Bangalore, Nov 02: IBM is pushing the Indian government to embrace open source computing platform and warned that New Delhi could lag behind countries such as China and Japan in this space if it did not swing into action. Managing director of IBM India Limited, Abraham Thomas, said open standards offered key advantages, and countries like France, China, Japan and Korea have embraced them.

If India did not act, it would miss the bandwagon, Thomas cautioned in his key-note address at the "IT for common man: Open source summit", organised as part of the five-day Bangalore IT.com that commenced on Saturday.
"Linux is a fast path to open computing. Linux is not the only open computing platform", he said, pointing that governments around the world are facing tough challenges and there is intense pressure on government budgets worldwide.
Urging the Indian government to create a new industry around open standards, he said open source saves tax payers' money, leverages local skills and offers low cost of entry, among others. Bureau Report