, dynamics between the two are quite different and can be gauged by the way Microsofts stance has evolved over the years. A couple of years back, Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, had threatened that Asian governments using Linux could be sued for IP violations. He had claimed that Linux violated more than 228 Microsoft patents, and governments would have a tough time. Not many took him seriously. So, the company took a reverse track and literally shook hands with the devil, by aligning with Novell. After all, if you cant beat them, co-opt them.

It is still time before a winner is decided, but as of now, Microsoft has taken a blow or two from the Penguin, especially in India. Though the current penetration is lowand not as rosy as in the US where Linux is breathing down Windows 2000s neckit is estimated that Linux will have substantial growth in India, and the government is expected to be the key driver.

While at present Microsoft clearly rules, the penguin has managed to churn increasing interest at the state level clinching some major deals. State governments have begun to seriously consider Linux as an option (and these are not Left-aligned ones).

The year saw three states charting out a roadmap toward migrating to the Linux platform. The year was also significant as the first ever partnership between an open source company (Novell) and a proprietary software company (Microsoft) came in to existence, leading critics to believe that Microsoft finally is recognizing the growing prowess of the free and open software.

Left Rhetoric
As the only two Left-ruled states, Kerala and West Bengal, have been the early votaries and adopters of Linux, the India story has spice in it. Not to mention the Left parties, the largest allies of the UPA-led alliance at the center, would like to put things in a different perspective as opposed to the commonly held notion of the Left being on an ideological war with software behemoth, Microsoft.

CPI (M) Member of Parliament and the partys central committee member Nilotpal Basu, clarifies, "It is not a question of policy. Microsoft might have to be used at some places, but our position is clear on this. The push has to come from the government as open source provides plenty of flexibility." Basu adds, "we do not favor any particular corporate, as what ultimately matters is satisfaction of the users, and the fact that software should be available abundantly."

Nevertheless, overtones of ideological skirmish were visible as Kerala announced its unequivocal migration to Linux last year in government run schools. While announcing its plans to migrate to Linux, the state government clearly stated that its aim was "to break the US software giant, Microsofts, dominance in these schools." Ironically, the move had come after two weeks of rattling investors by banning Coke and Pepsi sales. The education minister of Kerala, MA Baby had said that his government would promote the use of open-source Linux operating systems along with Microsoft in high schools. "We are against monopolies of multinational companies in any sector," he was quoted as saying. But "ideologically I support Linux and free open operating systems for IT-enabled education in schools," he added.

Underlining the importance of the Kerala market for open source companies, Red Hat had signed an MoU with the state government for supporting Keralas development of open-source software.

On the other hand, West Bengal too seems to be excited about switching applications on to Linux. Vivek Bharadwaj, special secretary, government of West Bengal says, "Whatever new applications we build, are going to be on Linux and the others too will be migrated to Linux. There are going to be some areas where proprietary software will still be in use, but now most of the purchases are being done on open source. So yes, we are encouraging vendors to go for open source."

Bharadwaj, however, chooses to call the state governments decision "practical and not populace." He adds, "This is not about ideology, it makes more sense to go the Linux way, and its not just cost but also security, apart from viruses, which will be an added advantage." West Bengal has set up an institution with funds allocated up to the tune of Rs 2 crore to promote building open source applications.

Meanwhile, all that Microsoft wants is a fair chance. "While the message from the state government in Kerala is clear to go on the open source platform, but doors are not shut for Microsoft," says Rohit Kumar, country head, Public Sector, Microsoft. He claims that more than 75% applications in Kerala still run on the Windows platform. However, he says, "Microsoft does not have updates on which all applications are being migrated to Linux of the total applications run on the Windows platform currently. All we ask for is a fair chance to prove our worth. Nothing more," states Kumar.

Tamil Nadu Closes the Window?
Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) has opted for open source and is rolling out SuSe Linux Enterprise across 30,000 desktops and 1,880 servers in the states schools. ELCOT itself migrated its entire IT infrastructure from Windows to SuSe Linux Enterprise Server and SuSe Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell.

Tamil Nadu has already dispatched 6,100 Acer desktop systems with SuSe Linux. It is deploying 32,600 Linux desktops and training 30,000 government officials for the same, along with 43 open source-based servers supporting government applications. "Linux has become a way of life for us," says C Umashankar, MD, ELCOT.

Cost is the big question. "Undeniably, SuSe has made IT affordable for us by reducing cost. We were able to get the SuSe Linux at a cost of Rs 300 per desktop license. Training was carried out using our own resources. The cost of switching was negligible," says Umashankar. "Apart from the fact that it offers complete security, specifically for all our e-Governance initiatives, it has also given us complete freedom to choose any type of operating system," he adds.

Microsoft might be down but is not out. There are still a number of projects that are running on proprietary platform, like eKaruvoolam, an automated treasury bill passing system; Tamil Nilam, an e-Governance initiative of the revenue department to computerize the land records system; Vaahan and Sarathi applications that process all transactions related to vehicles, and for driving related activities; and Patram, a postal accounts software. "Clearly, Tamil Nadu is a place of high momentum driven by able and astute leadership. ELCOT has taken the decision to shift to open source without taking in the total cost of ownership over a period of 5-7 years, which is usually how long the application lasts. The total cost of ownership will be much expensive over this time-frame because of the support and servicing costs involved," says Kumar.

