2007/6/7, Mahesh T. Pai paivakil@gmail.com:
I understand your feelings. I know that you have put in a log of efforts into the IT@SCHOOL project. YOur efforts are certainly commendable, but please, please, do not criticise the MoU without disclosing your interest in it.
Lets ask the government to publish the MoU. The issue here is,
There has been a lot of effort (mostly volunteer based) to build up the current Free Software infrastructure that is about to finish (the transition from a proprietory infrastructure to a Free Software based one). It took 3 years of considerable effort and active participation from the Free Software community in Kerala.
Now when everything is set up in a very commendable way, why is the change brought without the consultation with the community (teachers, students and volunteers)? We have played a part in this and it hurts when some one who claims to be a supporter of the "Knowledge Society" doesn't ask the community when such an important change is made.
I'm not against the support for using Red Hat in goverment. The issue is the change brought out without cosultation with the community who had worked hard to bring about such a change. We had a lot of hopes in the IT policy and it is saddening to see the situation worsening and not any better.
The previous government (which didn't have a IT policy supporting Free Software) took the decision to move to a completely Free Software based infrastructure because 85% of the teachers supported such a move (and they got such confidence because of the tireless efforts of the community and I'm proud to be a part of such an effort, though a smaller part).
http://www.pravi.co.nr/2005/06/08/it-at-school-palakkad-support-group-format...
The issue here is the lack of consultation and transperency. We should know exactly what is in the MoU and what is the reasons for changing a successfully running project. It has been running successfully for the last 3 years.
Cheers Praveen