Kids who go to school are addicts to non-free software
I heard from Open Schools Alliance that there is a motion in the British Parliament on the subject of Free Software in schools, so I pulled up the most excellent They Work For You and Faxed My MP.
I recently heard the Richard Stallman speech at the 2005 World Summit for the Information Society in Tunis and its a very compact 15 minute introduction to most of the core Free Software issues. Although its quite specific to the WSIS context, it does mention schools, so I thought this would be the best introductory reference.
Here is my letter:
Dear Annette Brooke, I am writing to you regarding ethics and sustainability, in a context you may be unfamiliar with: computer software. For a quick introduction to this subject, I recommend watching a short 15 minute video of Richard Stallman speaking at the World Summit for the Information Society in Tunis on 18th November 2005. It is the first 15 minutes of http://xrl.us/rmswsisvideo There is also a full transcript that you can read at http://xrl.us/rmswsis I am self employed as a computer technician and tutor, and try to support Free Software as much as I can. So I was pleased to hear that the MP for Southport, John Pugh, has moved “Early Day Motion 179” in Parliament on the subject of Free Software in schools: “That this House congratulates the Open University and other schools, colleges and universities for utilising free and open source software to deliver cost-effective educational benefit not just for their own institutions but also the wider community; and expresses concern that Becta and the Department for Education and Skills, through the use of outdated purchasing frameworks, are effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source and the value and experience small and medium ICT companies could bring to the schools market.” - http://xrl.us/freeschoolsoftware I would like to kindly ask you to sign this motion and help show the Department for Education and Skills and Becta that it is unethical and unsustainable for them to fund proprietary software companies. More information about this specific issue is available at http://www.openschoolsalliance.org/ and for background on why Free Software is an ethical and sustainable issue, I recommend reading http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html Alternatively, please call me on 0777 3383 772 and I will be more than happy to explain these issues, if you would like. Yours sincerely, David Crossland
The Kids who go to school are addicts to non-free software by David Crossland, except the quotations and unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
November 22, 2006 | Filed Under Personal Thoughts
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