West Bengal (WB) government's IT department is choosing open source operating systems for its ambitious e-Governance programme in the state.Recently, the state has selected to install Lenovo PCs loaded with Red Hat Linux for an e-Governance programme involving 277 panchayats in Burdwan district.The IT department has set up a computing center which operates exclusively on open source software. Many leading open source software vendors like Sun, IBM and Red Hat have already expressed their willingness to participate. The government is now looking for a more active involvement with various shades of the free and open source based software movement.