[Telecentres] Request for Feedback: India FOSS Report

[Sunil Abraham]

Dear Colleagues,

The IOSN/APDIP/UNDP has commissioned ICT expert and FOSS advocate Fredrick Noronha  to produce 6 FOSS country reports. The India report is now publicly available for comments and feedback. 

Please view it from here:
http://www.iosn.net/country-reports/india/

<snippet>
India, with its population of one-billion plus, has a rich tech talent, 
considerable interest in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), and a network of some 80-plus user groups across its landmass (some active, some less). This offers wide potential. 

But officialdom -- apart from a few high-profile statements -- have been  slow to wake up to the world of FOSS. Not enough is being done to promote FOSS in higher education, though the official syllabus. 

There are impressively-large user groups in places like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad. There are also nationwide networks like the  Linux India network and the Free Software Foundation-India (headquartered in  Kerala in South India). In addition, a ring of medium-sized user-groups have  also proliferated in smaller cities and towns, taking the technology right into the hands of the user-practitioner. 

But much remains to be done in terms of providing official support for FOSS growth in a region which could surely benefit hugely from it.
</snippet> 

We would be very grateful if you could send in your comments and feedback by 10 August 2005.

Thanks,

Sunil

-- 
Sunil Abraham   Manager sunil at apdip.net  www.iosn.net  
International Open Source Network - Software Freedom for All
Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme www.apdip.net
Thailand:UNDP Regional Centre, United Nations Service Building
         3rd Floor, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
         Tel:  (66-2) 288-1234 Fax: (66-2) 280 0556
India   :3rd Floor, 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071
         Karnataka, India. Mob: (91) 9342201521
         Tel: (91-80) 51150580 Fax: (91-80) 51150583.