Why, how, and how much ?
In the context of the FOSS funding crisis, I feel we are missing the government angle. Most often we think “companies must donate”. Wishful thinking, as we have no mechanism to push companies to do that. Best we can do is hope. Not so for governments. We are a democracy, and if we do enough we can change things. Not saying this is easy, but possible !
Kerala has been a leader in FOSS adoption, for more than 15 years now. They deploy a custom distro called KITE, based on Ubuntu, with prepackaged applications in schools.
The extent of savings is significant, so it makes sense for us to make a case to the Govt of Kerala to fund at-least the FOSS applications that they are directly dependent on.
Initial Data
Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) is a Kerala State Govt enterprise, setup to foster, promote and implement modernisation of educational institutions in the State of Kerala.
KITE presentation mentions the 3000 crore rupee savings (see slide 21). They also claim “Collaboration with 36 International Agencies for customizing FOSS applications pre-loaded with Operating System” (slide 22). There are annual reports hosted here that have financial data for a few years. 2 lakh + laptops run KITE’s linux distro.
The figure of 3000 crore savings has been repeated in news articles both in 2024, and in 2019. This number is based on an estimated saving of 1.5 lakhs (for all the FOSS software combined) on 2 lakh laptops.
“Open Source Software - A Study in India”, done in 2009, estimates a savings of 49 crore rupees by deploying FOSS in 50k desktops in Kerala for education.
The overall savings due to usage of FOSS by Kerala Govt, just in education, over the past 20 years is unknown - but if we go with official figures it is clearly more than at-least 10k crore in today’s money! This values the entire software bundle way higher than the hardware btw!
How much should the government fund
It’s tempting at first glance to say “some percentage of savings”, but that may not be workable.
We need a win-win justification for whatever we propose. Best way to do that is to find some precedents. How are other governments funding any dependent FOSS packages ? Are they buying support packages ? or licenses ? Or maybe funding development of specific features ? Or is the funding something that is indirect.
How should the government fund ?
Government departments such as KITE could buy support contracts, or fund feature development or maintenance. There are more than 35 major software packages used in schools, packaged into KITE OS. KITE OS is based on Ubuntu. Clearly, we need a case-by-case approach.
The funding could take the shape of a grant to which the projects will apply. Are there other ways in which the government can directly/indirectly fund FOSS projects that it depends on?
How much do the projects need ?
This is another area to look into. Here are some of the major recognizable projects - Blender, LibreOffice, GIMP, Inkscape, QT5, Scratch, Firefox, VLC, Scribus, Audacity.
Blender has an annual budget of about 2.5 million EURO at this point, with corporate sponsorship tiers of 6K(Bronze), 12K, 30K, 60K (Platinum - includes developer liason), 120K (Titanium) and 240K (Patron)
LibreOffice had an annual income of 1.35M Euro in 2023.
GIMP earns around 5444 AUD (Australian Dollars) per month from donations.
GNOME has a 2024-25 budget of $586k
These budgets are not very large. Meaning to say that relatively modest funding from the government can result in outsized impact.
How does the government benefit
By funding FOSS, the government has a better chance of achieving sustainable outcomes. Government’s digital deployments are large scale, and security is a concern. Supporting projects is also a good way to get prioritized issue fixes, and any required enhancements. It is also fair that the government reward those who helped achieved it achieve its goals in a low resource setting.
Kerala’s Draft IT Policy of 2023 has ambitious and aggressive goals for the next 5 years, with the following ones standing out:
- To garner at least 10% share of IT Industry exports from the Country.
- To increase the number of startups operating out of Kerala to 20,000
- To create at least 500,000 new jobs in IT and allied sectors in Kerala
- To strengthen the adoption of FOSS-based solutions in all e-Government solutions and to replace at least 30% of high-value software (such as ERP systems, HRMS etc) procured
currently through public funds with FOSS software. - To encourage community initiatives in the promotion of Free and Open Source software and hardware
- To transform Higher Education sector as a hub for FOSS, as a continuation to the similar activities in sch
Beyond the fairness angle, by funding open source projects directly and visibly, Kerala can get a significant amount of publicity. This can help bolster its image as both a thought leader. It can also signal Kerala’s suitability both as a place to do fair business, as well an investment destination. This can aid goals 1, 2, and 3 outlined above.
Clearly, Kerala understands that it’s best bets are placed bottom up. It’s huge talent pool has historically migrated out in search of greener pastures (trivia: one of the oldest IT companies in Bangalore was started by Malayalees!).
That said, there are no specific incentives laid out for FOSS (goals 4, 5 and 6). Goals are non starters without incentives. The policy “envisages transforming ICFOSS as an international thought leader in the responsible use of new technologies”. The govt must warm up to the fact that a higher reliance on FOSS must not be done purely as a consumer. It must become an active participant in the sustainability of FOSS to achieve it’s own policy goals.
Funding open source can be the force multiplier the government of Kerala needs to take larger strides towards its goals. Doing so will also signal to it’s own citizens that the govt is walking the talk, and accelerate both the development and adoption of FOSS, maximising returns on every rupee of public funds spent by the government.
Role of the Community
Getting governments to act requires wide ranging activities:
- Building a case based on data
- Identifying and engaging stakeholders from the government, politicians, and civil society.
- Build public opinion. Ideally demonstrating public backing for the idea.
- Pitching the case at the appropriate levels
While dealing with the goverment, we must also be be open to less-than-perfect initial outcomes. Moving the needle is more important than getting to the ideal state in step 1.
The FOSS community can play a role in each of these activities, as follows:
- Helping collect data that bolster the case around the utility of FOSS in education in Kerala
- Identifying relevant goverment functionaries, bodies, local representatives and influential people who should be engaged, as well as helping make the right introductions AND/OR getting involved in such discussions.
- Write and publish articles in mainstream media in Kerala(e.g. newspapers) to spread awareness about why Kerala can be a thought leader by actively investing in FOSS, rather than passively reaping benefits of an existing commons.
- Run public surveys to assess the utility of FOSS in Kerala, as seen by the students, teachers and general public of Kerala
Who is the FOSS community in this case? Students (including FOSS clubs), professionals, teachers, hobbyists, all existing FOSS communities in Kerala (beyond FOSS united itself) and anybody invested in the idea that FOSS can make a difference - including those in public policy.
When I went around discussing this in Takshashila, I was repeatedly asked for examples of significant public influence in government tech policies. Such instance are rare - among the most memorable one was the one involving FreeBasics and net neutrality. But note that the dominant template for public mobilization is based on “opposing” something. Here we are trying to push a positive change. An admittedly harder task. If we are able to mobilize the community to achieve a positive change, that would be the icing on the cake!
How can you help ?
If you are interested in volunteering in one/more initiatives, or have ideas or data, drop them below.