Finally a Indian operating system supporting number of indian languages released by C-DACon september 4th 08.Boss is a linux distribution for the desktop with some pregiven packages and support from the Boss team.Current version is BOSS 3.0 developed by NRCFOSS . BOSS version 3.0 is coupled with GNOME and KDE Desktop Environment with wide Indian language support & packages that are relevant for use in the government domain. The software is also endowed with Bluetooth for short range of communications along with salient features like RSS Feed Reader and PDF Viewer to edit documents. An alliance is signed between NIC(national informatics center) and C-DAC with the scope of implementing os in e-governance appliactions maintained by NIC.BOSS is exactly suitable for government user initially with simple tasks like office applications and internet and multilingual support.
The accessibility of BOSS Linux will have a constructive impact on the digital divide in India as more people can now have access to software in their local language to use the Internet and other information and communications technology (ICT) facilities. Community Information centres (CIC’s) and Internet cafes will also benefit from BOSS Linux as this software can be utilized to power these outlets and it is affordable and easy to install, use and support.
It is a Govt. of India's initiative towards equipping common people with the benefits of computer technology as a free & opensource operating system. Currently BOSS can process 9 Indian languages- Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu in various text editors such as gedit, Open-Office, Yudit, Thunderbird Mail client. To avail this Indian Produst to all Indians, CDAC organised support centres in variuos states and conducts several trainings/workshops.
primarily two versions are available
1)Desktop Features :
GIMP - High-End Image Editor
Localized in 18 indian languages
PDF Viewer – It allows to Edit the document
RSS Feed Reader – Used in websites to retrieve all the information in that website and displays in Human Readable format.
Firewall
Firefox 3.0 Web Browser Application
Instant Messenger
Bluetooth for short range communication
Desktop sharing and Remote Desktop Connection
CD and DVD Burning tool
Package Manager- To add any package that is not installed in the computer. To update and Delete an existing Package.
Provides Support for Printers, Digi / Web Cameras, Scanner
The second version includes
BOSS Linux Advanced Server Version 1.0
BOSS Server Features
User Friendly GUI Front end
Supports Intel and AMD x86/x86-64 Architectures
Remotely Controlled Server
Interoperability with Proprietary OS using Samba
Interoperability with UNIX using Samba and NFS
Supports Printers and USB Devices
Package manageability using dpkg, apt-get, Synaptic package manager
Includes
Kernel 2.6.22
virtualization Xen Server
Apache web server
Squid Proxy Server
Data Base Server My SQL & Postgre SQL
Mail Server (Postfix)
Network Server
FTP server
LDAP Server
LTSP Support
Administrator Tools
The BOSS CD's are available at all the CDAC Centres in India. The following are the addresses to contact in related states. By contacting the below addresses of your near by CDAC Centre, the BOSS CD can be obtained by hand or by courier.
http://bosslinux.in/get-boss-cd/ click here to find the list of centres
some of the useful urls related to boss
bosslinux.in/demo/screenshots/boss-look
http://www.cdachyd.in/boss.shtml
http://nrcfoss.org.in/
