Indian Govt. to launch its own Operating System(Linux Distro.)

[coffee_cup]

what i am saying is there is no point spending time and effort on it. Because nothing is foolproof.
Like i said there are only 2-3 capable OSs developed from scratch makes sense in the real world, and you named it.
Bitching windows and saying closed source reduce risk ? dude !

Threats to your data are not entirely due to some viruses or malicious code. How can you forget the biggest threat when you put Windows / OSX etc. into use in sensitive govt. offices i.e. you have no control over where and how Microsoft, Apple and co store your data and who have access to that?

This is precisely the threat (along side others) you are addressing when programing your own OS.

As I said, it is all about reducing the risk to acceptable levels. And by creating your own OS to safeguard your national security, you are doing exactly this.

 

[nForce]

Using Windows, Android, IOS and even normal Linux distros in sensitive govt. institutions must be banned.

I am all for every country completely developing their own OS. Even the Linux systems based on the standard Kernel (which in itself is not allowed to be modified) gives only some security.

It should be a complete re-write.

Pakistan should also develop its own OS.

bhai ! why re-invent the wheel ? Do you know the effort it will take ?

 

[coffee_cup]

bhai ! why re-invent the wheel ? Do you know the effort it will take ?

Difficult task but not impossible.

And there are so many motivated youngsters who do it all the time.

They will also get some fun-time and work for their country at the same time, ;-)

 

[nForce]

We are not talking about some individuals working for their 3-person company. We are talking about a massive govt machinery with lot of resources available at their disposal working for their national security.

And if they can not create this "small" thing like an individual OS, then I am not sure about their efficiency. Its all about setting priorities and taking cyber security seriously.

And as far as changing the Kernel is concerned, if you do change the standard kernel, you will have to publish your changes and make these available under GPL as well. Something that pretty much kills the purpose of your secure OS.

And no, there are not only "2-3" Operating Systems developed from scratch, there are dozens. Some based on Linux, others on Unix and others on BSD, then there are other proprietary OS as well.

I am well aware that there is no 100% guarantee in IT Security, it is all about reducing the risk to acceptable levels.

If you do it, it should not involve more than 5-6 guys. It is not like if you push more hands in to a project like this, then efficiency will increase. It's quite the opposite, efficiency will degrade severely because of communication gaps, ambiguous understanding and different methodologies.

Difficult task but not impossible.

And there are so many motivated youngsters who do it all the time.

They will also get some fun-time and work for their country at the same time, ;-)

There can be better use of qualified resources. Building a brand new OS is futile, for the return on investment is way too low. Take the example of Android, it is based on Linux Kernel as well, they didn't build it from the scratch.

 

[coffee_cup]

If you do it, it should not involve more than 5-6 guys. It is not like if you push more hands in to a project like this, then efficiency will increase. It's quite the opposite, efficiency will degrade severely because of communication gaps, ambiguous understanding and different methodologies.

Valid argument. Get a good project manager and distribute the workload accordingly.
Putting more resources will "most probably" speed up the process and will ironically make it more secure.

How?

You distribute the workload among teams, every team develop few specific modules. Has two benefits:

1) This speeds up the work
2) no single team has all the end-to-end knowledge (a hard prerequisite in sensitive projects)

There can be better use of qualified resources. Building a brand new OS is futile, for the return on investment is way too low. Take the example of Android, it is based on Linux Kernel as well, they didn't build it from the scratch.

Again, we are not talking about a commercial software here. We are talking about an OS which is going to be used in sensitive govt. institutions to safeguard your national interests. What other better use of qualified resources you can have?

 

[jamahir]

@jamahir your thoughts please

from the link in the op this os is just the latest release of boss linux... i think i first heard of boss maybe five or six years ago.

what they promised and did not deliver is this ( Saraswat: DRDO working on India's own computer operating system - The Hindu ).

 

[RazorMC]

yeap but considering the Microsoft open source software on linux base are much more better; Ubuntu and like linux based systems are quite virus free, as most viruses are connected with microsoft windows only, moreover as user have only their account and access, no other can use any details of user, which is not in the case of microsoft.

Initially many people who are use to with microsoft windows hate the Linux based system, I prefer the use Ubuntu etc. Member may do partition on their Harddisk and try to use ubuntu, just continuous use for 3 months and all would leave the favouring windows.

Linux is not for the average user imho. Once you get used to how everything just works on Windows 7 and above, Linux distros seem more complicated. They are like Windows XP esp where device drivers are concerned. You need to manually hunt for drivers if they haven't been released by the OEM. Installing software also includes more steps than Windows. Plus there are more bugs in the Kernel that interefere with everyday tasks like hibernating/sleep etc.

Security is the only major advantage Linux distros offer, but that does not matter if someone is committed to hacking it.

I tried Ubuntu and Linux Mint but went back to Windows for ease of use and lack of driver support for ADB (I need it for work).

from the link in the op this os is just the latest release of boss linux... i think i first heard of boss maybe five or six years ago.

what they promised and did not deliver is this ( Saraswat: DRDO working on India's own computer operating system - The Hindu ).

This could just be a replacement for normal PCs used in government offices for officials and employees. There might not be any sensitive information stored there anyways.

The major issue here would be to find the right alternative software for anything they currently use on Windows.

