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In a world controlled by technology, who controls the technology becomes an important question. Being an integral part of every technology, computer software becomes very significant in this context. In the initial days of computers, the software technology was controlled by a handful of big corporations. The advent of the Free and Open Source Software movement, started in 1980s, has resulted in the free GNU/Linux operating system and a large number of software tools for various applications and also for software development. This was achieved by a collaboration of millions of programmers over the Internet, overcoming technological challenges and also the hurdles created by the monopolistic forces in the software industry. The availability of an alternate system helped the users in many ways. The software prices came down significantly and the tendency to lock-in the users by storing their data in proprietary formats have been curbed to a great extend. For example Microsoft was compelled to move from the closed and proprietary .doc format to the .docx format that is open and documented.
The importance of Free & Open Source software for the developing countries were realized, notably by persons like our former president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, and the government policies were made accordingly. In Kerala, significant progress has been made by the IT@SCHOOL project (now KITE), which is currently the largest deployment of Free Software in the field of education. However, the corporations selling proprietary software continue with their efforts to regain their monopoly by placing new hurdles on the path of Free Software. A classic example is the “Pre-installed Windows” forced on the customers by the hardware manufacturers colluding with Microsoft, in a blatant violation of consumer rights. The software price is extracted from those who doesn’t want it also.
Switching to the GNU/Linux platform makes it easier to install a host of other software applications in the various fields. Missing the opportunity to use GNU/Linux platform is especially harmful to computer science students. While all the top 500 supercomputers and around 80 to 90% of the public clouds run GNU/Linux, access to it by a computer science student is made difficult by the unfair trade practices of some software vendors.
Considering the importance and the long-term impact of this, it is essential to take some steps to enable the users to take the control of the software they use. As a first step, we plan to conduct a series of workshops on the usage and installation of GNU/Linux and a host of application programs available under that.
A presentation in PDF format can be downloaded from HERE.
The plan is to:
Individuals/Institutions interested in organizing a program may contact:
Ajith Kumar B P email: bpajith at gmail.com phone: 9868150852
A COMMENTARY ON THE SIXTH EDITION UNIX OPERATING SYSTEM by J. Lions
