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).