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NEWS: German Linux firm testing Indian waters



German Linux firm testing Indian waters

by Frederick Noronha, India Abroad News Service

Bangalore, Nov 10 -  Germany-based software firm SuSE is setting up base here
and is carrying out market research for the scope of its alternative computing
system -- Linux -- that threatens to end the monopoly of Microsoft's Windows
operating system.

Linux is an operating  system for computers like MS-DOS, Windows and MacOS,
but the big thing about it is that it is free. This means, firstly you pay
little or nothing for it, and secondly that you can have complete access to
the source code of Linux, which you can copy, alter and redistribute. The only
condition is that the source must remain freely available to all.

It belongs to the Unix family of operating systems that are a powerful genre
of systems hitherto not found in home computers.

Currently, Linux can be used  for many different purposes -- at home for
games, at work, on desktop workstations or on network servers. There are car
stereos that play digital music files that run on Linux.

SuSE's London-based commercial  director Jasmin Ul-Haque said, "Linux was
launched in 1991. SuSE was created in 1992. We're older than Red Hat (another
popular Linux distribution, which has a large market in India). And recent IDC
figures say ours is the leading Linux distribution in Europe." 

SuSE is keen to get a greater market share  in India and is looking for
partners across the country. "We have just started out here. SuSE believes
Linux can play a vital role in just about any company. We are trying to target
the educational market, from universities to schools," she told IANS. 

SuSE offers to pass on to its partners Linux  expertise. It also offers
support services, technical consulting, hardware certification, training, and
end-users support. 

The company says it has recently released  a new version of Linux. "Every
four months we bring the latest Linux innovations into the market," Ul-Haque
said.

SuSE claims that more than 50,000  business customers worldwide use its Linux
distribution "on account of its stability and high quality." The company adds
that it has a workforce of over 450 people worldwide. 

In mid-October, SuSE had announced a joint  venture with South Korea-based
Information Network Center to extend its open source initiatives, software
development and sales initiatives into the Asian market.

"We've seen a good demand for Linux in India," said  SuSE Linux India Pvt.
Ltd. CEO Michael Burghard. He said the initial task of his India unit would be
to "create awareness" about his company's products, and provide support to
customers "via an Indian telephone line they won't have to ring Europe
anymore." He said partners might also be taken on in places like Mumbai and
Chennai. SuSE's India Web site was recently put up at www.SuSe.co.in.

SuSE, he said, had a practice of supporting LUGs  (or Linux User Groups, as
the supporters of this free software call themselves). SuSE has also been
trying to promote Linux by having "installation parties," where the
alternative operating system is installed on dozens of computers.

SuSE GmbH (Society for the Development of Software and Systems)  was launched
by mathematicians Roland Dyroff, Hubert Mantel, Burchard Stein and computer
scientist Thomas Fehr just months after the Linux operating system was
launched. 

Today Linux has been attracting  increasing attention globally because of its
immense potential in cutting-edge computing, despite its low costs. 

SuSE itself has very ambitious plans with  SuSE Ltd in Britain and a
development center in the Czech Republic coming up within a year.  -India
Abroad News Service