Pass with caution!

I am afraid for our youth, very afraid.A year back I took it upon myself to propagate Open Source to students community. Apart from the efforts by joining the activities of the local LUG. I have been addressing students at various colleges running course allied to Information Technology (IT) like computer science, programming, web technology, software engineering etc.

Every time I address a students body I am amazed at the level of piracy prevalent and even more so by the nonchalance shown to breaking of laws. There is virtually no stigma attached to piracy. There is no effort by the teachers to sensitise students about this. Of course this is also due to the fact that teachers themselves are not aware or choose to close their eyes.

My typical approach with such student bodies is to first talk about piracy and sensitise them why they should not pirate. This inevitably leads them to ask if they do not pirate what do they do? Which gives me an opening to introduce them to Open Source alternatives and show them how many, if not all, activities that they do on their computers can be done using FLOSS tools. Their curiosity having been piqued I show them some of the more exciting (from their perspective) demo’s for things like Gimp or Blender, bells and whistles et al. Typically, again, I find a small percentage of students get interested and I am hoping that a few of them may actually start becoming OSS champions within their peer group.

Yesterday I had another opportunity to address about two hundred students at an fairly well recognised college near Delhi. The audience were students enrolled in one or the other IT course and few of their teachers. Not one hand, repeat not one!, was raised when I asked if anyone was using any licensed software that they had not pirated! What is worse is that teachers were also having their hands down!

If technology students are not exposed to all technologies available then who will give appropriate answers to our IT needs? Would you expect the best technology solution from some one who does not know about potentially viable alternatives? A small lead by teachers in enabling students to use net searches for alternative is all it takes but what happens if those teaching are themselves bereft of knowledge? Our college students are at a stage where a good teacher can make them thirst for knowledge or a bad teacher can kill their curiosity for ever.

That is why I say I am very much afraid for our youth. They are not being lead to seek knowledge they are merely being asked to learn by rote. Would such students be able to become leaders? Do we expect them to contribute to research? Worse what legacy will they carry for their next generation?

My parents named me Sudev. In hindi this is a conjunction word of SU + Dev. SU is a prefix and when used adds positive sense to the conjunction word. DEV is hindi for god or agent of god. So my name could be taken to mean “good god”.

Good god? Questioning mode. Is this true? This can not be. Unbelievable. There could be “Good god #$@!” What a monstrosity being thrust down on us! Save us. What the f*ck. Or it could be “good god” a saviour is at hand. Of course there are many friend who would translate this to “good god” as in nice to see you and it has been a long time.

What ever your reaction be I am what I am. My approach to life is to tinker with technology. As a young boy my favorite book, was How Things Work and my favourite pass time, whenever confined indoors, was to take apart things. Of course I had young ones supremely misplace confidence of being able to put it all back. Boy did I suffer for such mistake(s) – notice the plural? Yep just one of those things that young are capable of – repeating mistakes.
My schooling was at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, New Delhi followed by college at DAV Chandigarh. Although I liked science and techonolgy, I was not able to get rise and shine enough in my grades to make it to one of the two tech schools so I opted for a change of course and managed to complete Bachelor of Commerce degree.

I have no formal training in computers and my intrduction to them started over a boring weekend sitting in Dubai with nothing to do. I picked up a small hand held “Palm Compter” made by Sharp and learnt Basic over the next 48 hours. There after it has been almost all the case of hand on experience.

As on January 2007 I have 30 years work experience in project execution, product launch, production, technology and marketing management. Currently I am designated Vice President at Nuchem and my work includes overseeing a complete division including production, strategic marketing and sales.

Since I am nerdy enough I have been also given additional charge of computer use policy, including the technology directions. Being in charge of developing and nurturing a new product start up demonstrated to me the value of planning in systems and procedures. Computer usage was logical extension of system design. This experience gives me an appreciation as well as understanding of information technology. Experience has taught me to spot technology over-sell, the biggest pitfall. Total cost of ownership and return on investment are primary motto in any implementation and consultation.

I have completely moved our work systems to Linux base since 2001. Having committed to open