Most people in India still are not economically well off but they are interested about Information Technology (IT). In fact, thousands of people are now earning their livelihood in IT field. That is why, many students are interested to become skilled in computing and get a good job. So, India should have been a very fertile ground of Linux as most people in India cannot afford to buy proprietary softwares. However, the reality is that only 3% of PCs in India run with Linux. After reading a report titled ‘Linux Spreads Its Wings In India’ of BusinessWeek, I felt that there are basically three obstacles to the expansion of Linux in India.
- Piracy: Many people in India use pirated software and that is why they do not need any urge of migrating to Linux. In fact, for many users, the price of Windows and Linux is the same (because of piracy). So, until, Indian government acts tough against piracy, there is hardly any hope for Linux to become a major force in India.
- Lack of familiarity: Most ordinary users are not aware of Linux. They mainly know about Windows. It is difficult to adopt something that you do not know. In the media, you can find attractive ads of proprietary softwares. On the other hand, Indian media is not so keen to promote open source softwares.
- Lack of Support: IBM and Red Hat both are trying to work on this aspect. However, they find it very difficult to get enough skilled engineers on Linux who can work for them and provide support for Linux users.
These are major challenges for any product. However, there is a lot of room to be optimistic.
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