India to develop its own OS

[vasa1]

10 Oct, 2010, 12.17AM IST,PTI
India to develop its own futuristic computer operating system (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/hardware/India-to-develop-its-own-futuristic-computer-operating-system/articleshow/6719490.cms)

-{ Quote: "BANGALORE: India would develop its own futuristic computer operating system to thwart attempts of cyber attacks and data theft and things of that nature, a top defence scientist said." }-
-{ Quote: "India currently uses operating systems developed by western countries.

"So, in today's world where you have tremendous requirements of security on whatever you do...economy, banking and defence...it's essential that you need to have an operating system," he said. " }-

-{ Quote: ""We have to protect it (data)," Saraswat said, adding, "Only way to protect it is to have a home-grown system, the complete architecture...source code is with you and then nobody knows what's that." " }-

Right! ::)

Wisely, no date or time frame is mentioned :-[

Incidentally, just today, the website of one of India's business papers (http://www.business-standard.com/) was hijacked and pointed to a site for downloads of DRM-free movies !!! At the time of posting, the site is now down.

[tobacco]

They are also building computers to ship world-wide that will only cost $35.00 us.

[aigle]

very good idea indeed. How can you trust MS for national security. Also you can save a lot of revenue too by using your own OS by using it in every good, every institution, and every business. I wish my country also thinks of it!

[NoIos]

For sure they have the man power and the skills to do it. For the rest it is a lost battle but obviously in the correct direction if it's done for strategic purposes.

[bellgamin]

I wouldn't be surprised if Russia or China also undertook development of an OS. HOWEVER, remember the Tucker automobile? Remember Betamax? They are examples of technology that was arguably MUCH better than its competitors, but both of those examples failed.

With real estate, it's "location, location, location." With operating systems it's "developers, developers, developers." An excerpt from THIS article (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html) . . .

-{ Quote: "Remember the definition of an operating system? It's the thing that manages a computer's resources so that application programs can run. People don't really care much about operating systems; they care about those application programs that the operating system makes possible. Word Processors. Instant Messaging. Email. Accounts Payable. Web sites with pictures of Paris Hilton. By itself, an operating system is not that useful. People buy operating systems because of the useful applications that run on it. And therefore the most useful operating system is the one that has the most useful applications.

The logical conclusion of this is that if you're trying to sell operating systems, the most important thing to do is make software developers want to develop software for your operating system." }-
I think you would enjoy reading all of the article linked above. I think you would also find interesting an earlier article on a related matter -- HERE'S the link to it. (http://www.paulgraham.com/road.html). Here's a short quote therefrom . . .

-{ Quote: "There is all the more reason for startups to write Web-based software now, because writing desktop software has become a lot less fun. If you want to write desktop software now you do it on Microsoft's terms, calling their APIs and working around their buggy OS. And if you manage to write something that takes off, you may find that you were merely doing market research for Microsoft." }-
The point of the above quote -- if a developer writes a hot-selling program for use with Windows, chances are that Microsoft will build it into Windows or start selling a competing product. So developers are beginning to write Web-based software so as to steer clear of Microsoft's "buy them out or bury them" competitive tactics.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the way -- if someone plans to develop an OS & keep its code "secret" -- who is to say they wouldn't build their OS around Unix, or backward engineer Linux or OS-X or Haiku/BeOS or any number of many other now extant operating systems??

There ARE a lot of options to Windows already in existence -- not just Linux. I commend you to read THIS (http://alternatives.rzero.com/os.html) utterly fascinating (to me at least) article.

I also include THIS link (http://tunes.org/Review/OSes.html) for reference -- it's mostly just facts about a plethora of operating systems BESIDES Windows. Dry but factual -- and educational (at least to me).

[CloneRanger]

I seem to remember another Indian OS launch, either earlier on this year, or last.

I "think" it was in some way/s based etc on MS OS code ?

Whatever happened to that ?

This project appears to be a new approach, and it'll be interesting to see how it develops, and how stable/secure it is etc. There are a Lot of good coders in India, and plenty of outsiders employ them.

[vasa1]

-{ Quote: "I wouldn't be surprised if Russia or China also undertook development of an OS. ..." }-

Some very nice links there!

By the way, here's a relatively out-dated link to a Chinese effort:
People’s Processor: Embrace China’s Homegrown Computer Chips (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/st_essay_china/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))&utm_content=Google+Reader)
If the link doesn't work, search for Loongson +stallman.

And a not totally OT link is to Stallman's homepage:
http://stallman.org/
What a multi-faceted guy!

This link, http://stallman.org/stallman-computing.html, has this first line:
-{ Quote: "I use a Lemote machine which has a free startup program and all free software ..." }-

This is an explanatory quote from the first link:
-{ Quote: "Will Loongson-based PCs make inroads with average consumers in the West? You can already order a Lemote netbook online. It isn’t any cheaper or better than other entry-level netbooks, and reviews from geeky hardware enthusiast sites are less than enthusiastic." }-

[anandee]

Not sure... I hope to be wrong, but it seems somewhat hinting it will be a closed source effort, or maybe it is just the journalist that has so low tech understanding to still believe in security through obscurity "source code is with you and then nobody knows what's that." :(
If it's going to be a closed source system, who will guarantee citizens that it will respect privacy and all other rules of democracy?
And, if it is closed source, how can the Governament be sure it is not plagued by 0-day exploits that internal and external oppositors will use?

