Comment Re:Not in India atleast (Score 1) 320
Well I am from india as well. Although I would agree with the current scenario as you have detailed but I don't agree with the reason. They don't use linux because they don't know the reasons for using linux and I guess you don't too. So read on.
I work for a software company Hughes Software Systems, and we do fair amount of work on Linux. We are MVP (Monta Vista Partner) which produces Monta Vista Linux a Linux for Real Time and Embedded applications. I am sure other software companies like Infosys and Wipro will also be doing some work for linux.
I think people think that only companies like Microsoft exist, which make software and sell software to make a living. But if they see around them they will find that most money is made by providing software as a service. And this is especially true for Indian companies most do offshore or on shore development for their clients. Very few Indian companies make products that they sell.
If these people will think deeply, its not selling of the software that wins the bread at the end of the day. Its the providing of a service. It could be in the form of a product, but it could also be in the form of writing a piece of code that your client needs. It could be in the form of helping a client setup their machines network systems. It could be in the form of just giving training to the customer. If you think that you will only be creating products and selling them then you are restricting yourself to a very small niche. Creating products and selling it is a very risky and mostly a losing proposition, more so if you come in the line of a monopolist.
I hope that Indian Software Engineers will see the light and understand that products is not the be all and end all of software development. I am not saying that they should be coding and giving their code away with no expectation in return. I think that is a stupid concept if people code for the sake of giving it away. I think the reason why people should code for Linux is when they are still learning or when they need to in their jobs. I think Linux is the best place to learn, because it doesn't hide concepts from the user. If the OS is hiding from you what really is happenning how will you learn. The other thing you need to do while learning is create some test code, undertake some project, to test your learning. Without testing your learning you do not know whether you know what you have learnt. If you do coding you could put it up on the internet and make your project live forever, and maybe make yourself a name and reputation like so many Linux developers have. Maybe that will help you in searching for a job. Enlightened self interest is the only way to a good life. I think Linux is getting so popular because people are finding it useful in their day to day work not because of some free software BS.
There are some people who take software development as altruistic endeavor, they are also a vocal group because that is what they see as the product (that they will be praised for their work). But they are a very small group.
-anand
I work for a software company Hughes Software Systems, and we do fair amount of work on Linux. We are MVP (Monta Vista Partner) which produces Monta Vista Linux a Linux for Real Time and Embedded applications. I am sure other software companies like Infosys and Wipro will also be doing some work for linux.
I think people think that only companies like Microsoft exist, which make software and sell software to make a living. But if they see around them they will find that most money is made by providing software as a service. And this is especially true for Indian companies most do offshore or on shore development for their clients. Very few Indian companies make products that they sell.
If these people will think deeply, its not selling of the software that wins the bread at the end of the day. Its the providing of a service. It could be in the form of a product, but it could also be in the form of writing a piece of code that your client needs. It could be in the form of helping a client setup their machines network systems. It could be in the form of just giving training to the customer. If you think that you will only be creating products and selling them then you are restricting yourself to a very small niche. Creating products and selling it is a very risky and mostly a losing proposition, more so if you come in the line of a monopolist.
I hope that Indian Software Engineers will see the light and understand that products is not the be all and end all of software development. I am not saying that they should be coding and giving their code away with no expectation in return. I think that is a stupid concept if people code for the sake of giving it away. I think the reason why people should code for Linux is when they are still learning or when they need to in their jobs. I think Linux is the best place to learn, because it doesn't hide concepts from the user. If the OS is hiding from you what really is happenning how will you learn. The other thing you need to do while learning is create some test code, undertake some project, to test your learning. Without testing your learning you do not know whether you know what you have learnt. If you do coding you could put it up on the internet and make your project live forever, and maybe make yourself a name and reputation like so many Linux developers have. Maybe that will help you in searching for a job. Enlightened self interest is the only way to a good life. I think Linux is getting so popular because people are finding it useful in their day to day work not because of some free software BS.
There are some people who take software development as altruistic endeavor, they are also a vocal group because that is what they see as the product (that they will be praised for their work). But they are a very small group.
-anand
