[Fsf-friends] Re: [LAP] Re: a memo and the IT@School Project

Leo leo@indialink.org
20 Nov 2002 15:42:59 +0530


On Wed, 2002-11-20 at 10:24, Raju Mathur wrote:
> >>>>> "Raghu" == Raghavendra Bhat <ragu@vsnl.com> writes:
> 
>     Raghu> Members of FSUG-Kochi have submitted a memorandum to the
>     Raghu> Government of Kerala regarding the choice of software and
>     Raghu> syllabus prescribed for the IT@School project.  Link up and
>     Raghu> read the full memo at
> 
>     Raghu>     http://www.symonds.net/~fsug-kochi/mass-memo.html
> 
> Nice document.  I specially liked section 2 which talks about
> proprietary communication standards.  Agree that those are going to
> cost much more in the long term than open or closed source.  Leo, are
> you listening?

Yes it is a good document. The arguments can be strengthened. In section
1, it is not just about software and commercial fairness. It is more
than just a marketing trick. It is world domination over the essential
technologies of a knowledge society - domination by one single
proprietary software company.As I keep saying, the software environment
is akin to language - the language for working with information and
knowledge. This cannot be left in the hands and complete control of any
single corporation. Why would any country want to train it's citizens in
the use and/or development of a particular software product? Just as
literacy is NOT EQUAL to knowing how to read,write,speak a particular
language (e.g English), computer literacy is NOT EQUAL to knowing how to
use ONE particular software environment.When people talk about computer
literacy today, it seems to be equivalent to MS Software Literacy. And
this is what the educational system seems to be promoting. Do we see
parallels here with colonial times? Except now we have corporations
determining the "language" of world trade.

Kudos to the Kochi folks for coming up with this document.We should
develop the arguments in it and take it forward.


Leo