Z:gnu-www-ja-2001-07-20-FSF-India--239e70-=26ldquo;We feel a developing co/en

&ldquo;We feel a developing country like India has a special stake in promoting and encouraging the use of free software,&rdquo; said Satish Babu, of FSF-India. &ldquo;It also is a plus, of course, that there are no software license fees to pay. This is of great importance now that proprietary software companies are switching to a licensing business model for software, meaning you must in effect rent the software and continue to pay for it forever. With free software, if you wish, you can download the software for free, or if a business or school wishes to buy one CD, it can legally install the same CD in every computer on site, without having to pay one penny to anyone, ever again. But there are deeper, more significant benefits. Here in India, we do need to constantly strive for cost-effective solutions. The digital divide is of concern everywhere but especially is it so here in India. Unless we act, the digital divide in India is likely to widen, particularly so because of the country's many languages and its uneven literacy levels. Free software can help level the playing field for emerging nations like India and bridge this divide by encouraging solidarity, collaboration and voluntary community work amongst programmers and computer users and invigorate an indigenous software industry.&rdquo;