Theos-Talk Archives (August 1999 Message tl00006)

Till recently, two or three ISP had monopoly in India. This is a remnant of
the approach the British taught India. The monopoly has kept access rates
very high thus preventing widespread use of Internet. Finally the
Government has decided to license a large number of ISP - couple of 100
which will spur the access to Internet. Again the licensing is a remnant of
the British system.

Hardware prices have been coming down every day. However, Windows Operating
system - the most widely used one - is still very expensive in India. Now
free Linux which can be obtained for the cost of duplicating a CD, will
make the necessary operating system available in India and other third
world countries which again will spur the use of computers. For example the
wholesale cost of W98 is $99, one can get Linux disk for $1.89 plus
shipping and even perhaps free from someone who has a copy and can make a
copy. (I just had the experience of installing Linux on a spare machine and
am convinced that third world countries will widely use linux as the
operating system of choice, just simply because it is free.)

I hope the ease of access of Internet in India may have some effect on TS
Adyar to more extensively use Internet as a medium to spur the spread of
Theosophy around the world.

mkr