- To
Prof. Parasuraman, Director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai
Sub – Use of Free and Open Source software at TISS
Dear Prof. Parasuraman, I am a visiting faculty at TISS for the MA in Education program. I understand that TISS uses Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office software applications. These are proprietary software applications and need to be paid for each user license. The word 'proprietary' derives from the source code of these applications being hidden by Microsoft and not being made available in the public domain. In response to such proprietorship of software, the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement, which was born more than 25 years ago, has created free and open equivalent software. FOSS is free, as it is freely shareable without needing to pay per user or for making copies of the software. This means, FOSS can be distributed freely to all computers in an institution. It is open, meaning its source code can be studied, customized and distributed without restrictions from its makers. This feature has enabled local language support to be custom developed by FOSS developers in India. There are popular FOSS operating systems – Ubuntu GNU/Linux is used by millions (including by many at the nearby HBSC). Open Office is a FOSS equivalent to Microsoft Office and apart from word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software, available in MS Office, has other applications such as database, drawing etc. In fact the Ubuntu GNU/Linux comes bundled with Open Office and hundreds of other software tools (for reading and writing PDF files, editing image and audio files, educational software tools etc) which are freely shareable and easily installable. The SCIM software in Ubuntu GNU/Linux supports many Indian languages including Marathi (and several foreign languages as well). Open Office is also available on the Microsoft Windows platform as an alternative to Microsoft Office. FOSS is thus software of the people (belongs to society), for the people (made for free use by all) and by the people (developed by FOSS technical communities working in a collaborative and altruistic manner). The basic philosophy of FOSS thus is aligned to the work of public institutions like TISS.
Hence I would request that TISS seriously consider moving its computers to FOSS – installing Ubuntu GNU/Linux and related software such as Open Office would meet its requirements quite well and purchase of computers would not imply additional payment for proprietary software in future. Apart from economic benefits, such a move would put TISS technology use in alignment with its basic philosophy and ethics as a public institution. There are people in the Mumbai education world who would be able to provide any technical support required for such a move (Dr Nagarjuna at HBSC is one example). Look forward to your response and let me know if you need any clarifications. Thanking you,
- Yours truly
- Gurumurthy Kasinathan (98454 37730)
guru@public-software.in www. Public-Software.in www.ITforChange.net Mumbai, October 23rd 2009.
- Copy - Dr. Denzil Saldanha, Dr G. Nagarjuna