Indian President Advises Open Source Approach

geo_2677 writes "The Indian President Dr. A Kalam has advised defense scientists to go for open-source software for software security, rather than be stuck with insecure proprietary software. Being a scientist himself, he surely knows what's good for his country." Speaking at the Indian Navy's Weapons and Electronic System Engineering Establishment, Kalam argued: "Open source codes can easily introduce the users to build security algorithms in the system without the dependence of proprietary platforms", though continues: "We should take maximum care to ensure that our solution is unique to protect our own defence security solutions implemented on open platforms." We previously reported on Richard Stallman's meeting with Dr. Kalam earlier this year.

Some open source projects in India...

[tcopeland]

...can be found on sarovar.org [sarovar.org]... it's one of the biggest [gforge.org] public GForge [gforge.org] sites out there.

Again?

[Anonymous Coward]

He already said this months ago.

Re:Could someone explain...

[Platinum Dragon]

..Indian's political structure? I seem to remember that a woman was just elected as Prime Minister (a big leap for India!).

Where have you been [wikipedia.org]? For that matter, hit Google News--she decided not to take up the position after heavy pressure from nationalist parties, who pointed out that Sonia Gandhi was, in fact, born in Italy.

Back on topic... enjoy [wikipedia.org].

Re:Could someone explain...

[teetam]

India's first women prime minister (Indira Gandhi) was elected back in the 60's/70's, so it is NOT a big leap. In fact, all the countries in the subcontinent have had women heads of state (Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). And recently, Sonia Gandhi's party won the elections, but she was not elected PM.

In the Indian system (similar to the British), the PM is the head of government and the President is a figurehead, like the queen of England. He has some, limited powers. The PM is elected by people's representatives (not directly like in US, though), usually from the largest elected party.

Actually, the presidential system is more similar to monarchies than the Indian system. Look at how much Bush can do without having to answer anyone in any parliament!

Re:Arrgh! This means that Pakistan will want Windo

[Charvak]

Perhaps you didnt noticed but the president of india is a moslem.

I think..

[GillBates0]

...geeks make better politicians, because they're more inclined to think rationally/logically. I know this is a broad statement, but I've seen it hold true in most occassions.

Incidentally his official website [presidentofindia.nic.in] runs Apache/2.0.42 (Unix) PHP/4.2.3. A couple of brief excerpts from his bio here [hindustantimes.com]:

After a fairly secure childhood, during which he is said to have read as much as he could, he studied at the Madras Institute of Technology, where he specialised in Aero Engineering.

He has worked in leading defence and space organisations in research and managerial capacities. He contributed in a major way to the development of the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) III, which put the Rohini Satellite into orbit. He has also been chairperson to Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC).

A vegetarian, his interests include playing the veena and writing poetry. He has written two books, Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India and India 2020: Vision for the New Millennium.

Till now, Abdul Kalam has been best known for his key role in the nuclear tests at Pokharan in the Rajasthan desert on May 11 and 13, 1997. With most parties choosing him as their presidential candidate, he has become the 11th Indian to join a very select group.

His scientific affiliations

[Anonymous Coward]

From the article --


Even today Kalam is in huge demand. He is Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, Vice-President of Astronautical Society of India, Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), Honorary Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers and an ISRO Distinguished Professor!

Wow, that's just too good. I'm quite speechless.

Re:Is offtopic but...

[Anonymous Coward]

Essentially, yes.

Being modded +1 funny will not increase your karma

if someone then mods you down, your karma WILL decrease

so if you post a comment that gets marked up +1 funny 3 times, then down -1 troll twice, then +1 funny 3 more times for, you don't end up with a sum gain in karma

you lose -1 for the troll

if you post a comment that half the moderating population think is -1 troll but the other half think is +1 funny and keep jumping between +4 and +5 funny, for example, then you end up just losing and losing more karma the more you are moderated down, despite also being moderated up

Re:Obligatory Simpson's Reference

[Daniel_Staal]

Think they'd go so far as to start paying governments to use their software?

