Re: [ossig] University curriculum for OSS?

[Uwe Dippel <udippel@uniten.edu.my>]

Still an interesting topic ...

We seem to discuss two things in one:

1. OSS syllabus. Should the syllabus be OSS-based or contain
OSS-elements ?
Here I'd say: no. It shouldn't be OSS that we teach. Neither should we
teach Micro$oft. Currently we usually do teach M$, though. Which is
wrong. And we wouldn't rectify this by teaching OSS, instead.
My agreement with Dinesh: Teaching concepts is important; and those
concepts are beyond vendors and proprietary stuff.
Except of essentially one subject: Software Engineering. Which is more
of an art than a science.

2. OSS is the necessary base to work on, since the Micro$oft products
are just colourful icons and don't permit us to look behind those
gadgets. 
Most importantly: We must not bow to pressure from industries and
misguided politicians who ask for 'employable' graduates. 
You don't have to stand on a giant's shoulder to see that academics and
science throughout its history hasn't been about employability. 
This is nothing but neo-colonial attitude: The First World companies
whisper into wanna-be politicians' ears, that the future workforce
should fork out own money for their employability in their (First World
companies' subsidies) through twinning programs with First World
universities. To finally channel *all* money into the First World. Not
even requiring First World companies to train their local staff any more
('employable') ... .
That implies, that these Third World varsities *must* train the students
for the tools used by the First World companies. To be licensed with
these or other First World companies in due course. 
And - if necessary - with an army (DoD, RIAA, DRM, etc.) sent over to
cash in on those licenses to their First World owners if defaulting.

It seems, the colonial powers have learned more from centuries of
exploitation than the exploited.
At least, this is the impression that I seem to get when our proud
students finally *think* to hold the thread to eternal wealth in their
hands as soon as they are able to use VB, ASP, Frontpage or Visual C++.

Uwe

On Sat, 2003-07-26 at 11:59, Ditesh Kumar wrote:
> > > or, the value of free software and ethics ..
> > 
> > how do you teach/tell a student of the value of free software? this is
> > an attitude that must be mastered, not learnt. it comes with playing
> > with free software, appreciating it, using it thoroughly, contributing
> > to it, etc... 
> 
> This corresponds with my personal experience. For a long long long long
> time I thought that Stallman was on crack for advocating Free software.
> It was only when I coding _with_ FOSS that I realized the importance of
> Stallman's crusade.
> 
> The value of FOSS is only gained when one actively uses it.
> 
> -- 
> Ditesh Kumar
> Ameba6 Solutions Sdn. Bhd.
> 
> "Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits
> is, of course, in a state of sin." 	- John Von Neumann
> 
> 
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