Let Anna university syllabus committee read this before revising its engineering syllabus!

Dr. Kalam - The Strong Supporter of Open Source Software over Proprietary Solutions:
Dr. Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Kalam

Kalam: Why we need Open Source

The most unfortunate thing is that India still seems to believe in proprietary solutions. Further spread of IT, which is influencing the daily life of individuals, will have a devastating effect on the lives of society due to any small shift in the business practice involving these proprietary solutions. It is precisely for these reasons open source software needs to be built which will be cost effective for the entire society.
"In India, open source code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people."

- Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, May 28, 2003

Kalam, Stallman discuss open source software

NEW DELHI, JAN. 31, 2004.

The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, last Thursday played host to two radically divergent poles of the global software industry. The first to meet the President was Richard Stallman, the leading light of the free and open source software (FOSS) movement.
Ironically, the people waiting in the Presidential anteroom for the interaction to end were people from Microsoft.
Dr. Stallman has devoted his life to countering Microsoft's policy of selling software that cannot be changed because its code is kept a secret. It also cannot be shared because of licensing restrictions. Dr. Stallman gave up a cushy teaching job in a prestigious American university after he perceived that "computer colonisation'' was spreading rapidly. "There were only two options. Either I stopped using computers or I help everybody to escape. I chose the latter,'' he said.

By taking to FOSS, India would be able to cut down on the outflow of foreign exchange which was going to become very large in the near future. So far, Microsoft licences were not being forced on individuals, but in the coming days, proprietary software companies would make it impossible for individuals to make copies clandestinely.

Read more here http://www.hindu.com/2004/02/01/stories/2004020104231000.htm

Go For Open Source Code, Kalam Tells IT Industry

The open source software movement in the country on Wednesday received a shot in the arm with President APJ Abdul Kalam goading the Indian IT industry to look at open source code instead of depending on proprietary solutions.

There was a need to develop language-independent search engines so that those working in Indian languages are not deprived of the vast databases and knowledge, he pointed out. “Think different,” was the President’s message to the IT industry. Instead of being proud of working for 260 Fortune 500 companies, Indian industry should dream of being among the 260 Fortune 500 companies, he said. The Indian IT industry should be a $100 billion industry in eight to ten years, he added.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/go-for-open-source-code-kalam-tells-it-industry/75949/

Kalam backs `open' software initiatives

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam used his speech in Pune last week, at the dedication function of the International Institute of Information Technology (I{+2}IT) to express his concern that so many sectors, including government and education, were still dependent on costly proprietary software packages, calling it a "most unfortunate thing'' and adding: ``In India, open sourcecode software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people.''

He also reminded the IT industry of the importance of Indian language computing solutions: "We must have (Indian) search engines, word processing tools, optical character recognisers, speech recognisers and machine translators''.

Dr. Kalam's remarks on open source which were apparently triggered during his walk around the I{+2}IT, when he saw most PCs running Windows and similar software, have been quickly picked up by IT news services abroad: The U.S.-based CNET yesterday carried a dispatch which highlighted a remark the President made in his Pune speech about his interaction with the Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates, when the latter visited India in November last. It was picked up the same day by Business Week: "While walking in the Mughal Gardens we were discussing the future of information technology including... software security.... I made a point that we look for open source codes ... our discussions became difficult since our views were different''.

This was about as candid as an Indian President has ever been about his interactions with one of his high profile guests. Dr. Kalam's strength of conviction and clear perceptions about the nation's techno-road map may perhaps explain his bold statement in an area where the Government has hitherto been quite ambivalent.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/06/01/stories/2003060100701100.htm

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In this post i have tried to collect some pointers about how Dr.A.P.J.Abdul kalam has supported the free software concept!
If you like Dr. A.P.J.Abdul kalam, then you have to use/contribute to free software!