[FSUG-Bangalore] More Detail report on Hindu
Anivar Aravind
anivar.aravind at gmail.com
Wed Apr 16 11:05:50 IST 2008
Detail report is here.
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/16/stories/2008041660721100.htm
Computer professionals hold candlelight vigil against proprietary software
Deepa Kurup
Organised to give a human face to a subject often discussed in blogs and
on websites
To oppose those who say that knowledge is for those who can buy it
Protest by individuals was an attempt to cut through the digital divide
Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Novel protest: Software professionals hold a candlelight vigil at Town
Hall in Bangalore on Tuesday, in protest against the use of proprietary
software. —
BANGALORE: What does a software professional, an artisan, a scrap
dealer, a college student and a teacher — gathered in front of the Town
Hall with candles in their hand — have in common?
In a city where protests have become as common as the issues that drive
them, this one comes as a breath of fresh air because of the nature in
which it was organised.
Group
A group of individuals, comprising mostly software engineers and others,
who oppose the use of proprietary software, got together for a
candlelight vigil to raise awareness and give a human face to what has
largely been a protest in blogs and on websites.
R. Vijay Kumar is a scrap dealer who is not educated and does not use
the computer.
However, a community Computing Centre called C3, started by software
professionals in their slum, uses Free Software GNU Linux.
“Our children study there and when we got to know about the spirit
behind this, we realised that this is about equal access and quashing
those who say that knowledge is for those who can buy it,” he explains
about the reason for the protest being organised.
Do they understand the nitty-gritty of the matter and how it will affect
people? Perhaps not.
But they know that the protest is trying to cut through the digital divide.
“There is very little awareness even among professionals about licensing
and the implication of proprietary Software,” says Reshinesh, a software
engineer at CISCO, who calls himself an Open Source evangelist.
Holding placards which demand Document Freedom and ask for a national
policy on this issue, the protesters label the recent document standard
called OOXML — which was adopted by the International Standardisation
Organisation on April 2 — a “banana standard.”
Software
Besides software professionals who confessed to working in companies
such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro, which endorse
proprietary standards by virtue of their vote at the International
Organisation for Standardization, said that they believed in Open Source
Software. “Such a policy is critical to India. Especially in
e-governance, why should people have to buy any particular software in
order to access public records?” asks Praveen A., a software engineer,
volunteering with various Free Software projects.
These professionals have been taking their message to technical
institutions and colleges, and several students from colleges such as
B.M.S College of Engineering and R.V. College of Engineering.
“For students it is very important because it promotes innovation.
“You can find the code and contact people who created it through mailing
lists and Internet Relay Chat,” is the comment from Santosh G. Vattam,
who is a student from B.M.S.
More information about the FSUG-Bangalore
mailing list