Involving the Indian Software Services Industry in the Free and Open Source Software World

Abstract

FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) has taken the world by storm in the last decade. The emergence of FLOSS has been exemplified by the rapid rise of the GNU/Linux operating system, which has made inroads in computer systems ranging from supercomputers to handheld devices and mobile phones. FLOSS technologies have been embraced by almost all major computing vendors, who are putting substantial efforts and leveraging these technologies.A number of Indian Information Technology Service Companies have been providing solutions based on the certain FLOSS technologies to their customers and also using it internally, mostly on an ad-hoc basis. There is often no formal policy in place, nor a roadmap on how to go forward in this fast emerging, rule changing, arena.We propose an overarching strategy — the Foundation and Four Pillars view that will enable the Indian Software Services Companies to truly leverage FLOSS while moving forward.