Kozhikode: The National Conference on Free Software in Education got off to a start today. Free Software Foundation of India, Society for the Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment (SPACE) and National Institute of Technology, Calicut, are organising this conference at Kozhikode from September 10-12, 2010. The conference will have eminent academicians from national institutes in India explaining the importance of using Free Software in education.
Delivering the keynote address Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation, said, "The denial of freedom to computer users to alter or modify the source code is an injustice and the custom will divide people into two categories. the matter was not mere technical but echoes the ethical and social concerns of the user's freedom. The supporters of proprietary software never advocated for the development of the sector by extending freedom to users. Their purpose was to limit the freedom of software users and penalise them in the name of piracy". The venue for the inaugural function was Tagore Centenary Hall in Kozhikode and the seminar will be held at the NIT-C campus.
The conference will also feature experts demonstrating Free Software that can be used in higher education in the country. Speakers like Prof. G Nagarjuna (TIFR, Mumbai), Prof. Kannan Moudgalya and Prabhu Ramachandran (IIT, Mumbai) and Prof. K R Srivathsan (PVC, IGNOU) will speak on why only Free Software should be used in education, and demonstrate some of the applications that can be used in science and engineering education.
According to Dr. V Sasi Kumar from SPACE, there will also be a few speakers from abroad, who will speak through video networking. There will also be a few speeches in Malayalam and an exhibition on Free Software for education.
Kerala IT News
Last updated Sept 11, 2010
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