With pimply, light sensitive Chinese kids wreaking hell on government websites across the cyber world, the thought of network centric nuclear programme is mortifying. Reassuringly, the men in white coats at Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) have finally decided they have had enough of Windows and are now developing their own proprietary operating system.
Two brand new software research outposts are being established in Bangalore and New Delhi. These research centres will have strength of 25 scientists, each dedicated for the purpose, besides additional talent that the government plans to tap from institutes like Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Technology Madras and the Centre for Development of Telematics.
Dr. V.K. Saraswat, the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and DRDO Director-General and the man behind the project, believes that the lack of a homegrown operating system makes it easier for hackers to compromise a system that they are familiar with. However, the OS will support Windows applications which may make it vulnerable to attacks. He also added, "With a home-grown system, the source code will be with us and it helps in securing our systems."
This makes sense, at least until the point where the press release mentions commercial applications for the OS, which pretty much defies the logic of making a proprietary OS in the first place. Then again, the Indian government works in mysterious ways.
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