Article from Financial Express by Sudarshan Kumar (English)

"The petitioner-lawyer, Manish Kumar, did not wish to go on the record or share details of the petition. However, sources familiar with the process said point of admission hearing has been fixed for June 12.


"The petition says that proprietary software is available at a high price and its source code cannot be modified except with the approval of its owner. The code for open source software is, however, freely available and can be modified according to the user's requirements.


"Microsoft had recently invited Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda to a 'government leadership summit' in Redmond. Mr Munda, however, did not attend the mid-May meet. The company has been persistent in its evangelising efforts to woo governments and corporates alike across the world to implement its proprietary products and solutions. Critics say these licensing deals lock customers into heavy initial investments and regular payments for 'upgrades' to improved versions that are launched periodically."


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Free Software and Linux have lately become mainstream in India. In addition to the president of India's recent endorsement, other recent articles in major Indian publications present good arguments for acceptance and use of Linux there. Like other developing countries in similar situations, India can both benefit from and add benefits to Linux. And, one proof that this is not just political rhetoric is that IBM is placing large bets on Linux in India.