Hare and Tortoise - Fable

This is the eight and the last post of the series 'FOSS INNOVATION IN INDIAN COURTS: Inspired by the Allahabad High Court'. It talks about why Allahabad High Court adopted FOSS.

FOSS INNOVATION IN COURTS: Inspired by the Allahabad High Court

Introduction|| Computerisation of Indian Courts|| FOSS Introduction - Allahabad High Court|| Further Inroads of FOSS in Allahabad High Court|| E-Committee Adopts FOSS|| Problem With Linux Desktop|| Reason for Adopting FOSS|| Hare and Tortoise - Fable|| 

इस चिट्ठी को हिन्दी में यहां पढ़ा जा सकता है। 

There is a story of 'Hare and Tortoise' in 'Panchtantra': it has a common thread in all cultures. 

In a jungle, one Hare and a Tortoise were good friends. One day, they decided to race against each other. The hare obviously took the lead; he thought of relaxing and went off to sleep. The tortoise, walking slowly but steadily, overtook the hare and won the race. The moral is, 'Slow but steady wins the race'. In recent time, some new chapters have been added. 

The hare was perturbed by the defeat. He asked the tortoise to race again. This time he did not take rest and won the race easily. The moral is, 'It is better to be fast and reliable'. But this is not the end of the story. 

After some days, the tortoise asked the hare to race once again but with a condition that he would choose the course. The hare was confident of his victory and gave him a free hand. This time the course included a river. 

The hare ran up to the river and then stopped. The tortoise came and swam across the river to win the race. The moral is, 'Everyone has weak and strong points – play on your strong side'. However, the story still does not end here. 

After some days, the tortoise and the hare repeated the race over the same course, but the rules were changed. This time they decided to run it as a team. On the ground, the hare carried the tortoise on his back and on the river, the tortoise carried the hare on his back. The result was that both of them reached the destination quickly, saved time and enjoyed the race too. The moral is, 'It is best to consolidate everyone's strong points'. 

This is what FOSS, open standards and open formats are about. They -   

• Consolidate strong points; 
• Uses IPRs to prevent the hoarding of technology; 
• Invite others to participate in its development. 

It is 'Make love, not war' in an atypical way. And this is the key to the future. 

#FOSS #FreeOpenSourceSoftware #OpenSourceSoftware #AllahabadHighCourt #IndianCourts #ECommittee #FOSSAdoptionReasons #Panchtantra