THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUNE 22: PC sellers, smarting at Microsoft for juggling them in a legal trapez, are now looking upon an 83-year old crusader to settle their old scores with the IT behemoth. Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan is on a trip to develop the state as India’s FOSS (Free and Open Software Systems) destination, with backing from National Informatics Centre (NIC).

FOSS is a niche market but today’s niche is tomorrow’s mass market, and was a hardware seller’s delighted quip to the Kerala government’s move, hardly months after a Microsoft crackdown on free supply of pirated software by dealers. "Offers of pre-loaded Linux operating system could yield good hardware sales margins," says PK Harikrishnan, president, Kochi-based All Kerala Computer Manufacturer and Dealers Association.

Kerala used to be known as the only 'Communist' holdout state in India, but apparently their current government is more social democrat, of the European tradition. Anyway, given that Kerala has the highest standard of living and literacy rate in India, it is the perfect place for something like this to take off: State Sponsorship of FOSS.

Imagine a large campus where FOSS development is carried out, grants are given to FOSS contributors around the world, and FOSS 'scholars' are invited to come and work.