On Monday 17 February 2003 00:42, FN wrote:

... if this money was not paid to Microsoft for software licences for some 3000 Std XI science students, on the excuse that GNU/Linux is too-difficult for them to cope with....

Maybe this decision was influenced by the faculty, who would have to do some "hard" learning. Decisions like these are part of a more complex problem in (our) society - the "qickfix" mentality. It has seeped into all aspects of society. The vast majority of students today study not with the intent of aquiring knowledge but solely with the aim of aquiring a degree - a passport to a job. Most do not have the foggiest idea of what goes on behind the screen, let alone the unholy machinations of governments and bussinesses. Visit a bank, or a railway booking centre. Are the people at the counter doing anything intelligent?. Or a hotel, a restaurant - are the waiters and receptionists doing anything intelligent. The vast maority will be destined for jobs like these. They will be only consumers not creators of resources, most will become obstructions in the path to more effecient societies. And why do we want to rely on the government for anything? Why did the colleges not take the initiative to become autonomous and independent?. IMHO cause that brings responsibility and uncertainty. Governments and bussinesses are busy exploiting the inability of society to accept responsibility. So what has this got to do with GNU/Linux. The target audience. So far the target has been users. We should now focus on the decision makers in educational institutions. How about a workshop for lectures and professors in Maharashtra. Self help with a little help from your friends that's what GNU/Linux is about. (I promise i will deliver a lecture on embedded systems at this workshop ;-)).

Society expects somone else to foot the bill so we have "subsidised" education, travel, petrol, housing, software - GNU software being the exception - the subsidy being far more expensive than the unsubsidised product elsewhere. In the case of Libre software not only is it cheap, it has a multiplicator effect as pieces of code are reused to create evermore useful stuff, thus making it even cheaper.

o Set up a Free Software Research Lab that would have build assets of a permanent nature -- of the human kind o Invest in additional 500 computers, at approx Rs 20,000 per

Why do they not make the students assemble the machines. That would nearly halve the price. And the senior students maintain them. That will cutoff recuring costs. And the software students write apps to solve the counter clerk problem and ......

PS: Of course, don't expect politicians and decision-makers to be convinced by arguments such as these...

Oh but you dont need the politicians any way. That is half the problem solved.

What can Goa do without ten million rupeees. A lot. Starting with empowering the faculty with GNU/Linux. ^^^^^^

rgds jtdsouza@softhome.net