FSF India is preparing a representation to AICTE. I heard that colleges have the freedom to optout. If this is so, it is important to write and do a campaign requesting all college administrations to optout of this. If any of you are in touch with any colleges, please find out what is happening in those places.
-- GN On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 1:04 PM, Guru गुरु <[email protected]> wrote: > * > http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/issues/engineering-students-locked-into-microsoft-office/article4640546.ece > * > * * > Engineering students locked into Microsoft Office > > Come June 30, over 80 lakh college students all over India would have > little choice but to use Microsoft Office 365 in their college computers, > locked by a government contract that may well be more expensive than the > use of an open source equivalent in the long run. > > The decision by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) will > limit engineering students to a particular product at a time when their > exposure should be widened, say experts. It also forces college > administrations to adopt one technology instead of giving them the > flexibility to install whatever suits their students’ needs best, they > said. > > Efforts to contact Microsoft were unsuccessful until Sunday night. > > In open source, the core of the technology is available without charge as > free download. Open source requires no initial investment, with many > vendors offering support and maintenance at half the price charged by > proprietary software vendors. > > The AICTE, which serves more than 11,500 technical colleges and institutes > across the country, had awarded Microsoft a contract last year that let the > AICTE implement the company’s cloud email and storage offering, which > centralizes email storage and provides for a simpler and potentially less > expensive solution. > > A recent notification by the AICTE states that all institutes must > compulsorily install and use Microsoft Office 365, a productivity suite, > which has little to do with the functioning of the cloud-storage service. > > There is no free, open-source cloud-based offering, and Microsoft’s > product, priced at zero initial cost, fulfills that need. Dr. S.S. Mantha, > Chairman, AICTE, announced, “Office 365 will enhance our day to day > communication, collaboration, and monitoring of the colleges we oversee... > This will help us promote and propagate innovation across all 11,500 > institutions.” > > The AICTE notification that announced the mandate says the project needs > to be completed by June 30, 2013. > > Open-source software such as Linux has become popular among college > students in recent times as its zero-cost approach promotes inclusivity, > with former President Abdul Kalam stating “In India, open source software > will have to come and stay in a big way, for the benefit of our billion > people.” > > Addressing what he called a popular misconception about the availability > of support for open-source installations, Raghavendra Selvan, an assistant > professor at an engineering college in Bangalore, clarified, “Once you have > installed such a product, there are companies that will charge you just for > maintenance and support.” Red Hat is an example of a large enterprise that > caters to just this need. > > If the government would consider an open-source alternative, it wouldn’t > be the first time. In early 2011, the state government of Kerala deployed > an open-source enterprise-resource planning (ERP) package named Fedena to > assist over 15,000 schools and 70 lakh students. > > Mr. Selvan suggested the government could use the Fedena model, and added, > “The office suite is not necessary. Using Office 365 would only limit > students to Microsoft's perspective and stand in the way of serious > open-source research in rural colleges,” he added. > > Keywords: Engineering > colleges<http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/issues/engineering-students-locked-into-microsoft-office/article4640546.ece#> > , Microsoft Office 365 > use<http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/issues/engineering-students-locked-into-microsoft-office/article4640546.ece#> > , college > computers<http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/issues/engineering-students-locked-into-microsoft-office/article4640546.ece#> > , open source > software<http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/issues/engineering-students-locked-into-microsoft-office/article4640546.ece#> > , > AICTE<http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/issues/engineering-students-locked-into-microsoft-office/article4640546.ece#> > > > _______________________________________________ > network mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in > > -- Nagarjuna G. http://beta.metaStudio.org/
_______________________________________________ network mailing list [email protected] http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
