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.htmlNice 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