[Beto]

Meritocracies are a pipe dream! As are perfect OS's; ;D

[CloneRanger]

Had i search for that Indian OS i remembered reading about some time back. As of yet no luck finding it :( but i did discover these.

-{ Quote: "Bharat Operating System Solutions

BOSS GNU/Linux Version 3.0 is coupled with GNOME and KDE Desktop Environment with wide Indian language support & packages, relevant for use in the Government domain. Currently BOSS GNU/Linux Desktop is available in almost all the Indian Languages such as Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Bodo, Urdu, Kashmiri, Maithili, Konkani, Manipuri which will enable the mainly non-English literate users in the country to be exposed to ICT and to use the computer more effectively.

http://www.bosslinux.in" }-

Whilst searching i also saw this ! Posted just out interest & FYI.

-{ Quote: "Indian teenager develops new operating system!!

Ramlal Bhagat, a Class XII. student from Haryana,India has developed a 32-bit operating system demonstrated to be far Superior to any of the desktop operating systems in the market today. The program has been named "O-Yes". O-Yes provides operating system services on any Pentium-based personal computer (PC) and does not require MS-DOS as a base operating system.

http://www.fullhyderabad.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=39480" }-

[Nick Rhodes]

Is this OS going to be built with the best interests of the country's people ?
There is a risk that back-doors get implemented that allow the gov. to spy on its own people.

I don't think owning the source does not mean much. The executables of the OS can be obtained, there are tools out there and the knowledge for anyone to start analysing and probing the code for weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Could lead to a false sense of security.

Also starting a closed source OS in this day and age seems a silly thing - MS has years of experience, open source projects have the advantage of knowledge sharing; starting from scratch and not being able to take advantage of experience and knowledge out there seems to be a bit of a strange decision when it comes to building a secure operating system.

I say good luck to them, but I wouldn't predict success for a long time, until more details are provided all we can do is speculate.

Cheers, Nick

[dw426]

-{ Quote: "Is this OS going to be built with the best interests of the country's people ?
There is a risk that back-doors get implemented that allow the gov. to spy on its own people.

I don't think owning the source does not mean much. The executables of the OS can be obtained, there are tools out there and the knowledge for anyone to start analysing and probing the code for weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Could lead to a false sense of security.

Also starting a closed source OS in this day and age seems a silly thing - MS has years of experience, open source projects have the advantage of knowledge sharing; starting from scratch and not being able to take advantage of experience and knowledge out there seems to be a bit of a strange decision when it comes to building a secure operating system.

I say good luck to them, but I wouldn't predict success for a long time, until more details are provided all we can do is speculate.

Cheers, Nick" }-


I worry about the security of this as well. First of all, why do we need a "new OS"? If you're worried about security and cost, you go to Linux, pure and simple. It's been there for years, the code is known inside and out for the most part. If you're not worried about cost and you can handle security yourself, Windows is there waiting. The code isn't known, but hell, if you've trusted them this many years, you might as well keep on. I'm not worried one bit about the trustworthiness of India's people, but I'm certainly worried about their government. And, you can forget any person with a brain using a Russian or Chinese-made OS.

This all sounds to me like, at best, a flash in the pan, one of those never-ending "hey wouldn't this be cool?" ideas that never go anywhere. At worst, it's a simple and very effective way to enable spying and control.

[hossie]

At least finally we are thinking in the right direction, but if its going to work in the same way as our complete system work then we are inviting trouble.

I hope people involved in this would be more focus on security rather than just taking priding in making one.

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "There ARE a lot of options to Windows already in existence -- not just Linux." }-
As true as it is, most alternatives are lacking hardware support. I would love to run OS2 again, which I did before Windows '95 was released.
The current eComStation release doesn't support my videochips, let alone other hardware like uvc webcam or networked printer.
I like the concept of FreeBSD better than Linux's, but again it lacks the hardware support that I would need.

Apple solved this problem by restricting the hardware it supports.

Yes, we have choice, but it's not all that functional.

[vasa1]

Since India is very appreciative of Russian antiques, perhaps this news will help India's move:
http://www.neowin.net/news/russia-planning-a-windows-rival

[DasFox]

They're worried about security without having any mention on simply using a version of Unix customized to their needs, which will be just as secure as anything they'll ever make.

I can't really imagine that OpenBSD can't meet their needs for security.

What I get is a negative towards the Western world and simply wanting to do it the Indian way... :blink:

[linuxforall]

-{ Quote: "They're worried about security without having any mention on simply using a version of Unix customized to their needs, which will be just as secure as anything they'll ever make.

I can't really imagine that OpenBSD can't meet their needs for security.

What I get is a negative towards the Western world and simply wanting to do it the Indian way... :blink:" }-


No harm in that, India taught the world how to count and do Algebra among other things, maybe now and I say maybe, it will come up with something new and radical, UNIX is old and needs a revamp.

[DasFox]

-{ Quote: "No harm in that, India taught the world how to count and do Algebra among other things, maybe now and I say maybe, it will come up with something new and radical, UNIX is old and needs a revamp." }-


Yeah and maybe now American tech support too, LMAO... :argh: