98.Golden jubilee, Free Software & Richard Stallman


Calicut Regional  Engineering College started  functioning in 1961 and  in 2011 it was  completing  50 years. Golden  jubilee  celebrations   were  on the  way. A  committee  was   formed for organizing year  long activities. I was  drafted  into  the   committee   for the  conduct  of seminars. As  I was  to superannuate  in end of April   2011, my role  was  nominal. But as a  parting  gift  to institution  which was  my life  for 40+  years, I thought  of doing my bit  sufficiently early  by organising a seminar as early as possible.

In the course  of these  write ups, I have emphasized on more  than one occasion that professional education  cannot be  confined  to the class rooms and laboratories alone. Just as  sports and games are important for developing physical  capabilities, professional society activities  help the  youngsters in learning more by interaction with  peers and  friends and  of course  in developing leadership qualities. With  this  in mind, I was  involved in the activities of several professional  societies like  Systems Society, IEEE and Institution of Engineers etc. I had a preliminary discussion  with my close colleagues and student  friends about conducting a  national   seminar and a work shop  on Free  Software  in Education.

Do not confuse  free software  with the  software  that   can be downloaded  from the internet  as ‘freeware’, i.e.  software without  paying anything . The  ‘free’ in Free Software  refers  to the  freedom in using  the  software. Free  software  movement is an idea   conceptualized and spread by Richard  Stallman in  1983 at the  end of his  GNU  project at  Massachusetts  Institute  of Technology (M.I.T) . This concept   is  against  the proprietary   software  supplied  by  Microsoft, Apple  etc where   the user has no access  to the  source  code  of the  program written  by the developers. The proprietary  or monopolistic software  is given as a package. If the  software   malfunctions in anyway, only the  original developers  have  to modify the  source code, if necessary. Those  who  use  these  must be prepared to update  their software  with ‘patches’ supplied by the developer. On the  other hand , Free Software  can be  downloaded free  along with  its  source code  by users, can be  modified   by them and the  modified  program, if useful, can also  be shared  with other users. These  three  freedoms, to download, to modify and to redistribute without any profit are  embedded  into  the  Free  Software  movement. Richard  Mathew Stallman while  working as a research associate in M.I.T  was  developing an operating system GNU and he wanted this  operating system   to be available   to any one interested  in using  it without any cost. As a Research Associate in M.I.T, when  his supervisor told  him that  what he developed under the project will be the  property of M.I.T, he resigned  the  job and developed  this as his own and made it available to all who wanted to use it. His   Free  Software  Movement   has now   grown all over the world as  FOSS ( Free and Open Source Software)  movement. Sometime  in the  late  80s, a few students ( Dilip Vamanan and Vamadevan as leaders ) came  to me   to start  some  of the  FOSS  activities  with IEEE  when I was  the  student branch counsellor in R.E.C. Calicut and ever since  they had been conducting an annual  function  with  interaction with  Free  Software  leaders  in India.  Richard  Stallman used  to visit  India  at least once  every year and we  wanted  to bring him to Kozhikode  if possible   this year.




With  support   from Computer Society  of India  Kozhikode  Chapter, Institution of Engineers  Kozhikode  Local Centre, Chamber  of Commerce   Kozhikode and our  FOSS  group  in N.I.T  Calicut, we decided to conduct a  National Seminar  on  Free  Software   followed  by a three  two- day  workshop on  Free Software  in Education for  teachers  of engineering  colleges. Prof. Achyuthan, (IEI) Sri. Nithyananda Kammath(Chamber of Commerce) and Sri. S.D. Madhukumar  and A Rajagopalan( Computer  Society of India)  were  all helpful   in the organization. Sri. Pradeep kumar , MLA  was   ready to give full support   for the  conduct  of the  inaugural  function  in Kozhikode Tagore Centenary Hall. IT  Mission Kerala  supported  this  seminar.
Most  of the  software  packages are  available in the proprietary  side is  available  in Free Software  equivalent. For example, for MsOffice, FOSS  provides  Open Office, for  MATLAB , SciLab  and so. As  Free Software  is not a profit-oriented  organization, there  is  no advertisement and since  programmes are  UNIX  or GNU based, some extra effort  is required  in learning  how  to use these. In  fact, using Free Software, our  private colleges  can save a  lot of money   spent in purchase  of software. NITC   Computer Science  department  has  set  up  all the  laboratories  using  these  software  several years  back. One  advantage  of the free software  is that  the  threat  of  virus  is  not there at all. The purpose  of the  workshop  following  the seminar was  to introduce  the teachers  in engineering  colleges   to   opportunities  in  Free Software.

The  inaugural  function  of the  National  Seminar  on Free Software  in Engineering  Education was held  for the  first  time as  a public   function in the  biggest  hall  in Kozhikode  city, Tagore Centenary Hall   which can accommodate   about 3000   or more. When  our MLA  Pradeepkumar  suggested  this venue, we were sceptical  whether we will be able  to get   sufficient    audience   in the hall. We had also arranged a small  exhibition outside the  lecture hall. To our pleasant  surprise, the  public participation  was   far  ahead   of our expectations.  Large  number  of school and college students, parents and members of the public  participated  in the event. Believe it, the hall was  almost 2/3 full , much beyond our expectation.


The  dignitaries  who participated  were  Prof. Achyuthan, Sri Sathish Babu ,  Nithyananda Kammath, Pradeepkumar MLA, Sasikumar etc were a few among  the  long list.  We  had a video message  from the Chief Minister Sri.V.S.Achuthanandan  for the event. Sri Satish Babu, CEO of ISFOSS, Technopark TVM was kind enough to   accompany  our   distinguished   visitor,  Richard  Mathew  Stallman who was travelling from Palai  after attending a  function there. I was  there  to receive  him at  the  railway station. As soon as we  got introduced between ourselves, the  first thing he  wanted  to  do anxiously  was   to talk to  his wife  in Australia to confirm  some  programme in Italy   next week. Fortunately,  my mobile   proved to be  useful   for the purpose and he was  a different  man once this was done. As he was such a  big man,  we were  expecting  him to speak  for about half an hour  or so. But he   gave a beautiful speech for about an hour and further interacted  with the audience including  our students  from NITC and  other colleges. Even some members  of the  public had something to ask him and patiently   he answered all of them.  We wanted  to conclude the function  by 8PM but  it went  on till  9PM.  Finally, we as  coordinators, had  to intervene  to  conclude  the  question answer session. Without any hesitation, we  could state that it was a fitting  beginning for our golden jubilee  celebrations.  
Following  inauguration, we  had  the  workshop  on Free Software  in Education at  N.I.T  Campus. We had  more  than 40 participants  registered  from   different  colleges  from Tamil Nadu and   Karnataka. Unfortunately, the participation from  Kerala engineering colleges  was  a bare  minimum. Strangely, this was  after  my sending personal  email messages  to  the  principals of  more than 100 colleges  in Kerala. To tell you the fact, I got  one reply from the  100  odd emails I sent. Of course, it was an auto-reply which said  Principal  will reply  you soon. Unfortunately, he  never replied. In general, we regret to  state  that the  response  to such academic activities from  teachers  of our  Kerala  engineering colleges  are like  this, from our experience.

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