Baroda IT Association to hold seminar on Linux

Baroda: With the Gujarat government keen on promoting Linux and including it as one of the prominent subjects to be covered in the HSC and SSC courses, Baroda IT Association (BITA) has resolved to hold an awareness seminar on Linux. The seminar will witness participation from the members and their employees.

Sharing further information around the seminar, Nilesh Joshi, Secretary, Baroda IT Association stated, "Following the government's decision to include Linux as a subject within the HSC and SSC courses, the operating system will receive wide acceptance. Hence, we will be providing adequate training to our members and the engineers in their teams so that they can carry out the installation process on their own. We have requested one of the faculty members from Maharaja Sayajirao University Baroda to impart necessary information around Linux and its configuration."

Of late Linux is gaining prominence as an operating system across segments such as education, government and even corporates. "One year ago, people did not have much knowledge about Linux OS but now they want further information around the benefits they stand to gain from its usage. If the program is well received by the channel community then the association will hold yet another session on Linux for the masses,"clarified Joshi.

Sharing information around the benefits of Linux, Jigish Gohil, visiting faculty member of Maharaja Sayajirao opined,"The Gujarat government has made it mandatory for Linux to be included as one of the prominent subjects in its courses. More than 5000 schools in Gujarat and thereby every student will be exposed to Linux and its usage and benefits. Keeping that in mind, the providers of the OS, the IT channel partners need to be imparted effective training and knowledge around the usage and configuration of Linux."

Gohil further mentioned that with state governments including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand and now, even Gujarat looking at promoting Linux, a lot of knowledge around the OS needs to be extended.

"Today notebooks, mobiles and even the IP Phones run on Linux-based operating systems, which indicates that Linux is gradually gaining ground. It can be installed free of cost and is based on multi-user and network operating system which in turn makes it more secure from virus attacks and data thefts," pointed out Gohil.

While channel partners are looking forward to the seminar, they are not too sure whether Linux will help them generate business opportunities.

Rajesh Mehta, Proprietor, Type House opined, "While the association's effort around promoting Linux needs to be acknowledged, what we also need to keep in mind is that MS windows Operating System governs 90 percent of the market. It's very difficult to suggest whether Linux has a great future ahead or not but there is no harm in garnering information around technical implementation and configuration of the OS."