Hi Luis, Your abstract makes some claims that you cannot support. For example:
[quote] We have been collectively raising an entire generation of engineers who are ignorant of the essential inner-workings of hardware and software due to the widespread use of proprietary products in college campuses which has prevented them from learning how things really work. [/quote] I suspect you will be "preaching to the choir" at OSCON, but you cannot actually, rationally, defend that statement. It is overstated and you have no evidence that the use of closed-source software somehow creates engineers who are ignorant of the inner workings of *anything*. Or, if you do, I would like to see the peer-reviewed research that demonstrates it. Given your question, I'm going to make the assumption that you're going to attack the (common) practice of students receiving low-cost/gratis copies of proprietary software. My apologies if my assumption is wrong. If you do, please include a rational, financial argument from the student's perspective as to why this is a bad idea. While I believe we need to encourage change, we cannot expect our students to make choices that are not financially sound. From the MIT webpages: [quote] Nine months' tuition and fees for 2009–2010 is $37,782. Additionally, undergraduate room and board is approximately $11,360, dependent on the student's housing and dining arrangements. Books and personal expenses are about $2,858. [/quote] http://web.mit.edu/facts/tuition.html If an engineer graduates from MIT and has zero proficiency with the tools used by the employers, how is she going to pay back her student loans? That's no small change... and walking out the door saying "I don't use Autodesk as a matter of principle because it is closed source" won't get you far in the interview circuit. Cheers, Matt _______________________________________________ tos mailing list tos@teachingopensource.org http://teachingopensource.org/mailman/listinfo/tos
