Kerala, Red Hat ready for free software tango

Linux and open source software provider Red Hat appears to have found a strong ally in Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan in promoting the free software concept. A three-member team from the open source major met the CM here on Wednesday and has got the CM’s nod to work together with the state government in the coming days.

Kerala IT Mission director K.R. Jyothilal told ET that it was likely that Red Hat would set up a state centre, either at the Technopark here or in Kochi, though a final word on the matter is awaited.

The three-man Red Hat team was led by Nandu Pradhan, president and managing director of Red Hat India, and included Bhaskar Varma and Venkatesh Hariharan.

Mr Achuthanandan has been an avid supporter of open source software and the state government has a game plan to have free software usage across the board for school education in the state.

Mr Jyothilal said Red Hat and the state IT Mission officials had discussed possibilities like faculty training, introduction of low-cost PC with Linux and Red Hat certification programmes in the state. Red Hat’s global training program operates in about 60 centres worldwide, featuring RHCE, the global standard Linux certification.

According to estimates there are about 15 lakh students in the 2,600-odd government and government-aided high schools in the state, who will have the option to make use of open source software for computer education.

Free software is presently used in computer teaching in Classes 8 and 9 and there are plans to extend it to Class 10 next year. Recently, when free software guru Richard Stallman visited the state, he had expressed happiness that Kerala had seriously embraced free software