Why is India’s Defence Ministry ditching Microsoft Windows for Maya OS?

General Studies Paper 3

Context

• India’s Defence Ministry has decided to replace the Microsoft Operating System (OS) in all its computers that can connect to the Internet with Maya, an Ubuntu-based OS built locally.

Maya, the new OS

• The new OS is currently being rolled out only in the Defence Ministry computers, and not the three Services.
• While the Navy is said to have cleared Maya for use in its systems, the Army and the Air Force are still evaluating the software.
• Maya has been developed by Indian government agencies within six months, and it is aimed at preventing malware attacks by cybercriminals who are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure and government agencies.
• The new OS will be backed by a protection system called Chakravyuh.

Maya VA Microsoft OS

• While the two operating systems provide a platform for the user to interact with computer hardware, Maya and Windows differ significantly, both in terms of cost and build.
• Windows is a commercial software sold by Microsoft for a license fee. It is the most widely used OS, and is easy to install and run.
• Devices powered by Microsoft’s OS run on the Windows NT kernel.
• A kernel is the core of an operating system. It runs on a computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM) and gives the device instructions on how to perform specific tasks.
• Prior to building the kernel architecture, programmers used to run codes directly on the processor.
• In the 1970s, Danish computer scientist Per Brinch Hansen pioneered the approach of splitting what needs to be done by a processor from how it executes that task, thus introducing the kernel architecture in the RC 4000 multiprogramming system.

Difference in the core

• This design was monolithic, meaning a single programme contained all necessary codes to perform kernel-related tasks.
• This architecture provided rich and powerful abstraction for the underlying hardware. But it was also large and difficult to maintain as the lines of codes ran in the millions.
• Limitations in the traditional architecture led to a new kernel design called the microkernel.
• This design broke down the monolithic system into multiple small servers that communicate through a smaller kernel while giving more space for user customisations.
• This change allowed developers to run patches easily without rebooting the entire kernel. It did have some drawbacks like larger running memory space and more software interactions that reduced the computer’s performance.
• Windows runs on a hybrid kernel architecture which is a microkernel design coupled with additional codes that help enhance performance.
• Apple’s MacOS also uses a hybrid kernel called XNU. And Ubuntu, a Linux OS that was used to build Maya, runs on monolithic architecture.
• Linux versions are called “distributions” or “distro”, and they comprise free and open-source software. In fact, Android is also based on the Linux kernel.

Conclusion

• India’s switch to the Ubuntu-based Maya OS comes at a time when cyberspace is increasingly becoming vulnerable to malware and ransomware attacks.
• Such cyber threats arising from proprietary software are once again making global governments look to free and open-source software (FOSS) to develop their own OS.
• Apart from cybersecurity, the reason behind this move is to assist IT modernisation efforts that are underway — like digitising government services and making them interoperable.