Yes [opensecrets.org]

Re:Fixed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Defence is the British (English) spelling, Defense is the American spelling. /. has a strong American slant, but it doesn't make the British spelling incorrect!

Re:Could someone explain...

[AKAImBatman]

Thank you for your polite reply. Most Slashdotters appear to think it's better to respond to an honest question in a condescending tone, rather than attempt to further the knowledge of others. I'm glad to see that there is at least one person willing to give helpful information.

It seems odd that India would choose to model their government in a sort of odd mix of a monarchy and democracy when they so strongly despised the British occupation. When India finally obtained their freedom, many other governmental systems had been tried around the world. Of course, with the effects of the great depression in recent memory, perhaps they did not want to model their government too much like a Rupublic?

Also, do you have any info on how India's electoral college works? The Wikipedia article is rather vague on that point. Does each Indian state decide its own method like in the US, or are votes decided by the appointed governor? The later would make for an odd feedback loop as the governor is apparently appointed by the President himself.

Re:Security by obscurity?

[toolz]

Knowing my president, he definitely does not see "unique" as "closed". So let's not mis-interprete his words. He probably meant "not based on tainted imported technology", i.e. an encouragement to innovate, rather than copy.

I have watched him take on this issue for years now (in his roles as both president of India, and as a highly respected scientist), and I can tell you that you are dealing with someone who is majorly savvy about open systems. He could probably teach quite a few people here on Slashdot about such things - he certainly taught Bill Gates a few things [presidentofindia.nic.in].

If RMS was in a receptive state of mind during his meeting with President Kalam, I am sure he would have learnt a few things himself.

Re:Some open source projects in India...

[Anonymous Coward]

..and some of the blogs of the Indian Open Source developers can be found here [randomink.org].

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Actually Kalam Pushed Open Source long before...

[GillBates0]

Stallman visited India. I remembered this clearly when I read Stallman's story, but could not dig up relevant Slashdot stories for you. However, I have managed to find some other stories, which clearly show that the *first* time the Prez recommended Open Source publicly, it was back in May2003. Stallman paid him a visit only earlier this year Jan 2004 if I remember right.

Here's the proof:
Article from the Times of India [indiatimes.com]. A blurb
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2003 12:06:03 AM ]
PUNE: President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday urged Indian IT professionals to develop and specialise in open source code software rather than use proprietary solutions based on systems such as Microsoft Windows.

Stallman's visit reported in The Hindu [hindu.com] and elsewhere [slashdot.org]:
Kalam, Stallman discuss open source software NEW DELHI, JAN. 31. The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, last Thursday played host to two radically divergent poles of the global software industry.

Though the second link does not say 2004, I'm sure it was earlier this year, and a Google search should help you confirm that. Also the URL is dated 20040201.

The above information renders your argument incorrect and w/o H20.

Re:Mmmmmppphhhhh

[frodo from middle ea]

OK , He is not a bit of a scientist, he is full fledge scientist. The presiden of India is a non-power position, much like the queen of england.

Look at his acchievents milestones [hindustantimes.com] and also a site dedicated to him here [geocities.com]

Even though the position is only decorational, it is good to know that a country recognizes its intellectual wealth and respects it.

Re:Some open source projects in India...

[rsidd]

That's the president's [wikipedia.org] photo you're linking to, not the prime minister's [wikipedia.org].

he wants to fund Military Nanaotech too..

[Anonymous Coward]

If you go to this article at Kurzweilai.net (http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html ?newsID=3482&m=11262), you can find details (the(nano)arms race has begun), this does signify that a new dangerous nanotechnology arms race is being considered by countries around the world, this may be good for nanotechnology research, but, of course, it will probablly make the world a much more dangerous place, but, I guess if you have sufficient nanotech yourself (someday), then you may have to worry less if somebody else (country, terrorists, hackers) have some dangerous nano themselves..