Government has not issued directive for use of Open Source Software (OSS) in computers in place of micro software across the country. National Informatics Centre, NIC has implemented OSS in many central and state government departments. NIC has also established Open Technology Centre (OTC) to spearhead the adoption of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in e-Governance applications based on Open Standards.
At present, OSS is being used in 115 departments in the country for various applications. In all, 28 states/UT’s are using OSS for various applications.
For popularization and promotion of Free and Open Source Software in the country, National Resource Centres (NRCFOSSs) have been set up for R&D, FOSS deployment, support, awareness building and human resource development. NRCFOSS CDAC Chennai has brought out an open source GNU/Linux based operating system named as Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS) with Indian languages support. BOSS can be downloaded from http://bosslinux.in. BOSS Support Centres have been set up across the country for providing hand-holding support to users. BOSS is being deployed in various departments for e-governance, office and education applications.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Shri Sachin Pilot in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 8.8.2012.
Source- PIB
