[PLUG] Why are students/colleges not using *nix systems

[Shakthi Kannan]

Hi,

--- श्रीधर नारायण दैà¤
णकर <ghodechhap at ghodechhap.net> wrote:
> And the so called friendly distro.
> are not yet available 
> enough as much as pirated windows CDs are. 

Never heard of CDs4grabs of ILUGC?
http://chennailug.org/wiki/?title=CDs_for_Grab

You can start one for PLUG.

> CS education in US is not the frame of reference 

Have you done it? I personally feel it (IT) was one of
the best learning experience, and real education that
I took (MS-IT, 2002-2004).

> and
> you can find plenty of 
> rant online about CS students starting with
> java/visual basic instead of 
> C/C++ these days. 

This is IT. FYI, CS is core computer science. 
 
> Well. That is another problem not as apparent as
> much of availability of FOSS 
> within educational institutes. 

That is too broad a statement. There are quite a
number of institutes in Tamil Nadu, Kerala that I have
seen who use FOSS extensively. They don't market it
out, but they use it. I am not familiar with Pune.

> I believe, from
> experience, that one has to 
> have a drive to learn 

True.

> With FOSS, that ecosystem is absent

Nah! That is too broad a statement. It is vibrant in
the Indian industry, and in few academic institutions
in India.

> In that case, when somebody asks you,
> "will I get job if I learn 
> linux", it is very hard to craft a "yes" to it. 

For which *proper* awareness needs to be created, by
good FOSS speakers/volunteers.

> I did offer an alternative which is to video shoot
> the lectures and distribute 
> them freely. 

If you can do that, I'd be happy.

> I did some workshops/lectures for PLUG and frankly
> it is tiring to answer same 
> questions over and over again and with academia, you
> have to play the same 
> game once new academic years started. I have no
> interest and more importantly 
> energy  doing that.

On the contrary, I don't give up :)

http://www.shakthimaan.com/work.html
 
> OTOH, if you shoot and distribute, I-the-lecturer is

It depends on what facilities students in colleges
have to view such lectures. TV or computer? Do
colleges provide them, or can students afford one? If
so, in how many colleges, and how many students.
 
> interested. I have handicam 
> which could be sufficient. Any takers?

Great. Let's see some action!

SK

--
Shakthi Kannan
http://www.shakthimaan.com

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