Open Source being sought after by almost all the
industry segments across the globe, the Indian scenario is no
different. Cutting across verticals, there is an increase in the
adoption of Open Source among Indian enterprises, in government
sector, BFSI, SMB space, application development, space research,
etc.

According to an IDC study, the open source software phenomenon is
spreading far beyond Linux and is gaining enormous momentum.

The study, which analyzed IDC, surveys from over 5,000 developers in
116 countries and representing 38 developer networks, found that
developers worldwide have started using open source extensively.

In an exclusive interaction with CIOL, MR Rajagopalan, director,
C-DAC, Chennai, talked about new operating system BOSS, developed by
C-DAC, Chennai in order to benefit the use of Free/Open Source
Software throughout India.

Rajagopalan also discussed the adoption
of open source in government sector, BOSS features and security
features in new operating system.

He also talked about BharateeyaOO, office application software suite,
comprising of word processing, spread sheet, database, presentation,
draw, etc with multi regional language support and how BOSS is
different from other Linux based operating system and measures taken
by NRCFOSS to promote BOSS in government sector.

CIOL: Can you brief our readers on C-DAC and NRCFOSS?

MR Rajagopalan: C-DAC as Premier initiative of the
Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology (MC&IT), Government of
India, embodies the national spirit of indigenous high-end research
and development for state-of the-art technologies and solutions.

In order to compete with contemporary IT Sectors and to bridge
digital divide in Indian society, C-DAC has congregated its endemic
human & technical resources towards the design, development,
& deployment of electronics & IT Products and Solutions.

The core technology areas of C-DAC includes High Performance
Computing and Grid Computing; Multilingual and Heritage Computing;
Profession Electronics encompassing VLSI, Embedded and Real Time
Systems, Control Systems, Broad and Wireless Systems, Strategic
Electronics, Power Electronics, Agri-Electronics; Software
Technologies including FOSS, e-governance solutions and ICT for
Development solutions; Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics; Health
Informatics and Ubiquitous Computing.

And another wing, National Resource Centre for Free/Open Source
Software (NRCFOSS), is an initiative of the Department of Information
Technology (DIT), Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology (MCIT), Government of India.

NRCFOSS aims to contribute to the growth of FOSS in India through
research and development, human resource development, networking and
entrepreneurship development. It serves as the reference point for
all FOSS related activities in the country. The activities of NRCFOSS
are coordinated by the Centre
for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Chennai and Anna
University (AUKBC research Centre).