[Fsf-friends] [Fwd: Proforma for membership records]

[V. Sasi Kumar]

Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a
document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two
weeks back. No response as yet.

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi@hotpop.com>
To: alumni@admin.iisc.ernet.in
Subject: Proforma for membership records
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:52:39 +0530

Sir,

I find that the Proforma for membership records is given in a
proprietary format (MS Word) which forces me to use a proprietary
application. Indirectly you are promoting a particular company's
software that uses a closed format for its files, which is not a very
good practice for an internationally reputed institute like IISc.

Instead, I suggest that the proforma be made available in open formats
like Postscript, PDF, XML, etc. This would enable anyone using any word
processor or any free application (like xpdf, Open Office, etc.) to read
the file without loss of formatting. May I also point out that even our
President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has prompted scientists and
technologists to move from proprietary software to free software for
several reasons, including national security and economics.

Incidentally, I am an Alumni of IISc (1976-78).

Best regards

-- 
V. Sasi Kumar
Centre for Earth Science Studies
PB No. 7250, Thuruvikkal PO
Thiruvananthapuram 695031 India
-- 
V. Sasi Kumar <vsasi@hotpop.com>