[PLUG] Question about companies and open source applications

[Mayuresh]

On Sun, May 08, 2011 at 09:17:57AM +0530, Amarendra Godbole wrote:
> On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 7:42 AM, Nikhil Karkare <nkarkare at gmail.com> wrote:
> > No. I did not buy the product. I already have the biggest Linux deployment
> > amongst schools, with GCompris installed. I don't think talking will help
> > much, but worth a try.
> > Should I make a list of companies who do this? Maybe make a blacklist which
> > is publicly available?
> [...]
> 
> IMHO, best option to use and adopt Linux, is appreciate the goodies it
> provides, and use them while keeping the legalities to the
> foss-legal-eagles. And you asking about freedom? Well, you have to
> look at the BSD license then.

I second that. Sharing the benefits you derived (including cost as an
important factor) in forums where various schools get to know about it
could be a positive way to promote FOSS (and also as a side effect counter
malpractices by a few vendors if any).

It is hard to prove a thing _legally_ wrong when you find it _morally_
wrong. Better combat such things by spreading the positives in the
community rather than spending energy on taking the negatives head on.


Many schools and institutes do not even know how much they stand to save
by adopting FOSS. With fee hikes becoming a regular issue, an eye opener
is needed for school runners.

Mayuresh.