ELCOT Moves To Open Source

The state owned Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) has decided that all its projects will now be deployed on open-source software, including Linux.

The IT services organization has chosen the open source path in order to cut costs and do away with the binding nature of the proprietary alternatives.

According to reports, ELCOT will migrate from Microsoft software at the server and desktop levels and deploy open source software instead.

ELCOT’s decision to move to open source comes in as a result of a failed negotiation with Microsoft which wasn’t willing to lower the cost of its software.

ELCOT’s open source move could lead to a significant shift in the state as far as the adoption of open source is concerned because ELCOT is also the primary agency which procures computers and software for the Tamil Nadu government.

The agency has already implemented a number of applications for the government running on Linux.