Indian Institute of Science asks alumni to fill up their details in a document in MS Word format. This is a mail I sent them more than two weeks back. No response as yet.
-----Forwarded Message----- From: V. Sasi Kumar vsasi@hotpop.com To: alumni@admin.iisc.ernet.in Subject: Proforma for membership records Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:52:39 +0530
Sir,
I find that the Proforma for membership records is given in a proprietary format (MS Word) which forces me to use a proprietary application. Indirectly you are promoting a particular company's software that uses a closed format for its files, which is not a very good practice for an internationally reputed institute like IISc.
Instead, I suggest that the proforma be made available in open formats like Postscript, PDF, XML, etc. This would enable anyone using any word processor or any free application (like xpdf, Open Office, etc.) to read the file without loss of formatting. May I also point out that even our President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has prompted scientists and technologists to move from proprietary software to free software for several reasons, including national security and economics.
Incidentally, I am an Alumni of IISc (1976-78).
Best regards