What is the state of 'open source' in India today? (India and Big data open source tools)

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 What is the state of 'open source' in India today? (India and Big data open source tools)

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• FIRST PERSPECTIVE - Venkatesh Hariharan:

1. Why OS in India - To have an Open Source (OS) movement in India is important politically, socially and culturally.
2. Why politically - it has to be ensured that more diverse players exist in market, and software is localised in Indian languages.
3. Cost-wise a bad idea - Cost-wise, total dependence on MNCs for operating systems will drain Indian exchequer. 
4. E-Governance magic - Happily, some of the biggest e-Governance projects in India are on OS. It is the new normal.
5. Proprietary versus OS - Have proprietary firms taken over OS? What has happened is that OS is being used even for stock market operations, thereby mainstreaming it. 
6. The first step - In earlier days, OS would be a replacement for Proprietary - Linux for NetWare, or Unix for Microsoft.
7. Rapid innovation - Big Data and analytics is dominated by OS because pace of collaboration is intense, that no proprietary can match.
8. OS 2.0 age - So this is the OS 2.0 age, that proprietary is getting beaten in. Hence, even Microsoft has joined the open invention network.
9. Consumer or producer - India is a huge consumer, but not a large creator of technologies. But since 80 crore Indians now have a mobile phone with cheap internet data, things are slowly changing.
10. Patenting of software - Indian law does not allow software patenting, "per se". But MNCs are urging to allow it, as they are the largest patent holders worldwide. If India allows it, then local software players will need to pay royalty (huge sums!). So the govt. must delete "per se" from Section 3(k) of Indian Patent Act, 1970.
11. Protectionism in world economy - Data and Code are common, and OS movement's ideal is collaboration and shared knowledge. Only a few big platforms are monetising data today, and that must change. Individuals must benefit from their own data.
12. Privacy - AI tools of the future will be data brokers between me and platforms, and most will be OS-based. So users need not surrender personal data to access books and music recommedations.
13. Legislation - The government has to ensure that laws on OS benefit citizens, and that governance of the huge data that govt. itself owns must be proper.

• SECOND PERSPECTIVE - Sangeeta Gupta:

1. OS versus Proprietary software - This is a matter of consumer choice.
2. Government decisions have given OS a boost in India. 
3. Early days - In early days, OS glitches had no technical support, but proprietary ones had. (e.g. Windows or MS Office)
4. India not picking up OS programming - Deep proliferation of OS tools in young students is not happening, as colleges are lagging behind. AICTE is introducing new programs to tackle it.
5. Digital Divide - Since entertainment content in local languages is easily available, and on handheld mobiles, digital divide is getting bridged. Higher level use cases (healthcare, education) will catch up.
6. Patenting of software - India needs to build its own IPR quickly, and have its own patents. They are important, even in OS 2.0 era.
7. Data privacy - All creators have to build trust. OS sector will play multiple roles - making users aware of privacy-related decisions, creating tools that help organisations become more privacy-compliant.
8. Legislation - The Data Protection Bill is coming up, and only the right practices will make any law meaningful.

• Summary : The Open Source software movement is democratising technology access, but many loose ends exist in India.

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