[Fsf-friends] Re: Mentoring students !!

[Richard Stallman]

    I have lately been discussing the fact with RMS that how majority of the 
    students are being left out of open source initiative (FSF/GNU).

Our discussion was about the free software movement, not "open
source".  "Open source" is the slogan of another movement in our
community, one that rejects our idealism.  The Open Source Initiative
makes me feel "left out", and I am glad if some others feel the same
way.

When people with those views contribute to free software, we recognize
their contribution to the community.  But we in the FSF never work on
"open source" activities.  We want it to be clear that what we are
doing is "free software".

    I have myself been interacting with students on various projects and have 
    been amazed at their ability to push things through.

This is very different from my experience in the US and Europe.
Occasionally a student who becomes a free software developer and does
important work acting on his own, but students *in the academic
context* hardly ever contribute anything that works.

Have you found it is different in India?  I would be glad to learn
that Indian students are more effective.  If so, it could be worth
some effort to try to reach out to them.