Everyone’s getting worked up about the coming end of support for Windows XP and the expense this might involve, but over in India they’ve come up with a very simple solution to this problem.

In order to sidestep the numerous vulnerabilities that are about to be exposed in Windows XP, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is just going to adopt Linux instead, reports ITWire. The decision to abandon Microsoft was detailed in a letter sent out by Tamil Nadu’s Information Technology Department to all other concerned departments, and suggests that they all ditch XP in favor of the Bharat Operating System Solutions (BOSS) flavour of Linux.

The letter goes on to explain the well-known dangers of sticking with Windows XP after the cut-off date, and adds that Linux BOSS is a particularly attractive alternative as “the support cost for BOSS is very minimal compared to other Linux flavours”. That’s because Linux distributions cost diddly-squat, a big fat ZERO, quite unlike what you have to pay for Microsoft’s software, and naturally that “translates into huge savings for the government,” says Tamil Nadu’s IT department.

And it also means the state won’t have to worry about replacing its hardware just yet – as with most Linux distributions, BOSS runs just fine on older gear, which means the Indians can literally run their PCs into the ground before they need to be replaced.

This could turn out to be a pretty massive Linux implementation, given that Tamil Nadu is home to some 37 departments, 125 municipalities and a further 1,127 revenue collection areas. Now presumably there are going to be several dozen PCs in each of these departments and municipalities, and if each revenue collection office has one, that probably adds up to several thousands PCs.

Okay, so you might be thinking, “oh well, this is only India”. That’s true, but it’s also worth considering that Tamil Nadu is home to over 70 million souls, and its capital city Chennai is home to a massive business outsourcing industry. As such, the state is one of the most developed and influential parts of the country, and where it goes, others could well follow.

If more Indian states copy Tamil Nadu’s example, that could tempt some of its more clued-up outsourcing professionals to embrace Linux too – ultimately, Microsoft could find itself losing a lot of customers in that country, and end up ruing the day it thought it was being clever by trying to scare people into ditching Windows XP.