This is a modified version of my mail http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-June/003378.html
in the http://mm.gnu.org.in/pipermail/fsf-friends/2005-June/003374.html thread
The [current software] scenario [in India] is such that the most people away from the s/w industry take software for granted, without considering the license [Doh! They dont even know that there is such a thing as a "license" for software]. When a non-industrial Indian installs software , they just press "next" when the License page is displayed.. Just as their hardware vendor or the next door "computer guru" had taught them.
And for those who do (may be if they have nothing else to read and bored ;-) ), they dont care because for most of them avoiding taxes and law is a matter of business and pride. It is a small percentage of "educated" population who really care about education.
As such [type of] people are more [, and] have flooded, communication between really ethical people [who have thus become sparse], with thirst for knowledge always gets either poisoned or blocked by the other "majority". As such, even for a person who is very ethical - who prays to God, you can find him using "Pirated Software" with all the good glory going on in his mind with the ignorance of Licensing.. You can find educational institution being opened up by lighting a Lamp in front of the Lord, providing IT education ... on pirated software.
In such a place where people are ignorant that ethics also apply very much to "new technology", you can find plenty of such mistakes like that of Sarath. [ And Sarath at least by my imagination, has done his work with a good mind - of bringing Free Software to the masses. And It has also been learnt that it is the ignorant media which over-glorified Sarath that he had developed a "New operating system", while Sarath struggled to explain them he only re-mastered Knoppix ]
In a different angle, there are these so called "Computer People" and "Computer scientists", upon whom other people used to look as Gods. Their word was always final. These software people or in newer terms "hardware vendors" or "computer assemblers", when questioned about the dialog they used to get about the license, just used to say "just ignore it .. press next". Their words were final. The user was bound to press next. And for the hardware vendors, they too were affected with the pride of avoiding the law. It used to (and still does) gives them the feeling "the law doesn't apply to me. I am the King". They dont realise themselves as part of the community [when thinking about being lawfull. Their brain somehow masks it]. And for those few who did, were crushed by the business of those who didnt.
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