[Fsf-friends]
INDIA: Appeal from FSUG-Bangalore (about engineering studies)
Frederick Noronha (FN)
fred@bytesforall.org
Fri Mar 11 20:25:25 IST 2005
http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?VTU-FLOSS_Campaign
FSUG-Bangalore | RecentChanges
VTU-FLOSS Campaign
Please Sign This letter
Vice chancellor, Visveswaraiah Technologies University, Belagum, Karnataka.
Dear Sir,
There are thousands of engineering and polytechnic colleges in India. Each year
lakhs of graduates and diploma holders earn their degree. They pay thousands of
rupees as fees to get the best facilities. A part of this goes to buying the
software's which they use either in college lab or for doing assignments at
home.For every software which they use; there is alternate Free Software
program available. Now this shows the amount of money which we can be saved if
we start using Free Software. This will bring down cost education considerably.
Other than cost benefits, Free Software has other advantages
* No-fee licensing
* Ease of license fee management
* Better large-scale programmability
* Easier integration
* Better performance
* Development convenience
* Better support
There are hundreds of Free Software's programs which colleges or universities
can adopt. As Vishweshwaraiah Technological University is one of the biggest
universities in India, its time for VTU to moving towards using Free Software.
This will make other Universities to follow. Let the VTU have pride to be the
first. Here I am giving you an example of three such alternative Free
Software's which can be used.
* (1) Operating System: Windows v/s GNU/Linux
I don't know what university generally recommends to colleges. But presently
almost all the colleges use Microsoft Windows based operating system. We all
know the best available operating system today is GNU/Linux. It is the best OS
any educational institution can have. Students can not only use it but also can
study.
* (2) Simulation: Matlab v/s Octave
Matlab is used in communication and electronics lab. Matlab for individual
license for university (academic use) costs $500. Any college will have to buy
minimum 25 licenses. Which means shelling out Rs.537500. Octave, which is
simulation software written by University professors. This usually comes with
the GNU/Linux Operating System. The advantage to students is that they don't
have to buy a limited student version to use at home. They can use Octave both
at Lab and at home. SciLab? is another open source competitor for Matlab. It
uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze data and produce lovely graphics. Now
you have the choice which one you want to include in your curriculum.
* (3) Office software's: MS Office v/s Open Office
Well, we all used Microsoft word to submit our project documents for review and
for other academic purposes. Now we have Open Office which is as good as MS
office and has some feature Microsoft Office lacks like PDF support,
compatibility with older versions of Microsoft Office, HTML editor, a vector
drawing application .... It gives you everything starting from word processor,
presentation software to PDF generator [Fully compatible with Microsoft Office --
So already existing data in those formats can be used]. Don't you think it's
the right time to save money of a poor student ?
The above are just examples. There are many such software programs from which
the students can benefit. We hope the university understands the urgency and
the need. We would be happy to give you any information/help if university
needs. Here by we urge the university to make an effort in this direction.
Thank you,
Please sign this petition
* click this link [1] to enter your comments.
* Enter your Signature in Text Box right below the _Start Here_ line.
* Give your name in the 'Username' and kindly don't edit any other
contents.
* Click Save button.
Start Here
1. Thejesh GN. Milwaukee USA. Former student of VTU [1BT98EC047]. March 01 2005
2. Rakesh 'arky' Ambati (Bangalore India) Fri Mar 11 11:19:57 IST 2005
3. Praveen Arimbrathodiyil (National Instititute of Technology, Calicut) Fri
Mar 11 17:34:50 IST 2005 We use GNU/Linux in our main Computer center. It saves
a lot of money of the college as there is no licence fee to be paid for each
users. Since the source code of the softwares are available many computer
science students do projects based on Linux kernel and other such projects. The
possibility of use of thin-clients (which our computer center use) reduces the
cost of hardware dramatically. It has proved to be beneficail to our college
and I urge you to chose Free Software for giving a better alternative for
students.
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d88888b d8b db Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa India
88' 888o 88 f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g
88ooo 88V8o 88 http://www.bytesforall.org * http://fn.swiki.net
88~~~ 88 V8o88 Phone 0091.832.2409490 Mobile 09822 122436
88 88 V888 784 Nr Lourdes Convent, Sonarbhat Saligao Goa 403511
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