[Fsf-friends] IT Vision

[Mahesh T Pai]

Suraj Kumar wrote:

> I never gave technical lectures and all my talks were about software freedom,
> etc.,. and by the end of three days, the proprietor of the institute got
> bugged and asked me to 'kindly leave' :D From his perspective, I was more of
> a 'waste of time' and I could understand that I only disappointed him for he
> wanted me to teach something technical. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten too
> philosophical. How do you think should this be done? Should I talk about the
> freedom aspect at all (at least while beginning with)?

That is the difficulty with most (almost all) non-european/anglo-saxon cultures.
  We pay little, if any, attention and/or respect to "intellectual property"
"belonging" to others.  (Please note the quotation marks).

AFAI see, unless some software giant conducts a few raids, and sends a few
people behind bars for piracy, nobody in computer-related establishments are
going to respect IP or copyrights.  I have noticed that copyrights are a
non-issue with most people.  Indeed, only if the raids like referred to above
take place, people would begin to respect copyrights.  My guess is that such
raids, as and when they take place, would give an immense boost to free s/w,
since that would force people who would rather not pay switch over.  And for
those who are willing to pay, they will start demanding their money's worth.

There was an article somewhere (slashdot?) about two months back, saying that
software piracy is harming the free software movement more than it is harming
the Giants themselves.

All this apart, the end user is rarely concerned with terms of the license.
Only developers, and persons who need to exchange copyrighted materials are
concerned with distribution / redistribution / modifications.  Hence,  though
licensing issues should be covered even in short term courses, they are ideally
taken up at the end of a course, not the beginning.

> 1. They _never_ talk about the freedom aspect. 2. They sometimes give
> misleading information: (examples: "GNU is a set of tools", "It was all
> started in 1991 by a student...", etc.,)
>
> How can they be approached and a change in syllabus be brought about? Has
> anybody successfully corrected them?

Here is a gem I heard :- Linus uses MS windows on his PC.

Those "poor guys" survive with the money earned selling certification for closed
software.

> wouldn't it be nice if the free software movement's efforts, goals, path
> finds a mention in the syllabus? :)

Yes, in Kerala, our govt. will shortly include free software in the syllabus ;),
on its own, and if it does not, we are going to make them ....

Why don't you try to find out what the syllabus in TN says? That is, if at all
IT is part of your school curriculum.

Mahesh T Pai.