Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan has said that free and open software that offer solutions to IT startups and publishing industries are affected by the exploitative business practices of software monopolies according to a report by the New Indian Express. He also said that open source software was the need of the hour for print media.
He added that print media is facing challenges from proprietary software companies such as Adobe. He also mentioned that Kerala government is focused on developing free and open source software from school level. He was speaking at a function in Thiruvananthapuram.
The IT@School operating system (OS)of the Kerala government will include several free applications customised per the state school curriculum, including an open source office suite, language input tools, database applications, DTP (Desktop Publishing) graphics, image editing software, sound recording. The Operating System will be installed in more than 14,000 government and government-aided schools from classes one to 12.
