On Wed, Feb 27, 2002 at 06:50:23PM +0530, Nikhil Joshi wrote:
From: "Trevor Warren" trevorwarren@yahoo.com
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.
I think this a harsh remark on proprietary software. I guess the gist of the discussion is proprietary software == bad free software == good The facts: (CT Sept .2001) 1.Indian IT market share $23.1 billion. growth rate 31.6% 2.Indian nationals employed in IT and telecom in US: 250,000 3.Indians in Microsoft in R&D : 32% 4.Q1 revenue due to software in 2001-2002 : 8,600 crores with growthrate of 52 % !!!
Could this have been possible without "proprietary stuff" ? If a kid says Hey I wanna make money with coding. Should we say: no way?
Obviously proprietary software can generate more money than free software. No one is disputing that. The question you need to think about is whether proprietary software is good for Indian society and good for global society. If money is our only measure then we should willing donate our organs for for cash, no?
Mr. Stallman has written many essays which explain why proprietary software is bad for society. Please see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html.