luggers......
pliss refer to the letter as attached.......
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Hiyee Luggers,
There should be no doubt that the most important places where free software should be advocated and propagated are schools and colleges. Instead of trying to wean away people at a later stage when they are used to or worse, addicted to proprietary software, we must educate people about free software when their exposure to proprietary software is minimal and when they are most amenable to absorbing progressive ideas and beliefs.
The long term goal of FSF-I/LUG's should of course be to ensure that the school and college syllabi are free of all proprietary software and that students are introduced at an early stage to the simple philosophy of free software. This would require petitioning the various bodies responsible for framing these syllabi and that involves going through a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape. This obviously is not an easy goal to achieve although we must make a start on this front sooner rather than later.
In the mean time, we can involve ourselves in a more grass roots approach of contacting individual schools and colleges and requesting them to arrange talks on free software to be given by local volunteers of FSF-I/LUG's. This approach has no major bureaucratic hurdles, except perhaps for the convincing of individual principals or head masters, and promises the immediate benefit of more and more young and impressionable minds getting exposed to the simple philosophy of free software.
Here's a draft plan:
Volunteers in each town/city/suburb should compile a list of schools where they could go and give a talk on free software and submit this list to FSF-I/LUG's. FSF-I/LUG's should then in turn send request letters to these schools, including the contact details of the particular volunteers whom the school should contact for scheduling the talk.
A preliminary draft of the request letter follows:
To, The Principal name and address of school
Dear sir or madam,
Sub: A request for arranging a talk on Free Software and conducting a workshop on GNU/Linux in your institution.
The Free Software Foundation of India FSF-I and the LUG ( Linux Users Group ), is a non-profit organisation formed for the purpose of advocating and propagating the use and development of Free Software in India. Please see the enclosed literature for an explanation of and a brief introduction to Free Software. Please also visit our website at www.fsf.org.in and http://www.ilug-bom.org.in, for further information on our activities and goals.
As part of our efforts to spread awareness and educate people about Free Software and Gnu/Linux, we have started a program of holding talks in schools and colleges and technical institutions, with the aim of exposing youngsters to the simple philosophy behind Free Software and educating them aboutthe moral, ethical, and practical advantages of using and developing Free Software along with a 2-3 workshop on basics of GNU/Linux from the perspective of enhancing the students technical vocabulary.
We believe that this exposure is important for all students who have any interest or connection with computers and computer software, as it will enable them to make a more informed choice, based on virtues other than mere technical and marketing facts, when the time comes for them to choose which software to study, use, buy or develop.
Sir / madam, we hereby request you to arrange for such a talk to be given in your institution by one or more local volunteers of our organisation. The names and contact details of the volunteers with whom you can discuss the schedule of the talk are as follows:
1. volunteer name and contact details 2. volunteer name and contact details
We propose addressing this talk to students of classes SE,TE and BE. However, we leave the actual composition of the target audience entirely up to your discretion and judgment depending on the current level of exposure of your students to computers and computer software.
You may please distribute the enclosed literature on Free Software/Linux among the intended audience as a preparatory step in advance of the talk.
Thank you very much for your cooperation and time.
Yours sincerely, Sd. for Free Software Foundation of India & Linux User Group of Bombay
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This letter has been framed by "Khuzaima A. Lakdawala", and i owe him due for every word and idea in here. Just that i have modified parts to include the LUG and Linux as part of our overall agenda.
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Trevor Warren
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