Nirmal Thacker wrote:
what im getting at is will VTU still use open source software? after all if microsoft is playing a huge role in EDUSAT , VTU may feel commited towards them although the use of open source software is beneficial for both them and us.
The role of the university is to provide a education to its students - aligning itself with a commercial entity should not be on its agenda. Do question your teachers why you are using tools and course materials which will tie you to a particular vendor instead of learning skills and tools that would enable you to work on any platform. If any of the teachers say that MS technologies are more in demand, feel free to contact me. I will give them a piece of my mind
Secondly, I will restate that approaching the VC is not the correct way to bring about a change. There is a need to tell the students and teachers about why free software is good in education. The change should come from the bottom-up rather than from top-to-down
Secondly, again before joining up for this lists i had decided that i would do my bit for the open source community by distributing CD's like GNU/ linux distros, open source software collection and anything related to it (on cds!) for free.
Don't hand out anything in free. It will only attract freeloaders. Charge a nominal fee for it - remember the free in the free software means "mukt" rather than "muft"
one of the best ways to spread anything related to engineering students is by getting involved with the various fests held by the colleges.
Is your college willing to host such an event ? If they can provide for an auditorium and some desktop machines, an event demoing the capabilities of free software is quite feasible