There are several fundamental reasons why all computer users around the world should be using free software. Free software fosters the growth of intellectual curiosity, innovation, and other habits suppressed by proprietary software. As stated by Richard Stallman, "It gives users the freedom to control their own computers - with proprietary software, the computer does what the software owner wants it to do, not what you want it to do." At this point, the goals of the school and the corporation conflict - education of the population versus the extraction of capital from the same population. But can schools claim that they are really educating their inhabitants when the software which they teach their students to use, in the use of which they train their students, is software generated from the incentive of profit, and not the furtherment of humanity? Although these reasons may apply to the faction of general computer users, there are several reasons that make free software the more viable option. What option, you ask? Free software is the option against proprietary software. It is the antithesis of the corporation - created through voluntary labor and without the looming motive of profit that is the driving force of the megacorporation.
Although the education of the students is the primary goal within a school, it is still limited by financial bounds. The need to educate the student and mthe financial limitations of the school are to be compromised in such a situation that requires expensive proprietary software, and such a situation should never occur. But what are the alternatives to the proprietary software? Of this, free software is the most powerful alternative. By free, not only the freedom of money, but the freedom to copy, the freedom to modify, the freedom to redistribute, and many freedoms otherwise denied by the propietary software of the megacorporation. With free software, a school is permitted to acquire one copy and put it on all the computers. Thus, the school budget can be diverted to more important matters, rather than spending money on software. Does it make sense to buy something that is only as good as something free? Of course, the megacorporation, realizing that free is greater than not free, has conceded to giving free copies to schools. However, the company has now inserted its parasite into the school - most likely, the school will have to pay for future upgrades, and the net cost will remain the same.
It is the goal of the school to teach the students valuable habits and practices that will continue even after the formal education has ended. If students are taught to use free software, then they will use free software after they graduate. The corporation will gradually lose its hold over the education of the school. The motive of the megacorporation is not education, but profit. The megacorporation can be likened to a tobacco company that distributes free cigarettes. Why do the companies distribute for free? In order to force the schools to dig themselves into a rut, and be stuck with using the companies' software continuously. And although students may get a "student discount" on commercial software, they will not get the discount after they graduate.
Free software allows the curious student to learn how the program works. Some teenagers want to learn everything there is about computers and their software. Richard Stallman says "that is the age when people who will be good programmers should learn [programming]." The curious student needs to look at lots of code, and write lots of code. Reading and understanding of programs is key to fostering the intellectual growth of the computer-savvy students. The intense curiosity to read the program's source code, the way the program works, is not stifled by the software, but nurtured.
The proprietary software refuses to quench the thirst for knowledge. "Learning is forbidden" is the credo of the bourgeois software developer. Free software teaches the student to learn, to be curious, to mess around and learn through trial and error. Technology should be brought to the masses, not just to the select few in the megacorporations who write the software and attempts to keep their knowledge a secret. Free software encourages students of any age and situation to read the source cod eand learn what they want to know, when they want to know it, of their own accord. Schools that use the free software will have another benefit - they will enable their gifted technology students to advance and learn more than they ever learned before.
Not only is the goal of the school to teach its students facts and skills, but to teach its students to be avid members of society. The school must practice what it preaches - sharing and cooperation. If the school goes up the route of free software, the software installed will be available for the students to copy, take home, and redistribute.
Here are a few changes that are recommended for the school environment:1. Microsoft Office - OpenOffice URL: OpenOffice Microsoft Office is a costly software suite that can easily be replaced by OpenOffice. There is virtually no retraining required, as the interface is extremely similar. However, the cost benefits greatly outweigh all other losses. OpenOffice contains all the components of Microsoft Office, and is compatible with its file formats. The switch is virtually effortless.
2. Internet Explorer - Mozilla Firefox URL: Firefox Security is guaranteed, and the student is allowed to look at the inner engine of the program. This debate has occurred on the internet several times, and Firefox has always emerged the winner.
3. Microsoft Windows - Linux URL: Linux This is the most challenging switch, but by far the most important and the most beneficial.
It is highly recommended that the reader view this article about Free Software, and its benefits.
-Saketh Bhamidipati