Linux in Indian Schools

This Yahoo News story talks about India's communist-run Kerala state and how the education minister said "ideologically I support Linux and Free and Open Operating Systems for IT enabled-education in schools." I know I'm a zealot and all, but I don't understand how someone wouldn't ideologically support Open Source Software (OSS). If you could have software that was as good or better than its competitors, wouldn't that be better than subsidizing any company, especially one that has repeatedly been found guilty of using non-competitive practices? Isn't it better ideologically to use software that promotes learning (by allowing its source code to be studied) and is available to all students, regardless of their ability to pay for it?

The education minister didn't say that he would support banning Microsoft's products as a zealot might, just that he'd support the idea of people using Linux too. So I don't quite get what the big deal is.

The other thing about this story that I find bizarre is that the author somehow sees a link between this story, which boils down to "Indian Commie says schools can use OSS if they want to," to a story two weeks before when the same commies banned sales of Coke and Pepsi because some (ostensibly whacko) environmental group found high levels of pesticide in locally bottled Coke and Pepsi products. I think then, that the headline might read: "Foreign Investors Beware: Communist Indian State refuses to force its people to drink poison and use Microsoft products."

It is just a random Yahoo! News story, but it does strike me as odd.