Kerala is abuzz with free software mantra after the present Government of Kerala formally endorsed free software as one of its natural allies. Lot of common people are showing interest in free software and its bi-products such as copy left books , wikipedia etc. As a long time user of free software, I am pretty amused at the
current hype.

Author was curious to see what the final Windows 7 release feels like. He is a hardcore Free Software activist and also a gamer. And Windows is the only serious operating system for games. In gaming, only the sheer market size counts, weak technology be damned.

"Vendor lock-in has become the primary problem for IT decisions in general and Free Software adoption in particular. It distorts the market and denies Free Software solutions equal competition on the merits. The problem has been that many lock-ins are invisible, for example reliance on proprietary protocols or needing to use certain document formats.

"...We saw how Free Software has come to stay in Kerala. The natural question this raises is, “Why Kerala?” There is no other state in the country where Free Software has made an impact that is anywhere near that in Kerala. This itself could be the subject for an entire thesis, and this is certainly not the place to enter into a serious analysis of the question.

FREE SOFTWARE activists fear that the Marxists are trying to hijack their movement in Kerala.

The CPM- led state government recently sacked two proponents of the movement, who had formulated the state's information technology policy based on free software. This follows attempts by the CPM to form networks in Chennai and Bangalore in the name of free software, but strictly under party control.

Linux is an OS that conjures up images of computer nerds hunched over their keyboards in the quest for digital divinity while following the doctrine of open source and free software for all. Get Linux certified and wear that badge proudly on your chest!

"NEW DELHI: Imagine a world free of patents and passwords, of copyrights and copycats, of freedom to create. Imagine a world full of free software. That’s the world of Richard Stallman , tech guru, hacker, political activist, pioneer of concepts like Copyleft, digital colonisation and maker of GNU compiler and debugger of GNU/Linux operating system.

As founder president of Free Software Foundation, Dr Stallman, 55, has managed to convince governments like Kerala and companies like ATI (now AMD) to switch to the idea of free software. ET caught up with the legendary Richard Matthew Stallman (called RMS by hackers) on his visit to India to understand his idea of a free world of technology. Excerpts..."

"...If you haven't yet, please add your signature to the statement calling on activist groups and individuals of all stripes to reject Microsoft Windows Vista and pursue free "as in freedom" software like GNU/Linux..."

Kerala's use of Free/libre software in government is commendable, but barriers still remain (although not technical ones, just bureaucratic, including pressure from Microsoft)