 

[Ryuzaki]

this BOSS is old,i remember using it 4-5 years ago

 

[jamahir]

Linux is not for the average user imho. Once you get used to how everything just works on Windows 7 and above, Linux distros seem more complicated. They are like Windows XP esp where device drivers are concerned. You need to manually hunt for drivers if they haven't been released by the OEM. Installing software also includes more steps than Windows. Plus there are more bugs in the Kernel that interefere with everyday tasks like hibernating/sleep etc.

Security is the only major advantage Linux distros offer, but that does not matter if someone is committed to hacking it.

I tried Ubuntu and Linux Mint but went back to Windows for ease of use and lack of driver support for ADB (I need it for work).


This could just be a replacement for normal PCs used in government offices for officials and employees. There might not be any sensitive information stored there anyways.

The major issue here would be to find the right alternative software for anything they currently use on Windows.

yes, windows wins because of more ease of use over linux... only thing about windows is viruses... when i used to use windows xp, i would terminate the "explorer" program ( the desktop ) and use winrar or task manager to launch applications - just so that viruses don't get launched.

i have used mint linux and currently use slax linux only because they can be run off a pen drive... and slax uses lot of memory.

i will use qnx if it is available for free and has drivers for my machine and basic programs ( flash player within browser, word processor understanding doc format, presentation program understanding ppt/pps formats ).

This could just be a replacement for normal PCs used in government offices for officials and employees. There might not be any sensitive information stored there anyways.

The major issue here would be to find the right alternative software for anything they currently use on Windows.

linux distros like slax have "office" programs like calligra and abiword that understand msoffice formats but i find that these programs have positioning and font issues.

 

[RazorMC]

yes, windows wins because of more ease of use over linux... only thing about windows is viruses... when i used to use windows xp, i would terminate the "explorer" program ( the desktop ) and use winrar or task manager to launch applications - just so that viruses don't get launched.

i have used mint linux and currently use slax linux only because they can be run off a pen drive... and slax uses lot of memory.

i will use qnx if it is available for free and has drivers for my machine and basic programs ( flash player within browser, word processor understanding doc format, presentation program understanding ppt/pps formats ).



linux distros like slax have "office" programs like calligra and abiword that understand msoffice formats but i find that these programs have positioning and font issues.

Exactly. I've also had formatting issues with OpenOffice when viewed in MS Office. The best thing I could do was to build a pdf to preserve formatting and fonts but others couldn't edit it so it was abandoned altogether.

Malware is a constant problem on Windows, but if we download apps from trusted websites only and avoid shady apps, we can also enjoy malware-free PC.

Other OSes are mostly safe because they don't allow root level modification by apps, which means cracked apps are difficult to obtain and therefore no viruses. Windows 10 is employing something similar which is why I've avoided it lol.

Flash has stopped supporting Linux. It still works but there are no updates and that leave serious security issues even on secure OS.

 

[jamahir]

Flash has stopped supporting Linux. It still works but there are no updates and that leave serious security issues even on secure OS.

i didn't know that... what reason.

 

[Soulspeek]

Whats the big deal in making yet another Linux Distro? Every Pappu, Chunnu and Tommy makes a Linux Distro variant these days. There are more than 300 Linux distros in market today!!

 

[jamahir]

Whats the big deal in making yet another Linux Distro? Every Pappu, Chunnu and Tommy makes a Linux Distro variant these days. There are more than 300 Linux distros in market today!!

exactly.

it is just that certain governments/countries are unused to innovation in computing so they make a big deal out of even non-existent progress.

even china government made a big deal out of its "kylin" os which actually is just another linux distro.

but the north korean linux distro, "red star os", is not overplayed by the north korea government.

 

[kamrananvaar]

Linux is not for the average user imho. Once you get used to how everything just works on Windows 7 and above, Linux distros seem more complicated. They are like Windows XP esp where device drivers are concerned. You need to manually hunt for drivers if they haven't been released by the OEM. Installing software also includes more steps than Windows. Plus there are more bugs in the Kernel that interefere with everyday tasks like hibernating/sleep etc.

Security is the only major advantage Linux distros offer, but that does not matter if someone is committed to hacking it.

I tried Ubuntu and Linux Mint but went back to Windows for ease of use and lack of driver support for ADB (I need it for work).


This could just be a replacement for normal PCs used in government offices for officials and employees. There might not be any sensitive information stored there anyways.

The major issue here would be to find the right alternative software for anything they currently use on Windows.

When is the last time u used linux . I have installed it on about 8 pcs in my village saying its a new windows , told them how to instal new software and they were like ducks in water . No virus, no blue screen of death evrything just worked out of the box and nobody has reverted back to windows. If some illeterate village folk can run it how hard could it be??

 

[takeiteasy]

Security freaks may try OpenBSD. Regarding the distro, when you have Debian and other distributions available, why should GoI reinvent the wheel? dare to write a OS from scratch?(*UNIX based). China, USA may have their own secured, hardened systems for military, it's time India should go for one, if not already.

BTW, it is 14 years now, after I chose Linux as my primary OS . Started with RH 6.x and Debian Woody IIRC. It has come a long way from a geek OS which needs compiling/recompiling kernel, X(Display) and support of hardware (even SCSI/SATA hdd's were not really supported till 2005-6~). Due to being a Open Source/Community based system, Steve Ballmer and Microsoft failed to kill Linux during it's early ages. Now, Linux is used in numerous devices not to mention your Android smartphone. Personally though, will want to see a common OS platform free of charge where a paid software eco-system to thrive will be a good change. But, will Windows ever going to die? Not anytime soon.

Linux remaining niche OS seems fine for me, at least.