Hi,
I understand the values of free software, open source and the so-called proprietary software. But I am not one to take a religious stand on these. If these are what we claim these are, then they are capable of finding their own defense. They do not need to be pushed down someone's throat, least of all, by general bashing and cribbing.
We must understand that the growth in IT industry and the vast number of applications we see today are to a large part due to the so called proprietary software and the associated companies. Even the growth of good desktop environments on Linux came out of the need to counter Windows. Today, it is easy for someone to stand up and say "goto hell" to commercial institutions "selling" software. Remember that everything has its own place. Let us also not forget that FOSS movement itself caught on its momentum largely after big "commercial" industries started supporting it. It does not take a lot of research to figure out why they are doing this.
I am all for supporting FOSS and encouraging it. We are doing it on our own way. But having some Windows machine in the premises is not a sin. Teaching Windows to students is also not a sin. The students we teach are meant for the industry out there. So we cannot separate education completely from industry. I agree, we need a balance. We are doing that. As the world changes, we will also change. In some cases we change before the world - but we cant be too ahead of the world, particularly when it comes to education and industry interaction.
Thank you for your time.
- Sasi
On Thu, 2004-09-23 at 08:39, Ramanraj K wrote:
Dear Shri M. Sasikumar,
M Sasikumar wrote:
I am amazed at this kind of mails.
I am surprised that you have taken time to reply. Thanks.