Spreading North
The Linux camp seems happy for now, so long as the government plays a neutral role and remains a facilitator of its growth. "We expect the government to be our biggest customer in the domestic market. Creating more opportunities in terms of projects, and proliferating the governance projects (like the Mission Mode projects), and increased transparency are things to watch out for," says Nandu Pradhan, MD, Red Hat.

Red Hat is at present implementing close to seventy e-Governance projects, of which eight states have treasury applications running on open source. Among some other important projects, IRCTCs mission-critical ERP application is also on Linux, and a number of Panchayati Raj applications are running on Linux. Further, the company has standardized Linux in eleven local languages. After consolidating their position in the southern states, the open source companies are looking northwards. Red Hat India is closely working with the states of Maharashtra, Goa, West Bengal and Uttaranchal on various applications. "In the northern states, the pie is huge. So we are working with state governments, including Haryana and HP, where adoption is smaller in size," says Pradhan.

Its Windows for India
All said and done, India is still a country of Windows and Gates. Microsoft rules the market and even the government sector. While Linux is indeed making inroads, it will still take a big shove to budge the giant. Statistics more or less speak for themselves. The previous year saw Microsoft implementing major contracts spanning over fourteen states. Some of the major projects that they implemented include the Punjab land records project, e-DharaGujarats Online Land Administration project, instant money order digitalization project, MP online, Bihar online, eDhartiGovernment Urban Properties Management, Food Corporation Indias food grain management project.

Rohit Kumar said, "When you talk about governance in India, it is a distributed model, spread across cities, state, district, and block level. Today we are on multiple cities and at state level." Kumar points out that 11 out of 12 states land records are on Microsofts platform. Amongst these projects, Gujarat governments eDhara project was widely applauded, for the share service delivery it enabled in the rural sector. Under the eDhara project, land records acquired by the state were computerized and available online. The state government had further planned to computerized land records in 24 districts, 225 talukas and 18,526 revenue villages, using G-SWAN.

Similarly, Himachal governments online land record system, HimBhoomi, too is on a Microsoft platform. The HimBhoomi computerization of land records is in all 110 Tehsils of HP. Himachal IT secretary, Sanjeev Gupta says, "As far as choosing technology is concerned, Himachal Pradesh will go with vendors who give technological commercial solutions. Decisions on purchases are purely going to be made on solutions offered. We would not like to bind ourselves to any one technology, and would like to follow open standards. At present most of the applications run on Microsoft."

Another significant win for Microsoft has been the Lokvani project in Uttar Pradesh, a single window e-Governance solution providing transparent, accountable and responsive administration for grievance handling, land record maintenance as well as an eclectic mixture of essential services.

Dual Standards
The government seems to be still playing it safe. While there is no definite policy regulation in this direction by the government at the center, what has come as a positive push for the open source faction is the fact that the ministry of IT and Communications has affirmed its role as a facilitator for use of open standards in e-Gov projects.

R Chandrashekhar, additional secretary, DIT, ministry of IT and Communication, government of India points out, "The stated policy of the Government on this is to adopt open standards. We want to remain technology neutral, and do not want to regulate use of any one technology."

"We certainly want to adopt open standards as far as our e-Governance projects are concerned," he adds.

The governments attempts to push open standards, however, did reflect not only in the increased adoption of Linux in critical applications by some of the other state governments, but also in the move which saw its technology and research wings, National Informatics Center (NIC) and Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) sprucing up their open source infrastructure.

"Clearly, open source is going to be very crucial when it comes to e-Governance projects. So, it makes lot of sense for us to have a center devoted to building open source applications," says a senior official at NIC. C-DAC too has set up a center totally devoted to open source.

"The government is realizing that to uplift the masses in India, it is essential that India leverages its IT prowess. IT can provide the uplift through better citizen services, improved and easily accessible education, jobs creation, and enhanced ability to export IT services. Open Source software with its favorable economics and community-based development model is ideally suited to address these challenges," says Zia Saquib, executive director, C-DAC, Mumbai.

It is in this scenario that IBM, in partnership with IIT-Mumbai and C-DAC, established the Open Source Software Resource Center (OSSRC), with the aim of developing, adopting and disseminating solutions, education and content that use open standards in support of Indias economic development plans.

Gopakumar Thampi, executive director, Public Affairs Foundation highlights a different perspective here. "Overall, technology choices in all e-Gov or ICT roll-outs in India seem to be a victim of a "unipolar" choice. The need is to actively encourage alternatives."

The Road Ahead
Thampi makes an interesting observation: "A major boost to the advocates of open source software is the growing presence of "technocrats" in the Indian bureaucracy. The large number of engineers who enter the civil service are conversant with the technology choice issues unlike their predecessors a decade back who mainly came from the humanities and had very little hands on knowledge about technological issues and choices."

While the competition is visible in the Left-run states more and Tamil Nadu, so far, what needs to be seen is the pace at which Linux is adopted by other states. And thats where cost and support will become crucial. "Governments are cost sensitive organizations, and therefore future decisions will be made on cost effectiveness," says DC Misra, ex-IT secretary, Delhi Government. "In fact, we would see Microsoft also mould and expand into the Linux framework," adds Misra. Trained manpower on the Linux too is going to be another issue.

The battle between open source and proprietary software will not die down anytime soon. It will continue to simmer. Definitely, the penguin needs to do more. The big question is not whether it can but how t?

DATAQUEST issue: October, 2007-second.